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GCF Gloucester Community Foundation GCF GCF News Page 4 Gloucester Community Foundation GCF GCF Gloucester Community Foundation GCF   Letter from our Chairman As we complete our fifth year, we are pleased to report to you that the Gloucester Community Foundation granted, through its own funds and through grants designated by component funds, a total of $110,000. We would expect a similar sum in 2005. Total gifts since our founding amount to over $190,000. Three or more grant shave gone to such local institutions as the Free Clinic, the Laurel Shelter, the Library, the Salvation Army, the Humane Society, the Rosewell Foundation, the Housing Partnership, the Mobjack Rowing Association, Friends of Dragon Run and the Gloucester Public Schools. The bulk of these gifts came through donor advised funds. Three new such funds were established this year: The Gloucester Point Fund, The Spalding Fund, and The Peace Frogs Bank to Bank Fund (Look for an upcoming news release on "Bank to Bank"). In addition our first memorial fund was established through gifts made in memory of my late, dear wife. We have listed donors to our annual appeal which benefits our permanent endowment. That fund now amounts to $79,439. Many thanks to all who have supported our efforts. ~~~~~ Save the Date! • July 2nd -“Peace Frogs Bank to Bank York River Swim” For more info call 695-1314 • Early November - 5th Annual GLOUCESTER FORWARD “Aging In Gloucester: Are You Ready?” - VIMS ~~~~~ Gloucester Gazette-Journal April 14. 2005 Local Tie To Jamestown’s 400th Is Forum Topic A program on “Tidewater: Birthplace of Our Nation” will be presented on Friday, May 6, in Watermen’s Hall at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point. A reception begins at 6 p.m.; presentation at 7 o’clock. Sponsored by the Gloucester Community Foundation and the Gloucester Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the program will include a discussion of local events being planned in conjunction with the Jamestown celebration in 2007. Speakers for the evening include archaeologist Dr. William M. Kelso, director of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, and Dr. Randolph Turner, regional office director for Virginia Department of Historic Resources and a member of the Werowocomoco Project. Also, Carol Steele, Gloucester Parks, Recreation and Tourism director, will present strategies for the county’s participation in the 2007 events. To reserve a seat for the program, call 693-2355. ~~~~~ Gloucester Gazette-Journal October 21, 2004 GHS Topic Of Panel Discussion Panelists discussed the future of Gloucester High School in a forum held Friday night by the Gloucester Community Foundation. The forum was held at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and was attended by nearly 150 people, according to Anne Marshall of the foundation. Cathy Lewis, host of WHRO’s HearSay, was moderator for the panel, which included David Alexander, professor at Virginia tech; Ben Kiser, superintendent of county schools; William Whitley, county administrator; Ronnie Cohen, chairman of the Gloucester School Board; Louise Theberge, county supervisor; and Shari Forrest, president of the Gloucester Education Foundation. Alexander has recently completed a demographic study of GHS for the school board. GHS opened in 1974 for 1,200 students and now has 2,000. The forum included questions and discussion of a second high school, separate ninth grade academy, restructuring of middle schools, and a magnet school. In other news, foundation president Peter Hunt announced that the 2004 Directory of Philanthropy and Volunteerism in Gloucester, a project of the group, is now available to the public at county libraries and the chamber of commerce. ~~~~~ Daily Press    October17, 2004 Gloucester residents divided over ways to fix high school Ideas to build another facility were mixed by forum attendees favoring a cheaper alternative GLOUCESTER - The financial obligations of building another high school lost out to more creative, cheaper fixes in a forum Friday sponsored by the Gloucester Community Foundation. About half the several dozen people attending the informal affair raised their hands when asked who favored an alternative to a new high school, estimated to cost $42 million. A smattering of hands went up for renovation of the existing high school or for building another one. This consensus was similar to that of the teachers who discussed the issue with their representative, Shari Forrest, president of the Gloucester Education Association. “The teachers are open to a variety of options,” Forrest said. “I have not heard a clamoring for one specific solution.” She noted that of all her colleagues who offered suggestions, only one said the best solution would be a new school. The teachers generally agreed, she said, that there were too many students at the high school and that there was congestion in the cafeteria and hallways. Some of the alternatives that teachers advocated, Forrest said, included building a school that would share facilities and staff with the existing high school. Others were: • Taking freshmen off campus in a ninth-grade academy, thus freeing up room at the high school and reducing student population there. • Housing the eighth- and ninth-graders together, leaving the middle schools for grades six and seven, and the top three grades at the high school. • Build a seventh elementary school and house all sixth-graders in the elementary schools, leaving the two middle schools for seventh through ninth grades. • Build an addition at the high school to house a new cafeteria. Any of these alternatives, Forrest said, would cost the county much less than a news high school. School Board Chairwoman Ronnie Cohen recounted the high school’s history – built in 1974 for $4.5 million to house 1,200 students and expanded in 1993 for $6 million to add classrooms for 750 more students. The expansion, however, didn’t address core facilities in the building, such as the cafeteria and hallways, Cohen said. Enrollment has topped 2,000 since then and now is about 1,995. In addition to rising construction costs, caution in picking a high school solution is prompted by the unusual circumstance of a steady decline in Gloucester’s enrollment, even as the county grows. Declining enrollment is attributed in part to an “extremely high” percentage of children exempted from school for religious reasons – 216 students this year, Superintendent Ben Kiser said. “If, for some reason, they all decide to come back, they could be on our doorstep tomorrow,” he said. The School Board is awaiting recommendations from a committee that conducted a series of public hearings last month. Louise Theberge, a county supervisor who was on the discussion panel, said the supervisors would be open to whatever request was brought to them by the School Board. Ultimately, Theberge said, “we must weigh the community’s willingness and ability to pay” for whichever remedy is picked. ~~~~~ Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal September 23, 2004 Community Panel On Future Of GHS Is Planned On October 15 A Panel presentation on “past, present and future issues” facing Gloucester High School is planned for Friday, Oct. 15 in Watermen’s Hall, Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The program, free and open to the public, is the annual Gloucester Forward program of the Gloucester Community Foundation, which in the past has examined land use, historic preservation and “smart growth.” The evening begins with a reception at 6 o’clock, followed by the panel discussion at 7 and dessert and discussion at 8:30. While it is open to the public, seating is limited and those desiring to attend are asked to call Sue Perrin or Mimi Ulsaker for reservations. Cathy Lewis, host of the talk show HearSay on public radio station WHRO, will moderate the panel. Discussing the issue will be Dr. M. David Alexander, Virginia Tech professor, commissioned by the county school board to study the future needs of GHS; Ronnie Cohen, school board chairman; Shari Forrest, president of the Gloucester Education Association; Dr. Howard B. Kiser, superintendent of schools; Louise Theberge from Gloucester Board of Supervisors; and William H. Whitley, county administrator. The Gloucester Community Foundation was established in 2000 “to preserve and enhance the quality of life in Gloucester through philanthropy.” It is a regional affiliate of The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia. Peter Hunt is chairman, John G. Gillis, vice-chairman; Sue Perrin, treasurer; Mimi Ulsaker, secretary; joined by members Catesby B. Jones, Martha Kent-Hicks, Anne A. Marshall, F. Breckenridge Montague, Irving Rogers and Laurence E. Wilkinson Jr. To Read Additional News about the G. C. F., please click on Page:  1  2  3  5  6  7

G.C.F. Home G.C.F. News Org. Index Why & How To Give Contact Us Gloucester Community Foundation     P.O. Box 2303     Gloucester, VA 23061