Tuesday, May 27, 2008
This community's legacy of generosity
JARED SOARES | The Roanoke Times
An Apple Ridge Farms environmental education instructor who goes by Jagadisha helps Raleigh Court Elementary students identify pond animals.
JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times
Willie Mae Parker visits with Isaac Brown at Melrose Towers. Parker is a senior companion volunteer.
Photos by JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times
Raleigh Court Elementary School kindergarten students walk past a pond Thursday morning at Apple Ridge Farms in Floyd County while on an enrichment field trip.
A Raleigh Court Elementary School kindergarten student holds a crayfish caught Thursday morning at Apple Ridge Farms.
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Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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Henry Bazak instilled a love for learning in his three children.
So when the Northern Virginia lawyer and engineer passed away in 1996, his son, Ben, who lives in Roanoke, decided that books would be an appropriate way to honor his father's memory.
The Patrick Henry High School math teacher and his wife, Suzanne, settled on providing a book to underprivileged children at early doctor visits. To pay for that, Ben Bazak sold stock he had bought years earlier with his father.
In 1997, he used the $10,000 to create an endowment through the Foundation for Roanoke Valley that has distributed 6,000 books to families -- and lives as a lasting tribute to his dad.
"I think people have a desire and a great capacity to give, and I think they also have creative and imaginative ways of giving," Bazak said.
"How great is it when you think about giving something in this format, and it'll be meaningful to this community and meaningful to you?" he added.
The Foundation for Roanoke Valley is a quiet catalyst for those who wish to do good in Southwest Virginia long after they're gone. It oversees 225 named endowments established by individuals, families, corporations and private foundations.
The charitable organization serves the Roanoke Valley and the Alleghany Highlands, and Botetourt, Craig, Floyd and Franklin counties. It also serves Henry and Rockbridge counties through affiliate funds.
This summer, the foundation will celebrate its 20th anniversary, with assets that have grown from $139 to nearly $45 million. In addition, it has received commitments for $72 million in future estate gifts to the community.
The foundation is "a vehicle for individuals and families to place endowments that benefit the community forever," Executive Director Alan Ronk said.
The foundation funnels more than $2 million a year to as many as 300 community organizations.
Because of the foundation, senior citizens have their medicine. Children have learned to read. Dying, young cancer patients have their own hospice care. Elderly men and women remain in their homes rather than going into a nursing home.
Who knew that Roanokers enjoy some of the world's most renowned jazz musicians at Jefferson Center because local businessman Alvin Fink was a jazz aficionado and his family wanted to make sure this community could share that passion?
Who was aware that Melva Jones, a musician at her Vinton church for 50 years, made provisions for children in Vinton elementary schools to have access to music and art programs?
The names of many of the foundation's benefactors are largely unfamiliar to the public. Yet their generosity is their legacy in this community.
The foundation is one of the region's best-kept secrets. I learned of it last year when it made a $4,300 grant from the Marion S. and Willie Z. Camp Fund for Elder Care to the Soup for Seniors program.
"The Foundation reminds me of the old song, 'a little less talk and a lot more action,' " said foundation board Chairwoman Nancy Agee. "It really makes things happen for so many people and does so in quietly effective ways."
Community foundations began in 1914 in Cleveland. The philanthropic organizations administer the funds and award grants.
There are about 800 across the country, including 25 in Virginia, Ronk said. With $650 million in assets, Richmond's foundation is the state's largest and one of the largest in the nation.
The Foundation for Roanoke Valley grew out of a task force of the Council of Community Services in 1988. Barton Morris, former editor of The Roanoke Times, was one of its early supporters.
"They saw lots of other communities that seemed to be doing wonderful work," Ronk said.
It began day-to-day operations in 1990. The first donors were Norfolk Southern Corp., Dominion Bank and the newspaper.
The foundation requires a minimum gift of $10,000, Ronk said, and endowments can reach several million. The average gift is about $100,000. The gifts can be in the form of stock, cash or a bequest from a will.
"Community foundations enable everyone to be a philanthropist," Ronk said, adding that donors have "a vehicle that can translate all their families' and individual wishes into reality."
A 20-member board governs the foundation. A board subcommittee works with an outside consultant to determine how to best invest assets for the greatest return.
The foundation's staff is small, with two full-time and three part-time workers, Ronk said. Donors do not pay a setup fee. Annual expenses amount to about 1 percent of the endowment's average market value.
The foundation gets a new endowment about once every two weeks. Most of the donors learn of the organization through accountants, estate lawyers and financial planners.
Endowments can be earmarked for certain causes or can be general, allowing the foundation board discretion in distributing the funds.
Ronk and his staff spend time learning about area organizations that do good work, and many times the foundation learns about groups through benefactors. Twice a year, Ronk said, the foundation puts out a call for grant applications.
However, he said the foundation is moving away from that and moving toward a more proactive approach in identifying crucial needs and putting sizable grants in areas that focus on three areas: human needs (with an emphasis on the elderly), education and economic development.
Apple Ridge Farm has benefited from more than 20 of the foundation's endowments, and Director Peter Lewis praised the charitable organization for enabling groups such as his to make a difference in people's lives.
In 2002, Apple Ridge received a $75,000 grant over five years that enabled it to hire reading specialists. Because of that program, Apple Ridge attracted more benefactors and developed a program to work with 125 at-risk students at five elementary schools until they graduate in 2016.
"What I've heard people say is that the donor benefits if the community moves forward," said Lewis, whose organization provides educational activities for disadvantaged children
"I don't want to use a cliche, but it's kind of like lifting all boats. If you have an informed, educated community, then the whole community benefits."
