Scholarship Recipient Pays It Forward

Matt Elliott is the youngest person to start a foundation fund.
Photo by Glen McClure

At age 26, Matt Elliott of Norfolk, Virginia is the youngest philanthropist at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Last month, he created the endowed Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund in memory of two younger swimmers at his Norfolk alma mater Maury High School  -- Carlton Dean.and Joey Callahan.

It has only been three years since Matt graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a biology degree. During his four years of study there, he was helped by a Col. J. Addison Hagan Memorial Scholarship administered by the community foundation. Today he works for the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and is studying for a masters degree in civil and environmental engineering at Old Dominion University.

In June 2015 Matt presented the community foundation a  $26,000 check to start the permanent Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund at the community foundation. The college scholarship, which will be awarded for the first time next spring, is for Norfolk Public School athletes with a preference for swimmers. Matt raised most of the money last summer with a one-night swim off, volleyball tournament, barbecue and auction at the Mallory Country Club. The new event drew hundreds of people of all ages.

Even though Carlton and Joey were several years younger, Matt knew them through sports -- primarily swimming. All three were on the Maury High swim team but not all at the same time. Matt went on to be captain of the VMI swim team and to coach several Hampton Roads youth swim teams.

After Carlton passed away in 2012 at age 19 and Joey in 2013 at age 21, Matt started thinking of a way to honor these outstanding high school swimmers. He decided a permanent scholarship for athletes would be the best tribute to Carlton and Joey..At swim meets Carlton Dean excelled at butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle. He was named Most Valuable Player on the Maury High swim team as well as on the Pembroke Meadows Marlin and Tri City Aquatic Club swim teams. As a swimmer, Joey Callahan was known for his freestyle sprints and often anchored winning relay teams. He also was an outstanding volleyball and soccer player at Maury who earned 12 varsity letters and was co-MVP for volleyball his senior year. 

"I knew how much both Joey and Carlton meant to the community and how big they were in athletics. And, I knew how much the foundation scholarship helped me, This was perfect," Matt says of the scholarship fund.

Matt is busy planning the Second Annual Dean-Callahan Swim-off and Volleyball Tournament on Friday, August 14. Click here to learn more about the amazing lives of Carlton and Joey and the fun event Matt is planning.

If you would like to donate to the Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation click here.
 
(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 $210 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. ) 

A Scholarship Success Story

We are always thrilled to run into scholarship recipients like Claudette Woodhouse of

Claudette Woodhouse today

Norfolk, Virginia and to hear how well they are doing in life.

Today while touring Horizons Hampton Roads we got to see Claudette in action. Horizons is a summer enrichment program that helps public school students avoid the summer academic slide. Students spend six weeks of summer taking classes at area private schools in a program that includes academics, arts, swimming and field trips. The Hampton Roads Community Foundation has helped fund the 16-year-old program for years and manages its endowment.

Claudette, was the first student to go all the way through Horizons from kindergarten through eighth grade. She has returned to Horizons every summer since finishing the program to work as a staff member at Horizon's Norfolk Collegiate site. We first met Claudette in 2008 as she was entering her freshman year at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk. She was enjoying Horizons activities while focusing on going to college. 

Claudette in 2008

Today Claudette is a senior at Old Dominion University. For four years she received a scholarship through the community foundation's Joseph and Bertha Harry Scholarship. A bequest from the late Joseph Harry in 1990 created a scholarship fund in memory of the  Norfolk couple who never had the opportunity to go to college. . 

Claudette will graduate in December from ODU and plans to become a teacher. She will start her career in the Teach for America program working in New Jersey. We are very proud of Claudette and look forward to keeping up with her over the years.  

 (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 $210 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. )

It's All About the Future

What's your theme? That's a question we are often asked when creating the annual report for the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the largest grant and scholarship provide in southeastern Virginia.

Our typical answer is: We do great things for everyone in southeastern Virginia -- a theme that endures year after year with different stories to illustrate it.

While that thought underpins the community foundation's annual report released in July 2015, the actual words on the cover are: It's All About the Future. Those important words came from the creative mind of photographer Glen McClure, who took the cover photo of a trio of smart, happy second graders in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

As we were hauling photography gear into Seatack Elementary, An Achievable Dream Academy for the report's first photo shoot Glen said this was a great way to start days of shooting. After all, "it's all about the future."

Bingo..... a theme is born. Click here to look at the latest annual report and see why Glen's words are so true.

(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 $210 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. ) 

Three Elected to Hampton Roads Community Foundation Board

Three community leaders were elected in June 2015 to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation board of directors. They are Susan R. Colpitts of Norfolk, Sharon S. Goodwyn of Chesapeake and Suzanne Puryear of Norfolk.
Susan Colpitts is founder and chief of client experience

Susan Colpitts

at Signature Family Wealth Advisors. She is a trustee of Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation and serves on the boards of the United Way of South Hampton Roads and Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. She is a member of the Planned Giving Advisory Board at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in accounting with a concentration in taxation.

Sharon Goodwyn

Sharon Goodwyn is a member of Hunton & Williams LLP. She is board secretary for the St. Mary's Home and serves on the Eastern Virginia Medical School board of visitors. She also serves on the boards of the United Way of South Hampton Roads Foundation and Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and is a trustee of the University of Virginia Law School Foundation. She is a member of the  University of Virginia Tidewater Jefferson Scholars Selection Committee and the Harvard University Schools Committee. She earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in economics and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.  

Suzanne Puryear, president of of The Planning

Suzanne Puryear

Council, chairs the Norfolk Interagency Consortium for At-Risk Children and Youth board. She is Tidewater Pastoral Counseling board vice chair and Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay board secretary. She serves on the boards of the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement, Together We Can Foundation and YMCA of South Hampton Roads. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration from Old Dominion University.
 

Click here for a list of all 17 Hampton Roads Community Foundation board members.

(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 $210 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. ) 

John Stewart: Passionate About the River

John Stewart

Hampton Roads Community Foundation donors are passionate people. Among them is John Stewart of Norfolk, a retired librarian who loves the Lafayette River. 

He is restoring its wetlands and teaching others to do the same. John, a member of the Friends of Norfolk's Environment and the Lafayette Wetlands Partnership, has arranged for a bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation for a field-of-interest fund to forever help our region's environment.

Take a moment to enjoy this video of John and other wetlands volunteers and experience the peacefulness of the river he loves so much. You will be glad you did. 

Hope House Gives Kristina Sherman a Great Life

What is it like to be a young person living in a nursing home? Kristina Sherman will tell you it is "H. E. Double hockey sticks." 

Sherman, 29, once lived in a nursing home after enduring two heart transplants, a stroke and oxygen deprivation. Although the Norfolk resident  is legally blind and has mobility issues, she now lives in her own apartment thanks to the Hope House Foundation.

Take 2 minutes and 55 seconds to watch this video about Kristina and you will be glad you did. In it you will get a glimpse into the remarkable life she is leading because of help from Hope House.

Hope House has received Hampton Roads Community Foundation grants to help buy 13 apartment complexes for clients and other community members. Their residents include the 125 adults with disabilities Hope House staff members help live fulfilling lives surrounded by all kinds of neighbors.The community foundation also manages Hope House's endowment.

"Inclusion is a very basic citizen desire," says Lynne Seagle, Hope House executive director. The organization she leads is renowned nationally for making sure citizens with disabilities are part of a broader community.



(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. ) 

Three Blocks to Home

It's hard to be homeless, and it's wonderful to have a home as Robert Johnson will tell you. 

This video called 3 Blocks to Home shows what good things are happening in southeastern Virginia for homeless people because philanthropy and nonprofits work together. 

 Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless and Virginia Supportive Housing teamed up with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation so Robert no longer has to live under an interstate highway bridge in Portsmouth, Virginia. Take a look at what life is like for him now.