Founded in 1989, the Foundation’s mission is to make a lifetime difference in the lives of children and families in the Roanoke Valley. In 1996 the Foundation funded an endowment at Virginia Western Community College for students pursuing a degree in early childhood education. In 2016 there were 2 scholarship recipients.
In 2005, the Foundation began investing in non-profit organizations that were already doing amazing work in the Roanoke Valley to assist low income families and underprivileged children. Since 2005, the Foundation has given over $600,000 in financial assistance to these organizations. In 2016 the Foundation gave over $140,000 grants to the following organizations:
- Big Brothers and Big Sisters
- Family Services of the Roanoke Valley
- ARCH (Bethany Hall/Trust House)
- DePaul Family Resources
- The Advancement Foundation
- Matthew’s Child
- Military Family Support Center
- Science Museum of Western Virginia
In 2011 the Foundation chose to start directly impacting the lives of low income families. Using the curriculum of nationally syndicated financial radio host Dave Ramsey, the Foundation began teaching classes of adults the value of managing their money. Since then, the Foundation has had the privilege to impact over 400 families. Through this course our students learn:
- budgeting and cash flow planning
- saving for emergencies, retirement and educations costs
- how to reduce debt and avoid marketing schemes
- the role of insurance
- how to navigate real estate and mortgages
- and how to grow wealth and give back to our communities
In August of 2018 the Foundation opened a private school called The Academy. Our mission is to give these children and their families an opportunity to break the cycle of generational poverty through a multi-generational approach that teaches the skills necessary for these children and their family to forge new ground. Each child accepted into the Academy receives a full scholarship, 3 hot meals a day, extensive field trips, class time with local community leaders, authors and entrepreneurs as well as daily hands on experiential learning.
We teach the required academic criteria to meet the Virginia Standards of Learning or SOLs as well as physical education, art and music. We enhance the typical academic curriculum with a focus on practical tools for life success including budgets, banking services and other financial management tools, and with programs related to character, values and life skills.
