Foundation helps ‘fill in the funding holes’ for local non-profits

By Gus Cross

Nearly 150 people gathered at what appeared at first glance to be a regular monthly community dinner at Kendal at Lexington on Tuesday night. But the attendees were there for more than friendship and cheer. They were celebrating the successful work of the Community Foundation for Rockbridge, Bath and Alleghany Counties.

Lori Turner, the executive director of the Community Foundation, and members of the board prepare to hand out checks to recipients of grants from the various agency funds. Photo by Gus Cross.

In attendance were representatives of more than 60 organizations, receiving a collective $182,000 in grant money.

People talked over plates of meatballs, spinach-and-artichoke dip, cheese squares and glasses of wine as the Community Foundation’s Executive Director Lori Turner and Board Vice Chairman Robert Glidden spoke about the success of the foundation.

Handing out the checks

The CFRBA is a local non-profit organization that runs numerous funds for various community organizations. The grant money comes from those funds which have been set-up and contributed to by numerous donors since the CFRBA split from an affiliate six years ago. This year was the fifth award ceremony held by the organization. Awards came from every fund except for scholarship funds, which the organization gives out to graduating high school seniors in the spring.

When individual donors come to CFRBA, they have a choice of six types of funds to give their money to: a designated fund, a scholarship fund, or a memorial fund and three others.

The CFRBA takes the donated money and invests it in the selected endowed fund. In turn, the CFRBA gives four percent from those funds – the estimated yearly earnings – to the respective organizations as grants.

Various organizations can receive grants from a certain fund, depending on the type. A donor-advised fund allows the donors to that fund to recommend what organizations receive grants from the fund. A field-of-interest fund gives grants to organization within a certain field or category that is chosen by the CFRBA’s board of directors. Grant money coming from an unrestricted fund goes towards selected organizations from a pool of applicants at the discretion of the CFRBA’s board of directors.

Of the CFRBA’s assets totaling more than $4.4 million, nearly $3.9 million is in marketable securities. The organization is holding about $260,600 in a bank fund.

How the money’s spent

The Valley Program for Aging Services is one of the foundation’s beneficiaries. According to VPAS executive director Jeri Schaff, the money received Tuesday will be going towards developing a “virtual dementia tour.”

The tour will allow four or five people at a time to enter a simulation where they must complete simple tasks while being burdened by things like hurting shoes, gloves that limit the ability to move fingers, glasses that will distort vision, and headphones playing the noises that doctors believe those with dementia frequently hear.

According to Schaff, with over 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day, the “baby boomers” it’s important for people to experience what it is like to have dementia.

“People need to understand that people with dementia aren’t crazy and they are still intelligent,” said Schaff.

Schaff hopes to have the tour set up by the spring. It would be a mobile simulation allowing for the program to be conducted at churches, offices and even schools and universities.

With help from the CFRBA and other donors, the VPAS runs multiple programs for those over the age of 65 including senior centers, Meals on Wheels, local transportation and Medicare counseling.

Donation helps people save money

Jerry and Dianne Darrell have been receiving Medicare counseling from VPAS for the past four years.

“[Schaff] shows us the three best options, shows us the advantage of each one, and makes it so simple,” Jerry said.

There is very little charge for the counseling. According to Schaff, people are able to save thousands of dollars every year on medication expenses thanks to the counseling provided by VPAS.

While the Medicare counseling is the only service that the Darrells use, they recognize that their community would be much different if it weren’t for the work that VPAS does.

“It would be catastrophic,” Jerry said. “This is a great program.”

The Darrells said that VPAS, and the Maury River Senior Center in particular provides the social life that many people as they get older don’t experience when they are isolated in their homes. Schaff said that the center provides retired residents with a whole new set of friends and a way to connect with them.

But with these programs there are expenses. While the CFRBA grants can be as large as $45,000 or more, many are just a couple of thousand dollars each year, and “it is often those smaller grants that help us fill in the holes in funding,” said Schaff. “Without the Community Foundation funding it would have been much harder to get things started or get things expanded or even continued.”

The following are the agencies in Rockbridge County that received grant awards from the Community Foundation on Tuesday: