Scholarship Will Forever Remember a Special Teacher

In August 2013 Virginia lost an amazing educator -- Jennifer Mooney Greene. She  was a

Jennifer Mooney Greene

33-year-old English teacher at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach who loved her work but passed away all too soon from an illness.

As Jen's sister, brother and parents planned her memorial service the Hampton Roads Community Foundation staff was honored to help them find a way for Jen to forever make an impact on the lives of students. They chose to create a permanent scholarship fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation for students in the Achievement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program. Jen founded AVID at Green Run to help students prepare to be among the first in their families to go to college. Memorial gifts from family, friends and colleagues brought Jen's endowed fund to $27,777 by the end of December 2013.

Diamond Lee (center) celebrates her scholarship
this spring with Susanne and Kevin Mooney.

In the spring of 2014 Jen's parents presented the first Jennifer Mooney Greene Scholarship to Diamond Lee as part of the inspiration and healing that can come through philanthropy.

Diamond, the first Jennifer Mooney Greene Scholar, was Green Run's 2014 salutatorian and Student Council Association presidentShe discovered AVID in seventh grade and says "it has been the best thing I ever did in school. AVID opened so many doors for me."

Diamond is the first in a never-ending line of scholarship recipients who will carry on Jen's legacy of learning. She is among more than 390 students attending college in 2014-15 with help $1.1 million-plus in Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarships. Each scholarship fund was started by donors to honor a special person.

People often ask why donors should consider connecting with a community foundation. There are many reasons, but one of the best is that  endowed funds forever provide grants or scholarships in the names of loved ones to help other people lead better lives.

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )

$1.1+ Million in Scholarships Send Students to College

Kellam High School graduate Cole Neubert of Virginia Beach headed west on

Cole Neubert takes a break from his summer construction job at Kellam High to pose by his scholarship's namesake, Judge Floyd Kellam.

Tuesday for his new life as a freshman at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He is among more than 390 students attending college this year with help from more than $1.1 million in scholarships provided by Hampton Roads Community Foundation

donors. This is the largest amount of scholarships awarded in a single year during the 64-year history of the community foundation.

Cole's scholarship is provided by the generosity of sisters Anne Kellam and Becky Kellam Chalmers of Virginia Beach. In 2013 they started the Judge Floyd E. and Annie B. Kellam Scholarship Fund in memory of their parents. The sisters created the permanent scholarship fund to help celebrate the opening of the new Floyd E. Kellam High School in Virginia Beach named for their dad, who passed away in 1958.

"This is a nice way to honor our father and mother who particularly liked education. Scholarships are so lasting," says Becky Chalmers.

The sisters had students like Cole in mind when they endowed scholarships for Kellam High graduates interested in careers related to math, science or business. Cole, Kellam's 2014 salutatorian, is among the first four Kellam Scholars and plans to become a mechanical or structural engineer and start his own firm.

He got hands-on experience in that area this summer as an intern with S.B. Ballard Construction Company, which built Kellam High. On Monday, the day before leaving for Tech, Cole was in his hard hat helping the company finish a few "punch list" details at Kellam High when he paused to have his photo snapped standing by a portrait of Floyd Kellam. Cole plans to work with Ballard Construction again over winter break and next summer.

Cole is happy to be a Kellam Scholar and to know his scholarship is renewable for up to four years of study. At Tech he is looking forward to "having new experiences and learning about engineering."

(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )