Good Tidings News from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation
Scholarship Recipient
2018
Recent Grants
Helping the Earth One Tree at a Time Photo by Glen McClure
There is a reason Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarship recipient Sarah Stermer is nicknamed Sarah Sapling. Thanks to her, there are 1,225 new native trees growing at Virginia Beach schools this year and 1,850 saplings taking root in Haiti where deforestation is rampant. And, Sarah is just beginning her work to improve the environment by planting trees. Sarah, a Virginia Wesleyan University freshman, is among 413 students attending college this year with help from Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarships started by donors from all walks of life. Like Sarah, all of the scholarship recipients are finding their ways to make our world better. “I am so honored to receive this scholarship,” says Sarah of the Joseph E. and Bertha White Harry Scholarship. Sarah is among 34 Harry Scholars this year at VWU in Sarah Stermer, a Virginia Wesleyan University Virginia Beach and Old Dominion freshman, gets ready to plant trees on her campus. University in Norfolk. Sarah’s environmental advocacy started during her Kellam High School AP environmental science class where she learned Virginia Beach’s tree canopy was below the national average. To help remedy that, she raised money and engaged schools and other partners to plant trees in 2017 and 2018. She started her environmental crusade by emailing the Virginia Beach mayor about her city’s lack of trees. She was surprised when he met with her and handed her $20 to buy trees. From there, Sarah secured more trees and funding. She partnered with a farm to plant trees in Haiti and with Virginia Beach schools to plant trees on school grounds. This fall Sarah led the planting of about 50 cypress and sycamore saplings at VWU. For Sarah, planting trees lets her take “direct action and C O N T I N U E D P. 10 promote positive change.” She motivates others by sharing her
FA L L / W I N T E R
................................................. 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: .................................................
An Achievable Dream Virginia Beach ,
$600,000 over three years to expand its program at Seatack Elementary An Achievable Dream Academy for students moving to sixth grade at Lynnhaven Middle School.
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Chesapeake Bay Foundation , $250,000 matching grant to design and build a mobile oyster restoration center for Hampton Roads.
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The Children’s Center , $100,000 to help construct an addition to its Suffolk center and expand its Early Head Start program from two days to five days.
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Children’s Health Investment Program (CHIP) , $141,928 to renovate its Chesapeake headquarters to accommodate additional nonprofits and community meeting space and for a home-visiting parent educator to help low-income families in Norfolk with children under age 6.
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Communities in Schools of Hampton Roads , $590,640 over three years for a site
coordinator to help students at Booker T. Washington High School, Ruffner Academy and Chesterfield Academy in Norfolk and to support programs at Bayside 6th Grade Campus and Bettie F. Williams Elementary in Virginia Beach.
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The Honor Foundation , $30,000 to pilot an online virtual campus program for transitioning Hampton Roads military service members.
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