Good Tidings News from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation
S p r i n g / Su m m e r
2018
Photo by Glen McClure
Recent Grants Alex Kmiechiak (left), Bobbi Ann Gordon and Dyontay Beale learn how to test water quality in the retention pond behind King’s Fork High School.
Connecting the Classroom with the Environment
Teens Learn to Care for Waterways
Two years ago, Dyontay Beale didn’t know much about sea-level rise. But learning about the Nansemond River, which flows through his hometown, inspired this Suffolk junior to work on a waterway preservation proposal for the Suffolk City Council. Beale, a three-sport athlete and president of the King’s Fork High School Ecology Club, is among 100 students at his school learning to be good stewards of our region’s waterways. All are either in King’s Fork’s ecology club or Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. They are part of the Connecting the Classroom with the Environment program sponsored by the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance. Since 2012, Hampton Roads Community Foundation grants to the Alliance, Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center and the Elizabeth River Project have helped more than 20,000 area students understand why caring for waterways is important. In Suffolk, a community foundation grant funds a part-time Nansemond River Preservation Alliance staff member and pays for equipment and supplies. The high school program builds upon a Suffolk middle school program the Alliance started in 2013 with help from a community foundation environmental grant. King’s Fork High School students like Beale are learning how “what they do on land affects the waterways,” says Cindy Pinell, the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance’s high The amount of grants school program manager. Among the students she teaches is 10th-grader Jack Van Straten, who also and scholarships we put was in the Alliance’s middleC O N T I N U E D P. 3 into action in 2017. school environmental program.
$15.6 + million:
................................................. The Hampton Roads Community Foundation recently awarded the following competitive grants to area nonprofit organizations. Grants were made possible by donors’ fieldof-interest and unrestricted funds. Recipients are: ................................................. Ability Center of Virginia , $2,500 from The Laura Turner Fund to support the expansion of social and recreational day programs for adults with cerebral palsy.
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Business Consortium for Arts Support , $475,000 to help support 38
performing and visual arts organizations. (Grant provided from the Ashinoff Family Fund for the Arts, Community Fund for Arts and Culture, Lee A. & Helen G. Gifford Endowment for the Cultural and Performing Arts, William A. Goldback Fund, Paul S. Huber Memorial Fund, Perry and Bunny Morgan Fund, the John L. Roper, 2nd and Sara Dryfoos Roper Fund and the Tyler Cultural Fund.)
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Chesapeake Humane Society , $60,000 from the Alfred L. Nicholson Fund for animal welfare to improve the animal shelter and purchase equipment. .................................................
Children’s Assistive Technology Service , $2,000 from the Jennifer Lynn Gray Fund to purchase communication devices for a lending library for families with children who have a diagnosed communications delay.
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Communities in Schools of Virginia ,
$12,500 from the Harry F. Wall Memorial Fund for a site coordinator for Hampton High School and the Performance Learning Center to connect students in danger of dropping out of school with services to help them graduate and remain successful after graduation. ........................ C O N T I N U E D P. 5
Smith Scholars
Giving back to his community is ingrained in Reginald Osardu. He is one of 15 Virginia students attending medical school this year with help from the Florence L. Smith Scholarship administered by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. This medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine was born in Ghana. He was inspired to become a physician after his aunt died during childbirth and two cousins received medicine that harmed them. “I thought being in the health field would cause change and cause there to be some accountability,” Reginald Osardu visits with Dr. Edward Lilly, a retired Norfolk physician Osardu says. He started medical school in 2016 who also received a Smith Scholarship while in medical school in the 1960s. “wanting to serve the underserved community.” Osardu came to the United States at age 15 Medical Association, Osardu established a and graduated from high school in Woodbridge, mentoring program for undergraduate VCU Virginia. He earned his undergraduate degree students interested in medical careers. He led in clinical laboratory science from VCU in 2011 When you give back, efforts to raise money to buy backpacks and and worked in a lab for five years while dreaming supplies for students at a Title I elementary school you help someone, of becoming a physician. He is happy to be in the chapter adopted. At a recent career day, he medical school and to have a Florence Smith and they in turn encouraged students to think about future careers Scholarship to help him pay for it. in medicine. help someone else. Osardu chose the VCU School of Medicine “When you give back, you help someone, and because of his undergraduate experience at VCU. they in turn help someone else,” he says. “Every little He also wanted to find ways to help Richmond’s bit of help and service is a blessing to someone.” homeless and disadvantaged populations. He Osardu is grateful Florence L. Smith, his Reginald Osardu, does that through the Capital Area Health scholarship donor, gave back to her community Florence L. Smith Scholarship Education Center, where he is on the board of to help aspiring doctors like him pay for their recipient directors and teaches people in underserved education. He is among a community of 750 communities to check their blood pressure and physicians who have benefitted from her embrace healthy lifestyles. He also visits barbershops and hair scholarship started in 1952. salons to talk with clients about available community programs “Receiving this scholarship has given me motivation,” and health careers. Osardu says, “It tells me that I should continue doing what As president of the VCU chapter of the Student National I’m doing.”
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Ula’s Life said a lot about her. What does your life say about you?
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Ula Motekat was an Old Dominion University professor who loved music, art, cats and nature. She was a regular at concerts and museums, and classical music was always playing in her home. When Ula died in 2016, her estate gift created a fund that annually benefits seven of her favorite Hampton Roads nonprofits. Connect your passions to the future, and let your life speak for you. Learn how at (757) 622-7951 or leaveabequest.org.
H a m p to n R oa d s C o m m u n i t y Fo u n dat i o n
Adding Ch a to Your W rity ill or IRA
A quick gu
ide to the pleasure an d promise of charitable bequests
Inspiring Phila nthropy. Chan ging
Lives.
Ph ot o by A d i a Th omp son W h i t e
Future Physician Already Helps Others
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Foundation grant awarded in 2016 pays for curriculum development and an education coordinator for the River Academy. The Academy provides hands-on outdoor education experiences for students ranging from kindergarten through high school in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, Elizabeth River Project’s executive director, says the Academy program integrates all its learning platforms – the Learning Barge floating classroom, Paradise Creek Nature Park in Portsmouth and the Wetlands in the Classroom and River Star School programs. Educating and encouraging students to care for the environment and giving them the opportunity to pass along their knowledge creates a ripple effect. Elizabeth Taraski, Nansemond River Preservation Alliance president and CEO, says the goal is to encourage students to “make sure we leave things even better for the next generation.” Photo by Glen McClure
His studies inspired him to create a living shoreline at Suffolk’s Sleepy Hole Park for his Eagle Scout project. One hallmark of the environmental program is having high school students teach younger students what they have learned. Three times each semester, high school students in the program walk to neighboring King’s Fork Middle School to lead life-science classes. Through hands-on projects and experiments, they teach younger students about water quality issues and ways to care for the environment. In Virginia Beach, nearly 850 sixth- and seventh- graders participate in the Virginia Aquarium’s Soaking Up Science program. Its team of professionals work with students from Corporate Landing Middle School, Old Donation School and Princess Anne Middle School to help them understand watersheds and the impact of sea-level rise. A three-year grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation funds this pilot program. Instructors build relationships with Virginia Beach City Public Schools students and reinforce environmental concepts throughout the school year. Rachel Riesback Clark, Virginia Aquarium school and youth programs specialist, says students start their year with an aquarium visit. Then they go on a field trip to explore a marsh and learn about oysters. A few months later, instructors visit classrooms to teach sessions on sea-level rise. The program culminates with a spring family night at the aquarium where students share what they’ve learned. At the Elizabeth River Project, a threeyear Hampton Roads Community FROM
King’s Fork High School students in Suffolk are good stewards of area waterways.
Community Foundation Milestones
Donor Funds Do Good for Decades
In 2018 we celebrate milestone anniversaries of these charitable funds, which continue to underpin grants and scholarships in our region:
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George Chamberlaine Fund (designated)
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Clarence B. Robertson Fund (unrestricted)
Carrie Biggs Morrison Memorial Fund (scholarships)
Ralph B. Douglass Fund (unrestricted)
Charles G. Brown Fund (field of interest) Elsie Stewart Copeland Fund (designated) Enid W. and Bernard B. Spigel Architectural Fund (scholarship)
65 years:
60 years:
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50 years:
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45 years:
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40 years:
I.T. Walke Funds (designated and unrestricted)
35 years:
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Leave your mark
Kay A. Stine Vice President for Development
Full Sail Ahead
Two Giants Leave Lasting Legacies Macon F. Brock Jr. and Toy D. Savage
These two native sons returned to Hampton Roads after college to live, work and raise their families as they devoted themselves to improving life in our region. Both were important members of our Hampton Roads Community Foundation family, and we greatly miss them. Macon, co-founder and CEO of Dollar Tree, was our board’s vice chair when he passed away at age 75. Toy, a partner in the Willcox Savage law firm, died at age 96. He retired from our board in 2012 after serving for 38 years and chairing our board for five years. Both Macon and Toy were part of the 2010 merger of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach foundations that Macon F. Brock Jr. created the Hampton Roads
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Ph ot o by G ayl e Donovan
embraced our region and made it better. These two philanthropists and business leaders passed away in December leaving inspiring legacies of generosity and civic engagement. Thanks to them, southeastern Virginia residents enjoy better health care, a world-class art museum and enhanced educational opportunities.
Community Foundation – our region’s largest grant and scholarship provider. We appreciate Macon and Toy’s foresight and generosity in establishing community foundation endowments that will To explore ways forever improve life for others. you can leave a In 2012, Macon and Joan lasting legacy, Brock started a community contact Kay at kstine@ foundation fund to support scholarships at Macon’s beloved hamptonroadscf.org alma mater, Randolph-Macon or (757) 622-7951 College in Ashland. Every year we send a grant in the Brocks’ name to Randolph-Macon for its scholarship program. We are honored that Macon’s family chose us to receive memorial gifts for the Joan and Macon Brock Scholarship Fund for Randolph-Macon College. The Brocks also have an unrestricted fund at the community foundation. Toy was a long-time community foundation supporter and a founding member of our Legacy Society. A gift from his estate created the Toy D. Savage Fund in December. Its purpose is unrestricted in keeping with Toy’s wishes to support a variety of causes. He was a fan of our community foundation’s ability to adapt to changing community needs and liked to describe us as “permanent as the ocean; changing as the tide.” Toy D. Savage Beyond the community foundation, both of these civic leaders played key roles in the success of many area institutions, including Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Chrysler Museum of Art and Old Dominion University. As a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in the 1960s, Toy introduced legislation that created EVMS. He later was vice chair of the school’s planning commission and served on the EVMS Foundation Board of Trustees. His interest in health care was amplified by his service on the Sentara Healthcare board and his leadership of a statewide health-care committee. At EVMS, Macon and his wife Joan honored his late father, a physician, with a 2012 gift that created the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health, which expanded the school’s community-oriented focus on local and global health issues. Both Macon and Toy served as trustees of The Chrysler
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Recent Grants
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Eastern Virginia Medical School , $15,000 from the Charles G. Brown Fund for pediatric neuropsychological research.
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Faith Inclusion Network , $1,000 from
the Jennifer Lynn Gray Fund to support four curriculum development sessions to create an interfaith disability inclusion guide for faith communities.
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Friends of Fred Heutte Foundation, $2,000 from the Julian Haden Gary and Margaret Savage Gary Fund for horticulture education for the Urban Gardener Lecture Series. ....................................................
ForKids Inc. , $135,000 over three years from the Perry and Bunny Morgan Fund to provide support services and direct assistance to homeless families.
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Norfolk Botanical Garden , $15,000 from
the Julian Haden Gary and Margaret Savage Gary Fund for horticulture education for the 2018 summer nature program.
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Norfolk SPCA , $150,000 from the Alfred
Virginia Beach CASA , $150,000 over
L. Nicholson Fund for animal welfare for updated equipment and enhancements to the animal shelter.
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Peninsula Fine Arts Center , $1,200 from
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the Mary E. and Curtis M. Chappell Jr. Fund for arts and humanities on the Peninsula for the Artistic Verses writing program for Newport News Public Schools students.
Virginia Beach SPCA , $100,000
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Piano grants , $229,949 from the E.K.
Virginia Zoological Society , $5,000 from the Julian Haden Gary and Margaret Savage Gary Fund for horticulture education at the Zoo’s farm.
Sloane Fund to help eight organizations buy pianos. Recipients are Bethel Baptist Church of Yorktown, The College of William and Mary, Governor’s School for the Arts Foundation, Newport News Public Schools, the Village at Woods Edge, Virginia Wesleyan University, York High School and Zeider’s American Dream Theater.
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Stop Abuse , $41,730 from the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund for an education program empowering children in Portsmouth Public Schools to be safe and free from abuse. .................................................
Museum of Art in Norfolk. Toy founded the Honorable Society of Former Trustees to support preservation of the museum’s artwork. Macon cochaired the museum’s capital campaign that expanded galleries and created the Perry Glass Studio. A gift from the Brocks endowed the Brock Curator of American Art position and supports the museum’s American art collection. Macon and Toy actively supported various educational institutions as well as the ACCESS College Foundation, which helps area students prepare for and pay for college. Toy chaired FROM
three years from the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund for a mentoring program to help foster care youth ages 14-18 develop a plan to transition to independent living.
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Celebrating 80 New Homes
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VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads , $145,000 for VolunTier Vision, a technology-based program that connects volunteers with nonprofit leadership opportunities in Hampton Roads. .................................................
YWCA of South Hampton Roads ,
$30,252 from the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund for emergency hotel shelter and transportation for survivors of domestic violence.
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the Old Dominion University Educational Foundation and was a life trustee of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges. Macon and Joan Brock donated transformative gifts to their alma maters – Longwood University and RandolphMacon College as well as ODU and Virginia Wesleyan University. They also gave the lead gift that created the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, where the Chesapeake Bay Foundation focuses on environmental education. The list of Macon and Toy’s accomplishments is a lengthy one. Their generosity will forever help others lead better lives.
provided nearly $2.2 million to build Virginia Supportive Housing’s apartment buildings in Hampton Roads and underpin its work in the region.
Courtesy photo
Supporters, staff and residents recently celebrated the opening of Church Street Station Studios in Norfolk. Church Street Station provides 80 apartments that include services that help formerly homeless and low-income clients have stability. This is Virginia Supportive Housing’s sixth new housing community in Hampton Roads. Others are in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. Grants from the Perry and Bunny Morgan Fund, Allison J. and Ella W. Parsons Fund and the Nancy N. Nusbaum and V.H. Nusbaum Funds of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation helped build Church Street Station Studios. Since 2006, grants from community foundation donors have
from the Alfred L. Nicholson Fund for improvements to the shelter and support for the Happy Paws Training Center.
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Deborah DiCroce President and CEO
Soundings
Linking Transitioning Service Members to New Careers Several years ago, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation launched a major initiative on regional economic competitiveness. You might recall my earlier columns on it. Our concern was rooted in the historical reality that Hampton Roads relies heavily on military and defenserelated spending to drive its economy. We concluded that we needed to create more and higher paying jobs to diversify and strengthen the region’s economy. In turn, a high employment multiplier would spur job growth in existing businesses as well as in entrepreneurial start-up businesses and out-of-state businesses looking to relocate or expand. Today that work is under Reinvent Hampton Roads, a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) the foundation established in 2016 and continues to support. The work is complex, and the region has a long way to go in building a stronger, more diversified economy. One of the key building blocks of such a regional economy is a cutting edge, well trained, readily available workforce— which brings me to the good tidings of this column.
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Over the past two years, the foundation has been collaborating with Opportunity, Inc., the region’s workforce development entity, to stand up a regional veterans’ transition center. No such center existed. There was no coordinated way to connect the 10,000 service men and women annually transitioning out of the military in Hampton Roads with civilian career opportunities in the region even though their skillsets align well with individual business workforce needs and the region’s larger economic development goals. We concluded that this lack of coordination was a missed opportunity for both the service members who have sacrificed so much for us and the region’s need for a first-rate workforce. Our collaborative vision was to create a unified community process to advance employment opportunities for transitioning service members, veterans, and their families by combining “high-tech” and “high-touch” tools and strategies, both on site and virtually. A few weeks ago, we cut the ribbon on the Hampton Roads Veterans Transition Center. Opportunity, Inc. is providing the “high-touch” physical space for the center at its Military Circle site in Norfolk. The foundation awarded a major grant to Opportunity, Inc. specifically to support the development of the center’s “high-tech” component. This virtual system lets transitioning service members upload their service training and duty records, translate them into civilian education and workforce equivalency, and connect with realtime job opportunities in the region. Opportunity, Inc. has the responsibility for maintaining the online portal. Tapping into the workforce readiness of the region’s transitioning military and veterans is a key strategy for ensuring a cutting edge, readily available workforce. The foundation was pleased to partner with Opportunity, Inc. to help make this happen. But, we have so much more work to do on this front. A region’s economic future is only as bright as its workforce allows it to be. We simply cannot build a thriving regional economy without a cutting edge, readily available workforce. Rest assured that the Hampton Roads Community Foundation is keeping its sleeves rolled up on this fundamental building block of our future. Stay tuned.
New to the Team
Mission, Vision and Values Our Mission
Sarah Ellis Photos by Glen McClure
The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is guided by its mission, vision and values, which influence the actions we take every day on behalf of our region and its residents.
Make life better in Hampton Roads through leadership, philanthropy, and civic engagement
Our Vision A thriving community with opportunity for all
Our Values Collaboration—finding answers together Excellence—superlative stewardship and service Integrity—honesty and respect in all things Justice—advancing equity and inclusion Knowledge—listening, learning, innovating
Barrett grew up in New Jersey and earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology and sociology from Colgate University, where he was on the basketball, cross-country and track teams. After graduation he served in the Navy for four years before earning a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma. He became an assistant city manager in Chesapeake in 1977 and joined the City of Virginia Beach staff in 1980. He served in the Navy Reserves for 30 years. “Mike is a take-charge guy who tries to solve problems and change things,” says Morris Fine, Runnymede’s vice president, secretary and treasurer. “We balanced each other,” adds Andrew Fine. “On some projects I was the accelerator and he was the brake.” On other projects, they switched roles. FROM
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Sarah Ellis recently joined the Hampton Roads Community Foundation staff as grants manager.
She previously was director of grants for the United Way of South Hampton Roads and grants manager for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia and a certificate of nonprofit management from the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence.
Beyond work, Barrett chaired the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and was president of Virginia Beach Vision. He served on port, tourism and transportation task forces and helped bring a soccer complex to Virginia Beach. Barrett “has been such a strong supporter for regionalism,” says Jim Spore, who heads Reinvent Hampton Roads. Barrett, who lives in Virginia Beach, still drives around with a light rail sticker on his car and “was a real soldier in the blogosphere trying to give insight” through online forums, Spore says. As someone who always uses his real name in online comments, Barrett says he “wanted to increase the level of conversation and keep it as civil as I could.”
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage
PAID
Norfolk, VA Permit No. 3253
101 W. Main Street, Suite 4500 Norfolk, VA 23510 (757) 622-7951 www.hamptonroadscf.org Change Ser vice Requested
B oard Of Directors R. Bruce Bradley, Chair G. Robert Aston Jr. Jane P. Batten Gilbert T. Bland L.D. Britt Susan R. Colpitts Deborah M. DiCroce, President & CEO
Thomas R. Frantz Sharon S. Goodwyn John R. Lawson II Miles B. Leon John F. Malbon Vincent J. Mastracco Jr. Suzanne Puryear James A. Squires
Sally Kirby Hartman, Editor • Adia Thompson White, Associate Editor Bart Morris, Graphic Design
The mission of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation is to make life better in Hampton Roads through leadership, philanthropy, and civic engagement. Its vision is a thriving community with opportunity for all. Established in 1950, the community foundation is a 501 (c) 3 public charity that helps residents of southeastern Virginia lead better lives.
Mike Barrett
Confirmed in Compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations
Retirement Gift Will Last Forever
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Cour tesy photo
Virginia Beach firm and its 50 employees for 31 years until retiring in 2017. During his tenure, the company developed office buildings, townhouses and apartments throughout Hampton Roads. Barrett thrived doing land acquisition, gaining board approvals and working with engineering, designing, marketing, It was a lucky day for Mike Barrett and leasing and managing of buildings. Andrew Fine when a facilitator failed to At his 2017 retirement party, show up for a 1986 Virginia Beach Arts and Barrett’s parting gifts included a new Humanities Commission strategic planning donor-advised fund at the Hampton session. Roads Community Foundation. The meeting seemed doomed until Runnymede Corp. surprised Barrett by Barrett, an assistant city manager, “stood starting the permanent fund that allows up and led an impromptu session” that Barrett, his wife Linda and successor propelled the commission forward. Barrett’s advisors to recommend grants to leadership impressed Fine, the commission’s nonprofits in his name. chair and president of Runnymede Corp. He “We thought this would be a way says he decided that day to “steal Mike from to create something in perpetuity and Mike Barrett the city” to work for his company. hope it will turn on the light for someone A few months later Barrett signed on as CEO of else” to honor a special person, says Andrew Fine, a former Runnymede, a real estate development company headed by community foundation board member. brothers Andrew and Morris Fine. Barrett helped lead the Barrett calls the fund “a tremendous honor.” C O N T I N U E D P. 7