Foundation for Roanoke Valley

Foundation for Roanoke Valley Awards $50,000 to Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation

2012-01-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

Virginia Western Community College and Foundation for Roanoke Valley announce the award of a $50,000 grant from the Foundation’s Community Catalyst Funds to continue the Community College Access Program (CCAP) for the Roanoke Valley. Through CCAP, local high school graduates have the opportunity to go to college and earn an associate’s degree or career certificate at no cost.

Foundation for Roanoke Valley and Virginia Western share the same aspirations for the Roanoke area—to meet current and future community needs for an educated and prepared workforce, to create opportunities for students throughout the Roanoke Valley region, and to shape a healthy, caring community.

“Supporting educational programs is one of our priority focus areas, and this major grant to CCAP further demonstrates our commitment to providing leadership, resources and inspiration for philanthropy throughout the communities we serve in western Virginia,” said FRV Executive Director Alan Ronk.

Administered by the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation, and currently available in Salem City, Roanoke City and Franklin County, CCAP is serving more than 160 students in the current academic year. The Educational Foundation is seeking additional partners and funds to launch the program in the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, and Craig. A $7 million College Access Campaign is currently under way to fund CCAP across the region. Foundation for Roanoke Valley is one of the first partners to commit funding to the region-wide CCAP.

“Dedicated partners in our community like Foundation for Roanoke Valley are joining local governments, businesses and individuals with the goal to give students across the region access to higher education,” said President Robert H. Sandel of Virginia Western Community College.

CCAP supports as many students as possible based on student need and available funds. The program was launched in 2008 with the pilot phase in Salem and expanded to Roanoke City in 2009. In fall 2011, graduates of Franklin County High School began participating in CCAP.

Roanoke City and Roanoke City Public Schools, as well as Salem City, are program sponsors for CCAP in the respective localities. Other sponsors include the Roanoke Women’s Foundation, Advance Auto Parts, Appalachian Power, Carilion Clinic, MFA, Ingersoll-Rand and Trane in Roanoke City; LewisGale Regional Health System, Richfield Retirement, Quantum Medical, Waldrop Development in Salem City; and the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission for Franklin County.

“Through CCAP, Virginia Western seeks to provide every local high school graduate with the opportunity to attend college and graduate with a degree or certificate,” Sandel said. “Support from every locality of our service region will help Virginia Western continue its mission of providing a quality and affordable education, and training tomorrow’s workforce.”

About Virginia Western Community College

With more than 12,800 students on the college’s main campus in Southwest Roanoke City, to our satellite locations at the Roanoke Higher Education Center in Downtown Roanoke, Greenfield Education & Training Center in Daleville, and the Franklin Center in Rocky Mount, Virginia Western Community College is committed to providing affordable, accessible, and quality educational opportunities and workforce training to meet individual, community, and global needs. To learn more, visit http://www.virginiawestern.edu/.

About Virginia Western Community College educational foundation, Inc.

The Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation, Inc. is an independent not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) foundation dedicated to enhancing awareness of Virginia Western and securing private and public funds. Through the Community College Access Program, student scholarships, faculty development and capital projects, the Educational Foundation awards more than $400,000 annually. Separate from the college, but committed to expand upon Virginia Western’s accomplishments and to help it realize its fullest potential in the years to come, the Educational Foundation is governed by a board of directors that supports the college's educational initiatives through annual and major gifts campaigns. Our mission is to foster life-long relationships that build advocacy and support for Virginia Western. To learn more, visit www.virginiawestern.edu/foundation.

Submitted by: Josh Meyer, Virginia Western Community College

Foundation for Roanoke Valley Announces Grants from its Grants 4 Teachers Program

2011-11-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

Foundation for Roanoke Valley announces it has awarded more than $4,100 in grants from the Community Catalyst Funds to teachers of Roanoke City and Roanoke County Public Schools.

Now in its second year, the Foundation aims to support creative, low-cost but effective projects that will stimulate learning. The program expanded this year to include Roanoke City and Roanoke County Public Schools and is open to K-12 teachers. The following grants were awarded for 2011:

Sandy Brown, Mountain View Elementary: $250 to purchase supplies for an Ecosystem Espionage project
Karin Carneal, Mount Pleasant Elementary: $250 to purchase books for The Literacy Independence Project
Melissa Cupp, Fort Lewis Elementary: $250 to purchase a Level A Math Family Fund Pack set
Chip Donahue, Glen Cove Elementary: $250 to create an outdoor living laboratory
Sherry Falls, Burlington Elementary: $220.10 to support the “To Market To Market” project
Amy Fiddler, Garden City Elementary: $250 to support the Mealtime Manners project
Ashleigh Fisher, Westside Elementary: $250 to purchase books for a Boy’s Book Club
Michael French, Burton Center for Arts and Technology: $250 to purchase supplies to allow its CIT students to complete a re-wiring project
Ellen Harmon, Stonewall Jackson Middle: $244.97 to purchase a class set of The Hunger Games, an audiobook of The Hunger Games, and Book are Brain Food bookmarks
Dana Hoos, Mount Pleasant Elementary: $250 to purchase camp chairs for the Camp Out and Read! project
Jason Murray, Mason’s Cove Elementary: $250 to purchase yoga mats to use in the physical education program
Sherry Siska, Glenvar High: $250 to purchase copies of “Witness” and a subscription to the educational version of Glogster
Paula Stocks, Mount Pleasant Elementary: $250 to purchase supplies, activities, and games for critical readers and thinkers
Allyson Strassburg, William Byrd High: $250 to purchase xylene transfer pens for the Personal Reflection project
Carol Webster, Burton Center for Arts and Technology: $250 to support “The Highs and The Lows” vocal project
Marilee Weikel, Hidden Valley Middle: $201 to purchase materials needed for the Dirt Babies! Variable Classroom Investigations project
Lisa Wever, Fallon Park Elementary: $250 to support the Hands on Reading project

Foundation for Roanoke Valley, the region’s community foundation, currently administers over 260 named endowment funds on behalf of the community. Unrestricted endowments are particularly powerful as they provide the Foundation with the flexibility over time to seek out and fund highly-effective programs across a wide-range of community needs. Individuals interested in establishing their own personal or family legacy through an unrestricted endowment or any of the many other types of endowment funds offered by the community foundation should visit www.foundationforroanokevalley.org or call (540) 985-0204.

The Roanoke Women's Foundation Awards $242,000 in Grants to Area Non-Profits

2011-11-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

For the seventh year, The Roanoke Women’s Foundation (RWF), a component fund of Foundation for Roanoke Valley, has announced the recipients of its grant awards, the largest total given to date.

The latest grants, a total of $242,000 awarded at a luncheon held at the Patrick Henry on November 18th, brings to $1,244,000 the total in grants funded since the organization’s inception in 2004.

“Despite a tough economy, The Roanoke Women’s Foundation reached a milestone this year with 121 members, an all time high for us” says Ginny Jarrett, co-founder of the RWF. Jarrett and co-founder Kandy Elliott established the RWF as a way for women in the Roanoke and New River Valleys to pool their philanthropic goals and resources in order to make significant gifts to the community.

“Ginny and Kandy’s original vision for RWF has played out in a truly remarkable and exciting way, and the incredible growth in RWF members over time is a real testament to the community’s generosity and desire to make our region an even better place to live,” added Alan Ronk, executive director of Foundation for Roanoke Valley.

Now in its seventh year, RWF has funded 26 organizations and programs. This year, 46 organizations applied for funding from the RWF. Through a rigorous grant making process, that number was narrowed to a group that was presented to the membership for their vote. Based on those results, the following grants were awarded in the 2011 grant cycle:

$100,000 to Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission to support its “Bridging the Gap” campaign to provide for the construction of a 4.1 mile unfunded section of the greenway located between Bridge Street in Roanoke City and Rotary Park in Salem. The goal is to have this section completed by the end of 2013. Once this section is built, the Roanoke Valley will have 18.3 miles of uninterrupted greenway along the Roanoke River in the center of the Roanoke Valley, making it one of the longest urban greenways in the eastern United States.

$50,000 to The Salvation Army, for the Turning Point, the only domestic violence shelter in the Roanoke Valley. Funds will be used to help meet the costs for case manager and children’s coordinator positions, food, and utilities as funding sources have been reduced due to budget cuts in federal, state and local government. Having served the area for over 20 years, the Turning Point provides safe housing and shelter for more than 250 women and children each year. It also serves more than 500 callers to its crisis hotline.

$32,000 to Roanoke Area Ministries (RAM), which has been feeding nutritious noon-time meals to impoverished and low income citizens in the Roanoke Valley since 1987. The grant from the RWF will replace donated and used equipment with new, commercial grade equipment in the RAM House kitchen. The goal is to help improve efficiency of the kitchen operation as well as improve the quality of the meals that are served. Last year, over 45,000 lunches were served to 2,900 unduplicated persons, including children.

$30,000 to Craig County Youth & Community Services for the Craig County Recreation and Conservation Association’s “Field of Dreams”, a multipurpose outdoor recreation complex including accessible fields for sporting events and physical activity. Currently, Craig County has no public recreation complex. This complex will be ideally situated to serve the school age populations as the “Field” will be in walking distance of the schools. In 2009, Craig County had the second highest level of poverty (18.1%) and the highest adult obesity rate in Virginia (33.9 compared to the state average of 25.5%). The goal of the grant is to effect change in the community by encouraging healthy lifestyles and providing alternatives to dangerous and unhealthy behaviors.

$30,000 to West End Center to jump start its West End Leaders program. Using a program titled “Leadership for the 21st Century” (a curriculum developed by the Virginia Department of Education), funds from the RWF will provide program development and marketing support. The program helps children to develop leadership skills and practices and to apply those skills through community service activities. Although they are among the most disadvantaged in the Roanoke Valley, West End Center’s children have demonstrated impressive achievement. Since 2000, the West End Center children have graduated at the rate of 83%, significantly higher than those of Roanoke City.

The Roanoke Women’s Foundation is open to any woman who makes the commitment to support the RWF for at least three years at a level of $2,100 per year. Members have no other obligation than to fulfill the annual contribution and to participate in the voting process determining the recipients of the pooled fund grants. For more information, visit www.roanokewomensfoundation.org or Foundation for Roanoke Valley’s website www.foundationforroanokevalley.org. Foundation for Roanoke Valley, the region’s community foundation, currently administers over 260 named endowment funds on behalf of the community.

Foundation Funds Major Building Project

2011-10-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Foundation for Roanoke Valley announced today that it has awarded four grants totaling $34,439 to Check Elementary School for the construction of an outdoor classroom and amphitheater. The grants come from the Foundation’s Jacqueline S. (Jackie) and Shelborn L. (S.L.) Spangler Fund, which was established in 2006 through the estate of S. L. Spangler. The purpose of this endowment fund is to address a wide variety of important needs and opportunities in the communities along the Route 221 south corridor, generally falling between Cotton Hill Road and Check, Virginia. This designation reflects where the Spanglers lived during the course of their lifetimes.

Alan Ronk, the Foundation’s executive director, said in making the announcement: “We are delighted that the Foundation, through our Spangler Fund, could make possible this wonderful addition to the Check community. It will provide space for gatherings and performances and will play a very important role in educating local children for years to come.”