Leaving a Legacy: The Doug and Rose Anne Puls FundSeptember 2022
Shortly after Doug and Rose Anne Puls moved here from Maryland in 2013, they decided to become members of the WCF Legacy Society through a planned bequest which will support various healthcare organizations, animal rescue and nature conservation. ……more
The Holbach-Hill Memorial Fund
September 2022
Siblings Mary, Michael, and Douglas Hill and Deborah Anderson established the Holbach-Hill Memorial Fund to honor the memory of their parents and grandparents who had a long history of philanthropic giving. This endowed donor-advised fund will support the causes that the family cares about. ……more
WCF Announces New Technology Fund
September 2022
Since 2008, Van Ruckman has volunteered his expertise in technology to assist the Foundation. To honor his extraordinary commitment, a Field-of-Interest Fund has been established and will be known as the Van Ruckman Fund for Technology, Technical Assistance and Training. ……more
New Fund to Help Women & SeniorsSeptember 2021
After her passing this year, Peggy Swain’s children created an endowment fund in her memory at WCF. This fund will make grants in her name specifically for programs that help low– and moderate-income women, children and senior citizens in greater Williamsburg.
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Wible Fund Helps Salvation Army Bring Hope, Change LivesSeptember 2021
Since 2017, WCF has provided grants to three local charities from the Jenny E. Wible Fund, made possible by a generous bequest from a local resident. Thanks to the prudent management of the endowment, each year the grants have grown. This year, the Salvation Army of Williamsburg received $26,085 to support its vision of building lives by breaking the poverty cycle. ……more
Ben Gave the Gift that Keeps on GivingDecember 2021
Ben Altshuler’s legacy and love of Williamsburg lives on in our community through his bequest in partnership with WCF. The Benjamin R. Altshuler Fund makes grants to support both amateur youth sports and improving access to transportation. Now in its 11th year, Ben’s fund has awarded over $500,000 in grants to our community. ……more
Leaving a Legacy: Julia Everts & Mark Greenawalt FundDecember 2020
In 2009 Dottie Haramis created a fund at Williamsburg Community Foundation to support nursing scholarships.
This year, after reading a particularly moving thank you note from the scholarship recipient, Dottie realized that if she made a plan to keep the scholarship going through her will, she could keep making this kind of personal impact on future nurses for years. ……more
The Perisie Scholarship FundFebruary 2019
After experiencing some health issues themselves, Jim and Halide Perisie felt strongly that there was a real need for more general practitioners in Williamsburg. They decided to include Williamsburg Community Foundation in their estate plan, to create a scholarship fund for medical school students. The Perisie Scholarship in Memory of James P. and H. Bihin Perisie will provide for one scholarship each year for a female student from greater Williamsburg to attend medical school in Virginia or North Carolina. ……more
Gwendolyn’s WishOctober 2019
Gwynn Sawyer was passionate about providing for the welfare of animals and wanted people to be able to continue to enjoy the companionship of a pet even if their financial circumstances changed. Named in Gwynn’s honor by fellow volunteers who were inspired by her dedication, Gwendolyn’s Wish helps those with financial need by offering veterinary care for their pets. ……more
Kiwanis Club Partnership
April 11, 2019, Williamsburg, Va. – Williamsburg Community Foundation (WCF) and the Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg Foundation are excited to announce a new partnership between the two organizations. This year, the Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg Foundation established a charitable endowment fund at WCF. ……more
Williamsburg Beautification Fund
In February of 2018, the Williamsburg City Council unanimously approved the creation of the City Beautification Fund. The City provided seed money to establish the Fund at the Williamsburg Community Foundation, and the fund will make its first grant in 2019. ……more
Donor-Advised Funds
At WCF, you can create a Donor-Advised fund, a kind of “charitable checking account.” You receive a tax deduction in the year your gift is made, then make distributions from the fund to the causes you care about, on your own schedule. You can choose to support causes locally or nationally through your fund. ……more
Improving Quality of Life
Barbara Watkinson and her husband Hans von Baeyer give to the Foundation’s Health & Community Wellness Fund because it allows them to support a variety of organizations that promote health, such as Angels of Mercy Medical Clinic, which now serves the area’s homeless thanks to a grant from Williamsburg Community Foundation. ……more
Connecting with Kids and Families
Corinne Garland believes that families of children with exceptional needs require exceptional resources. With help from a WCF grant, One Child Center for Autism offers Kids’ Night to give families relief from the responsibility of childcare, while also giving kids with special needs, and their siblings, a fun evening together. ……more
Keeping Seniors Connected
By giving to the Senior Services Fund, Bill and Liz Wilhelm are investing in vital programs like Senior Champions to ensure that seniors can be an active part of the community. A program of the Senior Living Foundation, Senior Champions provides adult day services at no cost, giving family caregivers much needed respite.
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Educating Future Leaders
When Jim Joseph talks about his wife Marjorie, you can hear the pride in his voice. “She loved this community, and she wanted to help this community. So when my daughter Lynn suggested creating a memorial scholarship in her mother’s name, it just fit.”
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Jenny E. Wible FundSeptember 2017
A cashiers’ supervisor in Colonial Williamsburg for over twenty years, Jenny Wible worked hard, cared deeply for her family, her pets, her flowers and her faith. She lived a fairly ordinary life; but upon her passing this year at age 94, Jenny did something extraordinary for her community. Her estate gift of $3 million – the largest gift in the Foundation’s history – created The Jenny E. Wible Fund at the Williamsburg Community Foundation to support three organizations that reflect her deeply held values: Walsingham Academy, St. Bede Catholic Church, and the Salvation Army of Williamsburg……more
Giving is a Beck Family Tradition
By Margaret Beck Pritchard
From an early age my parents instilled the importance of the giving experience in their three daughters. For many years each of us donated funds to support individual organizations of our choosing. About ten years ago we became involved with the Williamsburg Community Foundation. Since that time, the Foundation has provided us with an opportunity to become more engaged with the needs of our community while at the same time it has helped us to define and strengthen our individual and shared family values… more
The John D. Walker Memorial Endowment Fund
When Art Walker’s brother, John, passed away unexpectedly in 2014, Art worked through WCF to create the John D. Walker Memorial Endowment Fund. The Fund provides annual disbursements to Dream Catchers (which Art helped found in 1992) to support staff training, which is critical to keeping the Center accredited – and insured...more
Formula for a Scholarship
When Rob and Jill Swain decided to create a permanent Scholarship Fund at WCF this spring, they sought inspiration from their own educa-tional experiences and those of their son, Connor (Jamestown H.S. ’16). Jill, with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and Rob with an MBA and a former basket-ball coach, share a love of basketball with Connor. ..more
Jane and Bob Taylor
Jane and Robert Taylor didn’t come to Williamsburg fifteen years ago to do needlepoint, garden or golf (although they do all these things). Instead, they came to lend their skills in finance to many of the organizations that make this community work. As Bob puts it, “This is not a retirement community. There are a lot of retirees that come here, but they provide extraordinary skills for the community. They serve on the visiting faculty at the college, on other boards.” …more
William C. and Elizabeth J. Wilhelm Funds
Touching lives in the places that shaped their own, Bill and Elizabeth have contributed to and set up need-based college scholarships for high school graduates in their respective hometowns. For Elizabeth, this is Tarboro, NC, while Bill’s roots are in New Jersey. With a scholarship fund established through WCF they helped a chemical engineering student attend Bill’s alma mater, the New Jersey Institute of Technology....more
The Genevieve McGiffert Memorial Fund for the Musical Performing Arts
A fitting legacy of the woman who inspired it, The Genevieve McGiffert Memorial Fund for the Musical Performing Arts has distributed $6,500 over the past 6 years to promote the vocal arts in Williamsburg. “It’s exactly what Genevieve would have wanted to be remembered by — a continuing legacy of contributing to the musical life of this area,” her husband Michael McGiffert said when he and Genevieve’s longtime friend Linda Baker founded the Field of Interest fund in 2007…more