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GCF Gloucester Community Foundation GCF GCF News Page 3 Gloucester Community Foundation GCF GCF Gloucester Community Foundation GCF   Gloucester Gazette-Journal  June 23, 2005 Ten Plan York River Fundraiser Swim July 2 by Sherry Hamilton Swimming the York River in July isn’t the easiest thing to do. The current’s strong, the water’s hot, and potentially unpleasant creatures lurk in the murk. But a Gloucester man and nine others plan to make the swim at noon on Saturday, July 2 for a good cause—the children of Gloucester. Catesby B. Jones, owner of Peace Frogs, said he and his friends will enter the water off the Colonial Parkway at Felgate’s Creek in York County and swim three miles to his parents’ home at Coke to raise money for the Peace Frogs Bank to Bank Fund, an endowed fund handled by the Gloucester Community Foundation. The fund is for the benefit of needy children in Gloucester, and proceeds this year will go to the Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic to pay for everyday health needs of poor children. Jones said he had always lived on the York River and had always wanted to swim it. Then, last year, he and three of his friends decided on a whim that they would. Without any training or preparation, accompanied by their wives in boats, they took the plunge and made it across. To sweeten the challenge beforehand, each swimmer kicked in some money, and when the swim was over, they sent their contributions to Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. This year, they decided they wanted to have a more local cause to swim for, and that’s where the community foundation came in. Jones and fellow swimmers recruited more friends for this year’s watery challenge, but they set a rule for participation in the invitational event. Each swimmer had to raise $1,000 before he would be able to join in. This guaranteed that the Peace Frogs Bank to Bank Fund would have the $10,000 minimum needed to establish an endowed fund with the community foundation. Jones said he has been getting calls daily from folks wanting to join in the swim, but he has turned them down for logistical and philanthropical reasons. Planning for and coordinating an event for a large group of people would take more time than he has available, he said, and much of the money raised would have to go toward paying for the fundraising efforts. “Our big thing is not to be too commercial,” said Jones. “Here, zero dollars are going toward staff or fluff. There’s no overhead; one hundred percent goes to the kids.” In addition to Jones, those swimming this year will be Paul Barausky, Bill Boyd, Sean Driscoll, Scott Finney, David Julien, Scott Paget, Jonathan Peebles, Derek Robertson and Peter Wilcox. In support of the swimmers, the Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad has volunteered to send its boat, along with personnel, and various friends and family members have agreed to be spotters, as well. Jones said the swim wouldn’t be possible without the support of the Gloucester Community Foundation, which has made it possible to set up the endowment “without all the headaches and paperwork” and which manages the funds free of charge. “I don’t think people realize how great it is,” he said. Donors to the Peace Frogs Bank to Bank Fund may choose to support a specific swimmer, and each donor will be noted at one of six levels of donation, from “Tadpole” at the $50 level on up to “Peace Frog” at the $1,000 level. To donate to the fund, call (804) 695-1314, ext. 228, or send a check in care of the fund to P.O. Box 1443, Williamsburg, Va. 23187. All donations are tax deductible. Another way to donate is by visiting the Peace Frogs website at www.PeaceFrogs.com and buying the special Peace Frogs T-shirt designed for the occasion. The shirt costs $25, and $20 from each sale will go toward the fund. ~~~~~ Gloucester Gazette-Journal  June 23, 2005 Gloucester Community Foundation: Charitable Giving Made Easy by Sherry Hamilton The Peace Frogs Bank to Bank Fund is one of the most recent charitable funds established under the auspices of the Gloucester Community Foundation. Foundation chair Peter Hunt said the upcoming Bank to Bank fundraiser will give Gloucester residents a way to help county children over the long haul, since it will offer people who aren’t particularly wealthy a chance to contribute to a perpetual fund. But Peace Frogs Bank to Bank is only one way folks can participate in the Gloucester Community Foundation’s charitable giving programs. The foundation offers a safe way to establish a named or endowed fund without all the legal and financial hassles a private fund would create, said Hunt. “We’re making it easier for someone to give because they know they’ve got someone to carry out their intentions,” said Hunt, “someone to take over all the reporting responsibilities. That way, even after someone dies, someone is left to make sure their intentions are carried out.” Community foundations have proven to be safe investments that grow over time so that more money becomes available for charitable purposes, said Hunt. He pointed out that the Richmond Community Foundation, with which the Gloucester foundation is affiliated, was established in the late 1980s with $1.5 million and today has assets totaling $510 million. Hunt said that individual donations made to the foundation, large or small, can go into its general endowment fund, which is overseen by the board of directors and currently contains about $80,000. The money in the fund is invested, and the bulk of the investment proceeds—currently about five percent per year, or $4,000—is returned to the county in the form of grants. As the fund grows, so will the amount that can be given away each year for charitable purposes. Hunt hopes to see the fund grow to $2 million, which would allow the foundation the discretionary freedom to award $100,000 in grants each year in perpetuity—essentially, forever. For the individual who wants to honor a loved one or make sure his or her money is spent for a specific purpose, a community foundation offers several different types of funds. A donor may establish an endowed fund in the name of an individual or a cause and give the community foundation control over the way the investment earnings are spent, just as it makes decisions about the general fund. Currently, Gloucester Community Foundation has two such funds, one of which was made in memory of Hunt’s late wife, Barbara. A donor-advised fund can be established, with which the donor receives an immediate tax deduction and has someone else take over the legal and accounting responsibilities but still retains the right to say how the money should be spent. A donor-advised, endowed fund is handled in a similar fashion, but the money is invested so that the fund is perpetual, and the earnings on the investment are spent yearly according to the donor’s wishes. An entity-specific fund is a way for a donor to give to a certain organization, agency, or other entity in perpetuity. The Gloucester foundation’s Puller Vocational Center Fund is one example. A fund can be targeted to a specific service area, such as the developmentally disabled or the aged. The Peace Frogs Bank to Bank Fund, which targets children, falls under this category. Another such fund currently under GCF’s umbrella targets needs in the Gloucester Point area. Hunt said that writing a check to GCF is as simple as writing a check to an organization such as the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, except that all the money is sure to be spent in Gloucester County and not on projects in other areas. Since its inception in 2000, Gloucester Community Foundation has awarded a total of $190,000 in grants, said Hunt in the foundation’s 2004 report. During that time, it supported causes as varied as the Free Clinic, the Gloucester Library, the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, the Rosewell Foundation, and the Friends of Dragon Run. In addition to direct support of charitable organizations, the foundation hopes to increase local charitable giving by helping to raise public awareness of the needs in Gloucester and by fostering civic pride and community spirit in the county. To that end, it has helped sponsor such events as last month’s program at VIMS on the role of Gloucester and Jamestown in the upcoming Jamestown 2007 commemoration, and past forums on Main Street, Smart Growth Development, and the Gloucester Gateway project. The foundation is currently planning two forums for November. They will be on the aging of the Gloucester population and the ways in which the county can deal with an older population in the future. For more information, visit the foundation’s website at gloucestercf.org. Donations may be made to Gloucester Community Foundation, P.O. Box 2303, Gloucester, Va. 23061. ~~~~~ Gloucester Gazette-Journal May 19, 2005 Gloucester Forges Link To Jamestown’s 400th by Sherry Hamilton Werowocomoco will be a key element in Gloucester County’s participation in the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown being planned for 2007. Chief Powhatan’s historic seat of government and the place where Pocahontas reportedly saved Captain John Smith’s life, Werowocomoco, has been determined by archaeologists to have been located on the shores of Purton Bay in Gloucester. During a gathering at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on May 6 sponsored by the Gloucester Community Foundation and the Gloucester Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, foundation chair Peter Hunt said Gloucester should “hook up” with the celebration being planned at Jamestown, since Gloucester is “in many ways just as important.” Hunt pointed out that the present-day United States is the result not only of “an adventure of the English,” but also of “the response of the Indians.” “We want to begin to take advantage of this,” said Hunt. “To discuss what Gloucester might do. In 2007, let’s have a great celebration. Let everyone know what contributions have been made to the history of Virginia and the United States.” Two noted archaeologists presented their findings during the meeting—Dr. William Kelso, who has become well known internationally for his work on the Jamestown Rediscovery project, and Dr. Randall Turner, district director for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, who has been involved with the work at Purton Bay since it began. The two men tied the histories of Jamestown and Werowocomoco closely together. “It’s fantastic that we are studying the two capitals of the nations that met in 1607,” said Kelso. “You cannot tell the story of Jamestown without telling the story of the Powhatan Indians,” said Turner. “Gloucester has a unique opportunity because one of the most important sites is here.” JAMESTOWN Kelso outlined the discoveries he has made over the past 11 years since he first began his archaeological dig on Jamestown Island. He said his findings had proved that James Fort didn’t wash away into the James River, as had been thought for many years, but that it was built on the highest part of Jamestown Island, and had been built over during subsequent construction projects on the island. All three sides of the triangular-shaped, 100’x100’x100’ fort that was described in the records of the Virginia Company have been uncovered, said Kelso, and much of the town plan has been identified, including where people lived and what they did. The governor’s palace was most likely built in the half-timber construction typical of a traditional London row house. “Jamestown is a time capsule in places,” he said. European artifacts, such as military armor, a dagger, and a pewter flagon, have turned up alongside numerous Indian objects, appearing to prove that “there were indigenous peoples on both sides of that palisade.” Even a few burials have been found, said Kelso, most notably one of a captain. When DNA testing has been completed, the skeleton may turn out to be that of Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold, who is thought to have been in line for the governorship at the time of his death in 1607. Kelso said he had been able to lay to rest some of the myths that had grown up around the settlement. He said that, far from being unprepared for the job they were sent to do in the New World, the colonists were well-supplied for their tasks of looking for precious metals, performing metallurgical experiments, and making glass and other modern items. “There were all these hopes…” he said. The establishment of a settlement that was self-governing and the building of the first capitol building in the New World were “huge” events, said Kelso, and his team is “putting together new ways of understanding and accessing Jamestown.” By 2007, the Jamestown dig will be marked by a building with a glass floor through which visitors will be able to view the site and see the archaeology without damaging it. Among other things, the building will include a glass window with a “virtual viewer” that will allow visitors to “peel back” the modern landscape to see the surrounding land as it must have looked when the settlers arrived. “We have found James Fort,” concluded Kelso proudly, “and we’ve been very lucky.” WEROWOCOMOCO Turner gave a run-down of some of the most important sites in Virginia that date to the period of the Europeans’ initial settlement. But, he said, “as important as the last 400 years have been for Virginia, people have been living here for 15,000 years.” “The last 400 years are only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “It’s about all of those people living here before—far beyond Jamestown.” Turner said that Chief Powhatan had ruled over 15,000 subjects, with “remarkable power” that was exhibited through a consolidation of economic, social, and religious authority. Virginia was dense with Indian settlements, said Turner, with Powhatan ruling over 100 settlements in 30 districts that were roughly the size of present-day counties. “Werowocomoco is an important piece of the history of Virginia,” he said. “It has national and international significance.” Turner again made his case for determining that Purton Bay was the site of Werowocomoco, discussing at length the numerous archaeologists who long suspected as much; the clues derived from maps made in 1607, 1608, 1612, and present day; the descriptions written by Capt. Smith and others who visited Powhatan’s capital; and the numerous artifacts collected by Lynn Ripley, who owns the property today, along with her husband, Bob Ripley. Evaluation of the site and its archaeological structures, along with artifacts that have turned up at the dig over the past couple of years (all of which have been reported on in this newspaper) have confirmed his initial assessment. Although the 2007 celebration is an important benchmark, Turner said his work will extend well beyond it, and he considers that work very important. “As great an opportunity as we have to tell the story of Jamestown, we have to understand what was going on in Werowocomoco,” he said. “And it’s right here in your county.” At the end of the meeting, Carole Steele, director of Gloucester Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, urged those in attendance to spread the word about participating in the upcoming celebration. “There’s so much we can do,” said Steele. “Let’s take advantage of tourism dollars and boost Gloucester’s economy…Let’s learn more of our history and make improvements so Gloucester’s a better place to be.” To Read Additional News about the G. C. F., please click on Page:  1  2  4  5  6  7

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