LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – The Greenbrier Valley Community Foundation welcomed three new funds in the first quarter of 2023.
The Noel P. and Nathan B. Dehaven Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in honor of two gone far too soon. This memorial scholarship fund gives preference to students from Greenbrier East participating in track, cross country, soccer, band, music and/or 4-H. Friends and family who established the fund hope to expand awarding to Greenbrier West and James Monroe high schools as the fund grows.
The Charles and Carolyn Sheets Scholarship Fund was also established. Charles Sheets is a long-time Greenbrier Valley Community Foundation board member and friend of the Community Foundation and the Greenbrier Valley, particularly Pocahontas County.
To continue his and Carolyn Sheets’ legacy of commitment to community and education, the couple has established a fund to provide scholarship awards to students in Pocahontas County.
The Children’s Savings Account Program: Our Future Fund is the third new fund.
The Greenbrier Valley Community Foundation invites the community to join them on May 19 at the Greenbrier County Public Library for lunch and information on its newest initiative, the Our Future Fund.
This fund will help them, in partnership with other civic organizations, businesses and local organizations, start a WVSMART 529 savings account for each student in their service area upon their entry into kindergarten.
The research has demonstrated that children with a savings account in their name are six times more likely to go to college than children who don’t have a savings account. Low-income students with just $500 or less in college savings are three times more likely to enroll in college and four times more likely to graduate. One stipulation of our program is that these funds can also be used for vocational school expenses as well.
Andrea Levere will be the event’s keynote speaker. Levere is a Social Enterprise Fellow at the Yale School of Management. In this role, she has drafted the Blueprint for Enterprise Capital to scale the delivery of “philanthropic equity” for nonprofits and social ventures. She is working with the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Citi Foundation, California Wellness Foundation, William Julius William Institute, Federal Reserve Banks of NY and SF and other partners to advance the practice of Enterprise Capital to build financial strength and resilience and reduce the racial wealth gap in the nonprofit sector.
Levere was a member of the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for three years, serving as vice chair in 2018 and chair in 2019. In 2013, President Obama appointed Levere to the National Cooperative Bank’s (NCB) board of directors.
For questions or to RSVP to the luncheon, visit gvfoundation.org, or call or email Anne Bowling at 304-645-5620 or info@gvfoundation.org.
