Gloucester Community Foundation : News



To preserve and enhance the quality of life in Gloucester through philanthropy

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	*Daily Press* October 23, 2003 DONATION The Gloucester Community Foundation donated $5,000 to the Samaritan Group of Gloucester for the Isabel Assistance Fund. The fund is a joint initiative of the Samaritan Group of Gloucester and the Salvation Army to help Gloucester families devastated by the hurricane. The announcement was made at the Gloucester Community Foundation’s annual “Gloucester Forward” event Oct. 10. Foundation board member Irving Rogers said, “Our foundation board sought the advice of community leaders and county officials and determined that the Isabel Assistance Fund was the best vehicle to help people in serious need.” He added, “We are pleased to make this grant in partnership with The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia, of which we are an affiliate.” The Samaritan Group and the Salvation Army will work together and with the county in identifying and verifying individual needs and disbursing funds. Martha Borden, co-chair of the board of the Samaritan Group said, “We greatly appreciate the Gloucester Community Foundation’s taking the lead in responding to the1 urgent needs of people in our county. While the immediate crisis is over, many people have lost homes and need help to put their lives back together.” Rogers also announced and additional $1,000 grant to be allocated to the Gloucester schools to assist teachers whose homes were lost or flooded but who came back to work to get the school system back to normal. Rogers expressed appreciation for the work of Ben Kiser, superintendent of schools, and his colleagues in getting schools up and running again. The Gloucester Community Foundation was established in 2000 to preserve and enhance the quality of life in Gloucester through philanthropy. For more information visit their website at www.gloucestercf.org People can donate to the Isabel Assistance Fund by sending a check to Samaritan Group, P.O. Box784, White Marsh, VA 23183. *Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal* October 16, 2003 STORM RELIEF FUND OVER $25,000 TO DATE IN GLOUCESTER By Bill Nachman The newly organized Isabel Assistance Fund in Gloucester has already received more than $25,000 in donations, spokesman Sid Dixon said Monday. Dixon, who is treasurer of the Samaritan Group, which is spearheading the special fund with the Salvation Army, said a total of $25,000 had been received by Monday morning, including $11,500 from Ware Episcopal Church, $6,250 from the Gloucester Rotary Club, and $500 from Beulah Baptist Church, among other donations, Dixon said. Besides this good start for the fund, other recent pledges of support have included $5,000 from Gloucester Community Foundation and $7,500 from Gloucester Point Rotary Club. The Gloucester Community Foundation was established in 2000 to preserve and enhance the quality of life in Gloucester through philanthropy. In announcing its grant to the Isabel Assistance Fund, foundation board member, Irving Rogers said the group’s board felt this fund was “the best vehicle to help people in serious need.” Tax-deductible donations will go to assist those community members who are in most need, even after they have accessed all available community services and resources, a Community Ed resource said. Put into more concrete terms, Dixon illustrated with an elderly couple hard hit by the hurricane (he’s blind and they have few possessions or resources), and officials were able to arrange several days’ motel room for them – until more permanent arrangements can be worked out. Salvation Army stuff and volunteers will screen all persons seeking aid from the new fund, Dixon said. A person might already be receiving through the Gloucester Department of Social Services or federal emergency relief, he said, but still might qualify for the special help. Most persons who would seek the aid would be low income, Dixon said. However, some might have had good jobs but have become unemployed following the storm, such as local watermen who can’t work right now because they might have lost a boat. The fund is a way to fill some of the gaps that other relief funds might nit cover, Dixon said. For example, relief officials are receiving many requests for appliances, since so many people lost their refrigerators, washing machines and the like during the hurricane. Checks can be made payable to Samaritan Group, Inc. (designate “Isabel Assistance Fund” in the memo section of the check) and mail to Samaritan Group, P.O. Box 784, White Marsh, Va. 23183. For more information call 693-2252. Each individual or group that makes a donation to the group, which helps Gloucester families devastated by the recent hurricane, will be contacted by the Gloucester County Department of Community Education to see if the donation can be announced publicly. Anonymous donations are, of course, most welcome as well. DISASTER AID (accompanying caption with photo): Gloucester Community Foundation directors Irving Rogers and John Gillis talk with Martha Borden and Sid Dixon, directors of the Samaritan Group, following the foundation’s announcement Friday of a $5,000 grant to the Isabel Assistance Fund. The fund is a joint effort of the Samaritan Group and the Salvation Army to assist those in need following Hurricane Isabel. The foundation also donated a $1,000 grant to Gloucester schools to help teachers who lost homes in the storm. *Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal* October 16, 2003 PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION TOPICS AT FOUNDATION PROGRAM Trends in historic preservation, and in conservation of national resources, were the focus of the Gloucester Forward program held Friday night at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point. The Gloucester Community Foundation sponsored the program, which attracted about 100 people. Its topic was “Community Treasures Built and Unbuilt: Celebrating Our Historic and Natural Resources.” Calder Loth, senior architectural historian of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, cited local successful examples of preservation easements, such as Lowland Cottage in Ware Neck, the first in the state’s program, dating from 1971, initiated by the late Ludwell Montague. Also cited were easements at Roaring Springs, initiated by the late Sam and Emily Janney; Toddsbury, by the late Gay Montague Moore; Shelly and its surrounding land, by the owners, Col. and Mrs. Cecil Wray Page; and the Long Bridge Ordinary. Nicole Marie Rovner, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy of Virginia, talked about the group’s mission to conserve lands important to biodiversity and cited, among other examples, the recent acquisition of 452 acres along Dragon Run. The tract includes a bald cypress swamp. Rovner told the group this tract is at the heart of the Chesapeake Bay’s largest intact forest, and that the Dragon supports more than 165 plant species, and 55 fish species. Both speakers mentioned resources for landowners, including their own organizations, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Middle Peninsula Land Trust, and Mathews County Land Conservancy *Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal* October 2, 2003 COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PROGRAM OCT. 10 Gloucester Community Foundation will be the host for this year’s “Gloucester Forward” program at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10 at Waterman’s Hall on the Virginia Institute of Marine Science campus, Gloucester Point. The program is titled “Gloucester Built and Unbuilt.” The first portion of the program, “Gloucester Built,” will be presented by Calder Loth, senior architectural historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Nikki Rovner, director of governmental relations for the Virginia Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, will present the second portion of the program, “Gloucester Unbuilt.” Persons interested in attending are asked to call in advance of the program since seating is limited. *Media Release* September 10, 2003 GLOUCESTER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION AND MATHEWS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION TEAM UP WITH BAY AGING TO PROVIDE FREE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS TO NEEDY Bay Aging, armed with a $8,200 grant by the Gloucester Community Foundation and the Mathews Community Foundation, has announced the introduction of an exciting new program called “The Pharmacy Connection,” which will offer free prescription drugs to needy citizens in Gloucester and Mathews. “The grant to fund this program is a huge step towards alleviating a big problem for many low income people in our area,” said Patsy Taylor, Vice President Care Coordination for Bay Aging. “Lack of access to affordable drugs is more widespread than you would think. In fact we have a surprising number of low income individuals, mostly elderly, that all too often have to choose between buying food or prescription drugs. With the introduction of “The Pharmacy Connection,” many low income individuals will be able to receive prescription drug benefits that most of us take for granted when we get sick.” Bay Aging will be working with local physicians, hospital discharge planners, the Department of Social Services, the Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic and other human service agencies to identify those having difficulty affording prescription drugs. These are generally low income individuals without insurance benefits who suffer from chronic diseases requiring long-term medications. Using “The Pharmacy Connection,” a software package developed by the Virginia Healthcare Foundation, Bay Aging now has the ability to link up an eligible recipient with a major pharmaceutical company, which will make the appropriate drugs available free of charge. The grant by the Gloucester Community Foundation and the Mathews Community Foundation will fund a part-time employee solely dedicated to administering and overseeing “The Pharmacy Connection.” In a joint statement by Bob Roper, Chairman of the Mathews Community Foundation and Peter Hunt, Chairman of the Gloucester Community Foundation, they said, “The mission of our organizations is to improve the quality of life for those living in out communities, particularly those less fortunate. We are delighted to be working together to bring resources to a project that has the promise of doing so much good for so many needy in our communities. This public/private partnership is the type of collaboration that both Community Foundations seek to foster.” Bay Aging is a private, nonprofit charitable organization serving the elderly in the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula. For more information about the “Pharmacy Connection,” call Bay Aging at 693-6109. If you want more information about the foundations, write: Gloucester Community Foundation, P.O. Box 2303, Gloucester, VA 23061 Mathews Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1037, Mathews, VA 23109 To Read Additional News about the G. C. F., please click on Page: 1 2 3 4 5 7

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