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March 7, 2023 By Rebecca Knight

EWVCF Hires Susan Caperton as Associate Director/COO

            Since 2017, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) has operated successfully with just four staff members. Amy Pancake has served as the Director of Affiliates since 2008. Michael Whalton replaced the Foundation’s first Executive Director, Amy Owen, in 2012. In 2017, the Foundation created its first new position in nearly ten years, Program Manager, hiring Karin Hammann Dunn, who now serves as the Scholarship Program Manager. In 2021, Administrative Assistant/Office and Grants Manager Rebecca Knight replaced previous Director of Finance and Administration Felicia Fuller. In that time, the Foundation has grown to just over $35 million in assets and continues to award over $1 million in grants and scholarships each year.

The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation is proud to welcome longtime friend Susan Caperton as the new Associate Director/COO.

            Now, EWVCF is excited to announce that we’ve invited longtime friend to the Foundation Susan Caperton to join the team as Associate Director/Chief Operations Officer. She will manage the Foundation’s committees and oversee grant, scholarship, and nonprofit education training programs. She and Executive Director Michael Whalton will work together to develop, monitor, modify, and implement long-range strategies to benefit the Community Foundation.

            Susan, a resident of Berkeley Springs, first joined EWVCF’s Board in 2015, where she served as Secretary and then Vice President. She was also a member of several of EWVCF’s committees, including the Grants Committee, Scholarship Committee, Executive Committee, and DEI Task Force.

            Susan first became involved with the Foundation through Jan Wilkins. She had been aware of EWVCF through the grant and scholarship programs. “I was impressed with the breadth and depth of impact the organization has throughout the region,” Susan said. Now, she says she is excited to join the staff and learn the ins and outs of day-to-day operations and help the Foundation to increase its impact every day.

            In addition to her years of volunteer service at the Foundation and other local nonprofits, Susan also brings a law degree to the table! She graduated from Northwestern University in 1991, completed a legal internship at Northern Trust in Chicago, and graduated from University of Michigan Law School in 1996. While working in Chicago, she met Gat Caperton, and the two were married in June 1996. They moved to West Virginia that same year, where he purchased Tom Seely Furniture (now Gat Creek) and she joined Bowles Rice LLP, working there for two years.

            Since moving to the Eastern Panhandle, Susan has served a myriad of organizations. She is the current Board President of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of the Eastern Panhandle, a position she has held for four years now. She is also on the Board of the Tom and Virginia Seely Foundation, Morgan Arts Council, Morgan County Starting Points, and Morgan County Partnership; at the last organization, she served as Executive Director from 2008 to 2010.

            Susan and Gat have three daughters. Their eldest, Eliza, 24, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2021 and now works at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Katie, 22, is a senior at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Their youngest, Evie, is 20 and a sophomore at Grinell College in Iowa. When not working, Susan and Gat enjoy spending time with friends and family, including their dog Annie and cat Oliver.

Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized

December 19, 2022 By Rebecca Knight

EWVCF Awards Over $160K in Youth and Education Grants to Eastern Panhandle Nonprofits and Schools

            The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) recently awarded 53 Youth and Education grants, totaling $163,525.43, to 38 organizations tackling the issues faced by families and young ones in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan County.

            The majority of the funding went to organizations addressing the most basic needs in the Eastern Panhandle. $73,800 will allow organizations such as Community Networks, Graciously Giving Foundation, Faith Community Coalition for the Homeless, Renewed Life Ministry, the Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Program, and Morgan County Starting Points to continue to provide food, shelter, medical care, clothes, childcare, and more to the most vulnerable among us. The Martinsburg Initiative will use their five grants to continue their outreach to local schools in an effort to prevent substance abuse disorders and build strong families in our area. Community Combined Ministries received two grants to support the Kidz Power Pacs program, a vital community effort to end childhood hunger in the Eastern Panhandle.

The West Virginia University Foundation/Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Program team.

            Educational programs in our area received $40,626.43. Nearly $17,000 will be used to improve the literacy of Eastern Panhandle young ones. Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries received a grant for their 2023 Summer Reading Program “All Together Now.” Youth Services Manager Emily Jones reported that Berkeley County school teachers greatly appreciate the library’s reading programs which have been proven to help students maintain reading proficiency through the summer months. Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Foundation will distribute ten books of each child’s choosing to every second grade student in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan County through their Eastern Panhandle Reading program. Multiple school officials voiced their support and enthusiasm for this program which distributes tens of thousands of new books every year.  Likewise, EL teacher Jill Leathers of Opequon Elementary School will use her grant to continue to build a bilingual library in her classroom, where students will be allowed to check out bags of these books to encourage at-home reading. Spring Mills Middle School teacher Stephanie Gardner will use her grant to expand and diversify the history books in her 8th grade West Virginia Studies classroom library.

Second graders receiving books from the Martinsburg Sunrise Rotary Foundation.

            Nearly $12,000 will fund STEM-related programs. Harpers Ferry Middle School’s Jill Fornadley, recipient of several previous EWVCF grants and ever the champion of learning via virtual reality, will use this grant to purchase cameras that will allow her students to film and create their own virtual Social Studies content about local West Virginia history which could be shared in schools throughout the state. Kristina Allis, Technology Integration Specialist at Orchard View Intermediate School, will use her grant to purchase Snap Circuits, electrical kits that allow children ages 8 and above to learn about electricity by creating functional circuit boards.  At Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center in Morgan County, Director and Environmental Educator Leslie-Devine Milbourne received a grant for technological upgrades and supplies, which will allow the organization to continue their vital work of educating local youth about nature and the environment through their Student Citizen Scientist programs.

Kids enjoy the many outdoor educational programs at Wind Dance Farm and Earth Education Center.

            EWVCF also funded an exciting new educational program from the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission. The Commission is dedicated to providing heritage education to all ages, and this grant will allow them to deliver direct presentations to all Jefferson County 4th grade classrooms. Dr. Deborah Rochefort will travel to all nine elementary schools, presenting herself as a woman from 1775 and teaching students about 18th century textiles. Commission Chair Martin Burke anticipates that this program will generate “more appreciation and interest in life in the 18th century” among Jefferson County students as they are taught American Colonial History.

Dr. Deborah Rochefort.

            Organizations and programs dedicated to fostering a love of the arts in Eastern Panhandle youth received $20,434. The Apollo Civic Theatre, BlackCat Music Cooperative, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and Morgan Arts Council all received grants which will allow them to continue their vital work educating Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan County young ones on the importance of creativity and self-expression through art. Meghan O’Neill of Shepherdstown Middle School and Jordan English of Spring Mills Middle School will use their grants to further musical education. Kim Patton, School Counselor at Opequon Elementary School, will use her grant to ensure that every student will receive a box of multicultural crayons and construction paper for school projects.

The Contemporary American Theatre Festival’s Hostel YOUTH! immersive summer educational program.

            Recreational programs and programs tackling the social and emotional needs of our youth received nearly $30,000. Neil Troppman, Head Coach of the Boy’s Club Lacrosse at Martinsburg High School, received a grant to purchase new helmets for every member of the team. Burke Street Elementary School families will enjoy the opportunity to have portraits taken by a professional photographer at the school thanks to a grant received by School Counselor Teresa Weller. Teri Wilson of Berkeley Heights Elementary School received a grant to purchase Playground Activity Panels, which will allow students to enjoy independent, unstructured outdoor playtime.

Martinsburg High School Boys Club Lacrosse.

            Another vital Eastern Panhandle organization, Potomac Valley Audubon Society, received four grants. Two of those grants will support their “Nature in the Neighborhood” programs, allowing PVAS to bring summer camp experiences to disadvantaged youth in Berkeley and Jefferson county. The other two grants will allow PVAS to continue to bring hands-on environmental education programs directly to schools in our area. Executive Director Kristin Alexander shared the following story with EWVCF about the organization’s Lead Educator Amy Moore Thomas’s recent successful trip to a classroom at Marlowe Elementary School. “Amy had the BEST time presenting her ‘Bugs a Billion’ program to 1st graders,” Alexander wrote. “They got to hold wiggly mealworms and one little girl told Amy that she’d been scared of bugs before the program, but now she was HOLDING one and she wasn’t scared anymore.” When Amy lead students outside to see even more insects, the kids began jumping up and down with excitement. “Amy came back and shared that those kinds of programs are why she loves her job. They re-energize her every time. Thank you for making these programs possible for ALL students,” said Alexander.

One of Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s many classroom programs.

            The Community Foundation’s Youth and Education grants are made possible thanks to the generosity of EWVCF’s donors. Funding came from the Jane P. Snyder Youth Fund, C. Scott and Elizabeth C. Shade Youth Fund, Bonn Poland Family Roundhouse Recreation Fund, Frada Fine Berkeley County Education Fund, and the Tom and Virginia Seely Morgan County Children’s Fund. Additionally, the Fund advisors for the Bill and Nancy White Charitable Fund, Fleming Family Fund, W. Randy Smith Family Fund, and the Michael and Brenda Mullin Charitable Fund stepped in and allowed the Foundation to award nearly $66,000 more than initially expected.

            The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) was established in 1995 to help donors create permanent endowments to provide grants and scholarships throughout the region. Since its inception, EWVCF has awarded nearly $14.7 million, including $1 million in 2022 alone. The Community Foundation now holds more than 260 endowed funds with assets of $34 million and it is the leading steward of philanthropic giving in the region. EWVCF works with a wide range of nonprofit organizations providing funding for projects from human welfare and scholarships to affordable housing and natural resources conservation; youth and education to animal welfare and historic preservation, and much more. For information visit www.EWVCF.org, or contact EWVCF Executive Director Michael Whalton at mwhalton@ewvcf.org , 304-264-0353.

Filed Under: Blog, Slider

July 28, 2022 By Rebecca Knight

EWVCF Partners with Area Nonprofits for Matching Funds Challenge

The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation is partnering with area nonprofit organizations to help grow their endowed funds at the Community Foundation. Participating charities are soliciting donations to add to twenty-two endowments that support their programs. The goal is for each organization to raise $2,000 which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Community Foundation.

According to EWVCF Executive Director Michael Whalton, the funds were established either by the nonprofit or by a donor who was passionate about their mission. “We are thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity for local charities to grow their Funds here at the Community Foundation,” Whalton said.

The following organizations will build their endowments during the Matching Funds Challenge:

JUMP (Junior Mentoring Program)

Berkeley County Meals on Wheels

Habitat for Humanity of the Eastern Panhandle

Berkeley Senior Services

Hospice of the Panhandle

Good Samaritan Free Healthcare

CCAP/Loaves and Fishes

Panhandle Home Health

Senior Life Services of Morgan County

Potomac Valley Audubon Society

Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle

The River House

Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission

United Way of the Eastern Panhandle

Morgan County Starting Points

Town of Wardensville

Eastern Panhandle Young Life

Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle

Martinsburg Union Rescue Mission

Eastern WVCTC Foundation

Rotary Club of Romney

The ultimate goal is to grow the funds so that the annual distributions will provide meaningful support to each organization.  As Dianne Waldron of Berkeley County Meals on Wheels puts it, “[Enhancing] our existing endowment demonstrates the value we place on our future.” Meals on Wheels has been serving the area for 51 years and is currently distributing 1,000 meals per week to homebound seniors and disabled individuals. Waldron knows that the contributions to their endowment will ensure that their lifesaving services will continue for years to come.

Panhandle Home Health Care has already begun reaching out to donors, one of whom contributed her birthday fundraiser proceeds. Executive Director Lisa Bivens emphasized that growing their endowment fund will ensure the long-term success of their programs. “Being able to provide home health care to our patients, regardless of their ability to pay, allows our agency to be responsive to the healthcare needs of our community,” she said. Audrey Morris of Morgan County Starting Points is excited to build the Starting Points legacy with contributions to the Glenna Merica Grove Fund. Starting Points is well on its way to meeting the $2,000 goal thanks to a blessing from a former VISTA volunteer.

Building endowments can greatly ease the day-to-day financial burdens of these nonprofits serving so many in our area. Robin Kees of Habitat for Humanity of the Eastern Panhandle was excited by the prospect of being able to easily pay utilities for the year. While only the first $2,000 will be matched by the Foundation during this challenge, donors are certainly encouraged to contribute above and beyond that amount to their favorite nonprofit. “We hope to encourage donors to contribute today, as well as to make a planned gift to the endowed fund of their favorite nonprofit so every charitable organization in the Eastern Panhandle will eventually have a substantial endowment at the Community Foundation,” Whalton said.

To learn more about the Matching Funds Challenge visit www.EWVCF.org or call Michael Whalton at 304.264.0353.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

July 19, 2022 By Rebecca Knight

EWVCF Partners With Embolden to Create a New Professional Advisors Newsletter

Col. Dennis Barron’s careful planning ensured a legacy that will benefit West Virginia Civil Air Patrol cadets and the Martinsburg CAP Squadron forever.

For the past 27 years, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) has worked closely with local attorneys, estate planners, CPAs, and bank trust officers to help their clients create a lasting legacy by making a gift to the Community Foundation. Our very first fund was established thanks to a bank trust officer who introduced George Hancock to our founding President Doug Roach. Mr. Hancock had created a scholarship in memory of his wife Holly Woods Hancock at the bank and he realized that EWVCF was the perfect fit for his scholarship. Since then, dozens of funds have been established at the Community Foundation through the efforts of professional advisors who have helped clients direct gifts through their charitable trusts and wills.

In order to provide technical support to area professional advisors, the Community Foundation has recently partnered with Embolden to create a twice-monthly Professional Advisors Newsletter. Laura McKnight, president of Embolden, has years of experience both as an attorney and as the former CEO of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. McKnight created Embolden to provide content for Community Foundations to better communicate with local professional advisors. She researches and writes articles that cover everything from Qualified Charitable Distributions from traditional IRAs to pending legislation that may impact charitable giving. Embolden’s vast content library will help professional advisors who may not know exactly what a Community Foundation does.

The Foundation’s previous work with attorneys, accountants, trust officers, wealth managers, and other technical advisors has led to relationships with clients that ensured philanthropic legacies that will last forever. Individuals such as Henry Willard II, Stephen W. Sensabaugh, and Col. Dennis D. Barron were all connected to EWVCF by professional advisors, and all three were able to carefully plan and leave legacies that will benefit nonprofit organizations in our region for generations.

Henry Willard was generous throughout his lifetime, making numerous unrestricted gifts to EWVCF.  With guidance from his attorney, Mr. Willard created an estate plan that contributed $3.45 million to local Berkeley and Jefferson County charities, including $1 million to the Community Foundation. Mr. Willard’s generosity has provided essential resources to help EWVCF award grants during the coronavirus pandemic.

Stephen W. Sensabaugh of Inwood was employed by Workforce West Virginia. He was introduced to the community foundation several years ago by a bank trust officer who, with a local attorney, was helping Mr. Sensabaugh create an Irrevocable Trust to benefit favorite charities. Thanks to their efforts and Mr. Sensabaugh’s generosity, just over $200,000 was recently added to the Community Foundation’s unrestricted endowment.

Before passing away in 2016, Col. Dennis D. Barron established two funds to benefit the West Virginia Civil Air Patrol, one of which was a cadet scholarship fund that awarded three $5,000 scholarships in 2022. Col. Barron worked closely with a local attorney to draft a last will and testament that, upon his death, added more than $1 million to these two funds at the Community Foundation.

Professional advisors interested in learning more about Barron’s legacy, and in introducing their clients to the good work done by the Foundation, can read more in this week’s Professional Advisor’s Newsletter from EWVCF. Through our new partnership with Embolden, we at the Foundation are excited to connect with professional advisors in order to help their clients cultivate a legacy of philanthropy. To learn more and subscribe, visit the Community Foundation website at www.EWVCF.org or call Michael Whalton at 304-264-0353.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

July 7, 2022 By Rebecca Knight

Morgan County Nonprofits Receive Art, Music, Design, and Nature Grants

Kids at the Morgan Arts Council Ice House in Berkeley Springs show off the art projects they created during MAC’s 2022 Visual Arts Summer Camp, “Join the African Safari!” This summer camp, which was partially funded by the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation’s Detlev and Mary Ellen Preissler Fund for the Arts, Music, Design and Nature is one of the many fantastic youth programs Morgan Arts Council offers.

 

The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation recently mailed grant checks from the Detlev and Mary Ellen Preissler Fund for the Arts, Music, Design, and Nature. Twelve Eastern Panhandle nonprofits received grants ranging from $2,325 to $10,000.

Several general support grants were awarded, while others focused on specific programs or projects ranging from an outdoor teaching space with a living roof at Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s Cool Spring Preserve to Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries “Martinsburg Rocks!” concert series in collaboration with the Tony M Music and Arts Foundation.

“We are delighted to be able to award these grants to so many worthy organizations,” stated EWVCF Executive Director, Michael Whalton. “Until now we haven’t had the resources to provide this kind of support for programs focused on the arts and nature.”

Just over $100,000 in grants were presented to the twelve nonprofits, and nearly $49,000 in grants will soon be awarded to Eastern Panhandle schools for art, music, theatre, design, and nature programs and projects. The advisors who recommended the grants were impressed with the quality of the applications and summer programs that received funding are already gearing up to put the grants to good use.

In Morgan County, the BlackCat Music Cooperative, Morgan Arts Council, and Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center will all be able to provide expanded programs for children thanks to the grants they received.  BlackCat will be using their grant to provide stipends to their volunteer workers. “Over the years, our programs and events have grown in size and complexity. […] The level of effort and time required to plan and execute these events is above and beyond what we can expect from even our most generous volunteers,” wrote Executive Director Janet Gauthier regarding the stipends. They will also use it for publicity, props, and music gear to support three community performance events in 2022. “Our experience confirms that these public events attract new kids and adult mentors to our impactful youth empowerment programs,” Gauthier said.

Morgan Arts Council will use their grant to host their 2022 Visual Arts Summer Camp and a nature haiku program in Morgan County Schools in 2022 and 2023. “MACs youth programs are designed and focused on boosting academic achievement across Science, [Technology], Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum by injecting arts as a learning tool,” wrote Executive Director Thom Rubel. At this year’s summer camp entitled “Join the African Safari!,” campers aged 6-14 will learn about the animals one might meet on an African Safari and their environments, and will then make a variety of crafts. The Nature Haiku classes will have students take nature walks and record words that describe their experiences. They will then take those words and write haikus, and then have the opportunity to create art works based on those haikus.

Wind Dance Farm & Earth Education Center has expanded in many areas recently, including their program offerings and the number of campers served. They have also developed adult learning programs. In 2021, demand for Wind Dance’s offerings greatly increased due to their outdoor programs. Director/Environmental Educator Leslie Milbourne-Devine reported that the center has had to develop wait lists for hopeful campers. Through this grant, the organization will be able to increase staff numbers and allow more students to “explore nature with hands-on activities to learn about Earth and how it works,” as Milbourne-Devine puts it.

The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) was established in 1995 to help donors create permanent endowments to provide grants and scholarships throughout the region. Since its inception, EWVCF has awarded $13.7 million, including $1 million in 2021 alone. The Community Foundation now holds more than 260 endowed funds with assets of just over $38 million and it is the leading steward of philanthropic giving in the region. EWVCF works with a wide range of nonprofit organizations providing funding for projects from human welfare and scholarships to affordable housing and natural resources conservation; youth and education to animal welfare and historic preservation, and much more. For information visit www.EWVCF.org, or contact EWVCF Executive Director Michael Whalton at mwhalton@ewvcf.org , 304-264-0353.

This story was featured in the Morgan Messenger for the week of July 6, 2022.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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