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. )

St. Mary's Home Girl Scout Enjoy a Fun 'Staycation'

St. Mary's Scouts and troop leaders have their photo made.
Watch their video to see more of their fine day in Virginia Beach.

A summer day at a seaside resort is something most people take for granted. But not the members of Girl Scout Troop #5067. On a beautiful day recently, they enjoyed some great fun being tourists in nearby Virginia Beach.  

The troop's members are all girls with disabilities who live at St. Mary's Home in Norfolk, one of more than 150 nonprofit organizations receiving support from Hampton Roads Community Foundation donors during the past year.

During their "staycation," St. Mary's Scouts, their troop leader and her assistants had lots of adventures dreamed up with help from the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The girls dressed up in fancy costumes for pictures at Flashback Old-time Photo, touched stingrays at the Virginia Aquarium, dined at Rockafeller's Restaurant, shopped along the boardwalk, enjoyed Dough Boys California Pizza, rested at a Barclay Towers suit and were dazzled by circus performers and fireworks at night along the boardwalk.

This short video created by St. Mary's summer intern Katie McCarthy of Chesapeake, a James Madison University senior, captures the magic of fun-filled day. Enjoy!

Former Scholarship Recipient Honors Teammates in a Lasting Way That Will Help Others Forever

When two of Matthew Elliott's Maury High School fellow swim team members died far too young, he decided to find a way to honor them.  

In 2014 he started the Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund to pay tribute to his friends Carlton

Carlton Dean was a great swimmer.

Dean and Joey Callahan of Norfolk, Virginia, who passed away in 2012 and 2013.

"Both were personable people and good leaders who made others better," says Matt, who works for the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and is studying engineering at Old Dominion University. Matt, 25, was a Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarship recipient during his four years of undergraduate study at Virginia Military Institute. He was helped  for four years at VMI by a Col. J. Addison Hagan Memorial Scholarship. 

Joey Callahan excelled at volleyball
& swimming

Hagan's friends started the scholarship him in 1980 at the community foundation after he passed away. Matt's goal is to follow in the footsteps of Hagan's friends. His goal is to raise $25,000 to create a permanent scholarship fund at the community foundation in memory of Carlton and Joey. 

The scholarship would be for Norfolk Public School athletes going on to college. Matt has arranged for donations to go to The Maury Foundation with 20 percent of proceeds benefiting the nonprofit that helps improve life for Maury High students. The rest of donations would be earmarked for a new scholarship fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Once $25,000 is reached, funds would transfer to the community foundation to start the permanent scholarship.

A kickoff event for the new Dean-Callahan Scholarship Fund will be held Friday, August 15, at the Mallory Country Club in Norfolk starting at 4 p.m. It will involve volleyball matches,swimming competitions, dinner and an auction. Details are posted to deancallahan.com.

(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. )

Batten Gift Brings Spanish Program to Eastern Virginia Medical School

Since 2003 the Batten Educational Achievement Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has found a variety of ways to improve educational opportunities in southeastern Virginia.

The latest Batten grant in 2014 provides $450,000 to help Eastern Virginia Medical School

Frank & Jane Batten support education.

in Norfolk, Virginia make the school a regional source of certification in medical Spanish. The goal is to address language barriers in order to improve healthcare for Spanish-speaking populations.

Virginia's 92  percent Hispanic growth rate in the past 10 years prompted EVMS to add a language curriculum and testing recognized by the National Institutes of Health. The program will be part of EVMS' M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health.

Funding comes from a donor-advised fund started in 2003 with a $20.5 million gift to the community foundation by the late philanthropist Frank Batten and his wife Jane of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Since then the Batten Fund has provided more than $21.8 million in grants to organizations working to improve educational opportunities primarily in Hampton Roads. Recipients include nonprofits focused on improving early education, teaching people to nurture their environment and bringing history alive for more students as well as those providing higher-education opportunities.

 

(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. )

Change Your World Through Your Community Foundation

It takes a really long ride to absorb the full "elevator speech" of someone affiliated with a community foundation.

Scholarships.
Grants to nonprofits. 
Community leadership initiatives.
Generous donors.

These are the stock and trade of the more than 750 community foundations in North America whose donors come from all walks of life to do good work forever in their home regions.

At the Hampton Roads Community Foundation our annual report is one of our main ways to convey the amazing things that happen when philanthropy, community need and good ideas intersect.

With that in mind, enjoy reading Change Your World -- our latest annual report. It was published in July 2014. 

Featured on the cover are two staff members from The Endependence Center in Norfolk, Virginia -- Sylvester Askins (left) and Stephen Johnson (center). Their center received a two-year community foundation grant for a program to help people with disabilities find jobs. Priscilla Barnes (right) is one of the first clients to benefit from the expanded jobs program.

 

(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. )

 

How Did Bobby Hill Nearly Double Rescue Squad Volunteers?

If you've ever met Bobby Hill of Virginia Beach, Virginia then you likely have heard him exclaim, "I have the best job in the world because I get to save lives every day."

Bobby is the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad Foundation's recruitment coordinator. He has been in that position since 2009 when he retired as chief magistrate in Virginia Beach. Although Hill had been a long-time rescue squad volunteer, he knew he needed more skills to successfully recruit for Virginia Beach's 10 all-volunteer rescue squads.

Bobby Hill loves his work.
 (photo by Glen McClure)

Bobby got the training he needed at the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, which was started in 2005 by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. The academy operates in partnership with Tidewater Community College. It offers one- and two-day courses for nonprofit staff and board members in southeastern Virginia at a reasonable cost -- $60 and $85 each.

Since 2005 more than 1,140 people from nearly 450 different nonprofits have taken academy courses. And, more than 80 of them, including Bobby Hill, have earned Certificates in Nonprofit Management. Bobby took 19 classes in everyting from fundraising to social media and personnel management and quickly put his new skills to work. He continues to take classes today to keep his skills fresh and connect with other nonprofit people.

So, what happened at the rescue squads since Hill began working and taking classes?

The number of volunteers has nearly doubled, which is important since Virginia Beach is the largest city in the country to rely on an all-volunteer network of emergency health providers.  The Hampton Roads Community Foundation has put more than $1 million in grants from its unrestricted funds into the academy. The goal is to help area nonprofits to do their best work by investing in the people who make it happen.

Learn more about the nonprofit academy at academyfornonprofitexcellence.org, which recently announced its fall 2014 class schedule.

(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. )