Our 27th Annual Report to the Community is at the printer and hard copies will be mailed in early December. If you haven’t received our annual report in the past, but would like to, please let us know and we’ll add your name and address to our mailing list. In the meantime, you can enjoy reading the stories and learning about the grants and scholarships we awarded in 2021 by clicking on the photo of the cover below to open the flipbook version of the full annual report. We hope you will enjoy reading about our friends and neighbors who have left a lasting legacy to the communities they loved.
W. Randy Smith Family Fund Awards $100,000 Grant to Rescue Mission
The W. Randy Smith Family Fund recently awarded a $100,000 grant to the Martinsburg Union Rescue Mission’s 604 Project campaign to help renovate their building at 604 West King Street. Once completed, the property will feature six transitional housing apartments for homeless families. Pastor Tim Guerino and Randy Smith recently met on-site to check on construction progress. Smith has worked diligently to help address homelessness issues in Berkeley County for many years and was pleased to learn that the Rescue Mission was creating these apartments for families.
More than $800,000 is the total budget to remodel, furnish, and staff the building, which will allow the mission to expand services to families that are experiencing homelessness in the region. Currently, there are no facilities like this in the area for families. In addition to the housing, residents will receive three meals a day from the dining hall at the main Rescue Mission building, as well as services at the chapel, spiritual counseling, fellowship, mentoring, work therapy, clothes, and many other services from the current 608 W. King St. location and the thrift store at 606 W. King St.
Individuals interested in supporting the Rescue Mission’s “604 Project” can learn more by visiting their website at https://martinsburgunionrescuemission.com/604-project/
Since winning the Powerball jackpot in 2010, Smith has contributed more than $5.9 million to the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. During the past 11 years, the donor-advised fund he established at the Foundation has awarded $4.9 million in grants to nonprofit organizations serving Berkeley County.
August is Make-A-Will Month
August is National Make a Will Month, and the publicity surrounding this designation may prompt you to question if your affairs are in good order. Of course, making sure you have established an estate plan and executed corresponding legal documents is a priority for any attorney, accountant, or financial advisor who practices in the field of estate planning, tax, or wealth management. Still, it’s always ultimately your responsibility to keep your estate plans up to date and review them on a regular basis.
Indeed, despite the many cautionary tales arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, most Americans do not have a will. Even those of us who do have estate plans in place may not truly understand the difference between a will and trust (and the reason we still need a will even if we have a revocable living trust). We may not understand that a charitable bequest can be part of our estate plan whether the planning vehicle is a will or whether it is a trust.
Of the $485 billion given to charity by Americans in 2021, according to Giving USA, 9.5% of that giving came from bequests–that’s $46 billion. Giving USA’s data visualization tool illustrates the ebbs and flows of bequest giving, which has long been a significant component of philanthropy.
Research reveals fascinating psychological factors behind a person’s decision to leave a bequest in the first place, which helps to understand the motivation for leaving a gift to a charitable organization in a will or trust. Not surprisingly, altruism has long been one of those factors. Bequests to charity are not a new idea. Examples of high-profile estate gifts date back centuries. You may be familiar with the bequests of Benjamin Franklin, who established testamentary charitable trusts dedicated to supporting Boston and Philadelphia tradespeople, and George Washington, who left bequests in his will to colleges and trade schools.
Our team welcomes the opportunity to work with you and your professional advisors to establish bequests to existing funds or by creating a shell agreement at the community foundation. Gifts can come to the community foundation through a will or trust or a beneficiary designation on a qualified retirement plan or life insurance policy. Make a Will Month is also a good time to remember that bequests of qualified retirement plans can be extremely tax-efficient. By naming EWVCF as the beneficiary of your traditional IRA or other tax-deferred retirement accounts, whatever is distributed directly to a fund at the community foundation from such a retirement plan will not be subject to income tax or estate tax.
Martinsburg’s Street Festivals Celebrate Unity, Diversity, and Juneteenth
The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) is proud to support two free community events in Martinsburg this weekend, Unity in the Community on the 18th and the Juneteenth Marketplace Celebration on the 19th. A grant from the Foundation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fund helped support the Community Corner during Saturday’s Unity in the Community event, taking place from 12 PM to 5 PM on Queen and Martin Street.
Unity in the Community is Martinsburg’s newest street fest and the area’s biggest party, thrown “in the spirit of inclusion and positivity!” Locals and visitors alike are encouraged to come and enjoy live music from Martinsburg’s own Christian Lopez, meals from a diverse array of food trucks, a beer garden for the adults, lots of activities for children, the Community Corner highlighting local nonprofit organizations, and the annual Father’s Day Car Show.
Then on Sunday, June 19th, the Juneteenth Marketplace Celebration will take place from 1 PM to 5 PM at the Martinsburg Shopping Plaza on Winchester Avenue. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in America, with observances dating back to 1865. From 1 PM to 5 PM this Sunday, Martinsburg residents can enjoy live entertainment throughout the afternoon, with more than a dozen performances as well as a DJ. During the festivities, visitors can shop from local vendors and enjoy food from local restaurants and food trucks.
We hope that you will join the Eastern West Community Foundation in celebrating Martinsburg’s community and history this weekend and enjoy these free events that will be fun for the entire family!
Two Rivers Giving Circle Honors Jane Rissler
The Two Rivers Giving Circle has honored Jane Rissler, the director of the Jefferson County Museum, with its 2022 Preservation Award.
The award was presented at a ceremony and reception held on the afternoon of Sunday, May 15, at the museum in Charles Town. It is a personalized, handcrafted platter made from local clay by award-winning potters Pam and Ren Parziale, of Sycamore Pottery in Leetown.
The accompanying photo shows Giving Circle member Linda Case, left, presenting the award to Ms. Rissler. They are standing in front of a historic flag that was conserved for the museum’s collection with help from a Two Rivers Giving Circle grant. The flag is from Charles Town’s Green-Copeland American Legion Post 63, founded in 1929 by local African Americans who had served in World War I.
The Two Rivers Giving Circle is a field of interest fund of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. Since its inception in 2008, it has provided more than $110,000 to Eastern Panhandle organizations engaged in natural resources conservation and historic preservation. It is one of the few grant makers in the region that focuses on these two fields.
Each year, the Giving Circle also recognizes one or more individuals who have been leaders in one or both of these fields.
A Jefferson County native, Ms. Rissler received a bachelor’s degree from Shepherd College, a master’s from West Virginia University, and a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Cornell University. Her ensuing career as a scientist spanned three-and-a-half decades and included positions with the University of Maryland, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
In 2005, while she was still working and commuting from Jefferson County to Washington, DC, she began volunteering at the county museum. When she retired in 2011, she was hired as the museum’s director.
In her presenting remarks, Ms. Case said Ms. Rissler has greatly modernized the museum’s operations during her tenure as director, leading major upgrades in its computing capabilities and online presence. She has also modernized and strengthened its finances, establishing a special new fund dedicated to acquisitions and conservation, and successfully seeking grant funding to help support these purposes.
“In addition,” Ms. Case said, “she has worked to build bridges to all sectors of the community. She has recounted that in 2016, the museum was preparing for an exhibit and realized it was not representing African Americans and women’s contributions to the county. Since then, she has made a strong push to diversify the museum’s collection and provide exhibits that recognize the contributions of all.”
To learn more about the Giving Circle, and to get information about joining or contributing, go to the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation website at www.ewvcf.org. Or contact Michael Whalton, the Foundation’s executive director, at 304-264-0353 or [email protected]. The cost of membership in the Giving Circle is $500 annually. However, contributions of any amount are welcomed.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- …
- 16
- Next Page »