Foundation for Roanoke Valley has been serving the community for over 28 years and is one of more than 750 community foundations in the United States.
With 320 named endowment funds, the Foundation currently administers $61 million in assets and has invested an additional $40 million in total grants back into the Roanoke Valley. Over the past three months alone, the community foundation has awarded approximately a quarter-million dollars in grants to local nonprofits.
“The Foundation’s Community Programming Committee works diligently to review and consider the many requests made for funding,” says Michelle Eberly, the Foundation’s Program Officer. She added “The major grants announced today highlight a portion of our significant and wide-ranging impact on the community.”
Straight Street received a grant of $50,000 from The Earl D. and Carrie Leigh Doran Fund to support its Street Ransom program. Keith Farmer, Executive Director at Straight Street, noted: “I want to thank Foundation for Roanoke Valley for providing this grant towards our remodeling project of a shelter for emergency care and services for juvenile human trafficking victims. The grant provides a critical and timely boost towards meeting our goal. We needed to raise the remaining $100,000, and with this grant, we are now within $50,000 of the total $400,000 remodeling project.”
The ALS Association DC/MD/VA Chapter received a grant of $25,000 from the Al and Olivia Graham Fund to start an Assistive Technology Clinic for the Roanoke Valley. The goal of this clinic will provide people in the Roanoke community with ALS access to technology that facilitates communication and instruction on how to use that technology and will also provide many speech and occupational therapists with the training and technological resources need to treat people who struggle with ALS and any other disorder that affects a person’s community and mobility.
YMCA of the Roanoke Valley received a $22,000 grant from the Community Catalyst Funds to support its Y-Splash Program for Roanoke City second graders. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 14, with a large number of these children from low income and minority neighborhoods. This program is available in all 17 elementary schools with over 1,000 students participating, and it includes transportation and snacks.
ARCH Roanoke received a grant of $21,200 from the Thomas P. and Lewise S. Parsley Fund to support its step-down recovery project Stepping Stones: Steps to Success. This project aims to fill the gap between
residential substance abuse treatment and independent living for those suffering from substance abuse disorders.
Data shows us that during the first 60 days after release from a rehabilitation program, individuals are at their highest risk of relapse. This grant for our Stepping Stones program provides critical housing, case management, peer support, relapse prevention education, and life skills for women exiting residential substance use treatment to transition into stable, recovering, and productive members of our community. This funding fills a gap in services by creating a step-down treatment program for these women in recovery, and without this grant the Stepping Stones program would not exist,” says Rachel Moore, Development Manager at ARCH Roanoke.
Choices Recovery Centers Inc. received a grant of $20,000 from the Thomas P. and Lewise S. Parsley Fund to pilot its Choices G.I.V.E. program. This is a 12-week, research-based service learning program for mothers with a substance use disorder. Certified Peer Recovery Specialists support participants as they take part in meaningful volunteer projects structured to foster community reengagement, employment skills, increased dignity, and problem-solving skills.
Roanoke Valley Speech and Hearing received a grant of $20,000 from the Community Catalyst Funds to provide speech-language and hearing services for early learning centers. This program helps prepare Pre-K children by providing on-site speech, language and hearing services at Virginia Star Quality rated early learning centers. It is through these services that children are identified with communication disorders and receive intervention to help better prepare them for school and future academic success.
A grant totaling $21,000 from the A. Anson and Theresa G. Jamison Fund and Community Catalyst Funds was awarded to Roanoke City Schools, City of Salem Schools, Botetourt County Schools, and Franklin County Schools to provide automated external defibrillators (AED’s) for middle and high school athletic departments for on-site availability at sporting events. An AED is a lightweight, user-friendly portable device that delivers an electric shock to stop an irregular heart rhythm and allow a normal rhythm to resume following a cardiac event.
For decades, Foundation for Roanoke Valley has enabled those who love the community to easily give back. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.foundationforroanokevalley.org.
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