A Special Report from Community Foundation of Henderson County: June 2019

Making Your Philanthropic Dreams a Reality

More than a dozen charitable giving techniques are available through the Community Foundation of Henderson County, and it is one of our greatest pleasures to assist people in achieving their long-term philanthropic objectives.  Mixing, matching and linking charitable giving techniques along with estate plans and current financial plans can create ways to extend a donor’s capacity in both giving to charitable causes about which they care greatly and providing additional resources to address family, and personal goals are what we do here at CFHC daily.  Using tools made possible by working through your Community Foundation can help achieve most any charitable or estate plan goal that an individual, family or company would like to accomplish.

Our donors are best served by creating a team of advisors to work with them on long-term planning.  We hope you will consider including the services of CFHC to assist you along with your financial advisors, attorney, insurance agent and others who help provide near and long-range planning for your future.  It is a pleasure to serve in a community where philanthropy is one of the key features of our quality of life. 

Some things to help you get started in working with a team:

List as many goals and objectives you think you may want to accomplish with your plan.

What permanent legacy would best represent who you are and the ideals you value most.

Are there strategic pieces that you want to include such as tax concerns, capital gains, evaluation of results for your philanthropy?

Do you have some parts you wish to remain confidential or even anonymous versus other areas you would like to set an example for others to be involved as well?

What types of assets will you include in your plan: cash, stocks, property, retirement plans, businesses?

What essential charitable qualities do you want to support: an organization that has been meaningful to you, an area of interest to be addressed whoever creates the best approach to meet your challenge, a mix, or other qualities that make your legacy meaningful?

What’s your charitable dream and are you ready to take the next steps to make it come true?  Making the tools available within our local community to help individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations fulfill their charitable objectives is one of the greatest purposes we serve here at your Community Foundation.  Each plan is unique, each donor’s intent fulfills an important cause, and each charitable fund is built with the basic building blocks of people caring about causes that matter, lasting across the tests of time.  Call Community Foundation of Henderson County to be a member of your charitable team.  It’s what we do best.

— CFHC Board of Directors Chairperson Cindy Causby and President/CEO McCray B. BensonC

2018 Recipient, Jennifer Mills 
Betty Taylor Memorial Award

Wildlife study piece completed by Jennifer Mills during her study with Mary Grayson Segars in Beaufort, SC.

Betty Taylor was an artist for life after taking her first lesson at the young age of 8. Making her career as an artist, Betty understood the struggles, persistence, and need for assistance all too well.  After her death in 1990, her husband, Ross Taylor, made arrangements with the Community Foundation of Henderson County to establish the Betty Taylor Memorial Fund to promote emerging artists in need of financial support who are studying in the field of visual arts and crafts.

The 2018 Betty Taylor Award was presented to artist Jennifer Mills during a reception at The Arts Council of Henderson County in Flat Rock.  A former broadcaster, Jennifer is a storyteller by nature. “In television, we told stories with words and video.  Now, I do it with paint, canvas, and a brush,” she says.

An avid learner, Jennifer wasted no time getting to work. After spending two full days with impressionist painter, Sarah Sneeden of Brevard, she then traveled to Beaufort, South Carolina to study with artist Mary Grayson Segars. They spent three days together, working with a very limited palette, focusing on color mixing and values.  

Passionate about giving back to her community, Jennifer has a goal to donate ten to twelve paintings a year, a lofty, but a two-fold goal.  “While the rewards for supporting charitable causes are endless, this almost monthly goal forces me to work through challenges,” says Mills.

You can find out more about Jennifer’s work and where to find it locally on her website: JenniferSpots.com.   

Combating Food Insecurity in Henderson County

Paige Boyd delivers food and personal care items collected by
Hendersonville Elementary School.

Food Insecurity: the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.  

In North Carolina, 15.4 percent of the population faces food insecurity and in Henderson County that number is 10.7 percent.

 Furthermore, 22 percent of Henderson County’s food insecure population does not qualify for SNAP or other assistance programs. (This data is courtesy of Feeding America.)

Since 2009, Community Foundation of Henderson County has awarded more than $280,000 in grants to 20 organizations with the intention of contributing to food security and food assistance programs. We continue to receive grant requests for the purpose of combating food insecurity. 

Something has to change, but what?

In April, the Foundation convened a group of key service providers: Blue Ridge Humane Society, Council on Aging, Hendersonville Rescue Mission, Interfaith Assistance Ministry (IAM), MANNA FoodBank, Salvation Army, and The Storehouse. Everyone immediately agreed that while local economic indicators show improvement, the fact remains one in five persons still report they are food insecure.

What else did this meeting teach us?

First, that our local service providers are already collaborating, and that this needs to be a focal point for the future. A specific example is the push to provide fresh produce. Often one organization will have more produce than it can distribute, and quick communication is key to get that perishable food into other hands that can use it. 

Second, it’s not just people that are hungry. Blue Ridge Humane Society collaborates with a number of local pantries as well as with the Council on Aging’s Meals on Wheels program to provide pet food to families in need. 

Third, we learned that food insecurity is just one piece of a larger puzzle. Every month there are the costs of housing, childcare, and transportation. Often a prescription needs filling. In the face of these financial demands, food is too commonly the variable left to the end, and the money simply may not be there. 

What’s next?  Community Foundation of Henderson County wants our community and key nonprofit organizations to come together to help move from food insecure to be being self-sufficient in this basic need. Access to affordable housing, higher education, reliable transportation, employment opportunities, rising health care costs, and the addiction crisis all figure into this and must be taken into consideration. 

The conversation must continue and it must expand to engage larger groups. Community Foundation of Henderson County is committed to making a lasting change in this area. Be on the lookout for ways you can get involved.

Scholarships for Higher Education:
Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow

Established in 1999 the Thomas Oliver & Louise Jordan Mulcahy Scholarship was established to help graduates from any Henderson County or city high school pursue higher education.

The Fund made its first award in 2000 and has since award $770,980.50 to 61 students to attend 29 different colleges and universities.  

Ezekiel Ballard, the 2019 recipient of the Thomas Oliver & Louise Jordan Mulcahy Scholarship, is attending the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

“Every time I register for classes I am reminded of how it wouldn’t be possible for me to be attending college if it weren’t for the Community Foundation.”

Thanks to a group of donors who feel passionately about education, Community Foundation of Henderson County is empowered to offer a wide range of academic scholarships for students in Henderson County and surrounding areas.  Thanks to their dedication and the power of endowment, CFHC awarded $479,750 in scholarships for the 2018 – 2019 academic year.  CFHC’s inspiring scholarship program ensures a brighter future for our community by financially assisting students who are both beginning their higher education journey and continuing their college career. 

Women In Need of Support — WINS. 

The WINS Endowment Fund was established in 1989 by seven dedicated women from the Henderson County community who had a passion and desire to provide financial assistance to women who are working to improve their lives.  Community Foundation of Henderson County periodically puts out a call for proposals, and in November of 2018, Project Dignity of Western North Carolina answered that call.

Established in 2017 by Barbara Morgan, Project Dignity of WNC provides feminine hygiene products to homeless, low-income, and domestic abuse victims in Henderson and Buncombe Counties by distributing products to 34 schools and 15 social service agencies.

In January 2019, Community Foundation of Henderson County awarded Project Dignity of WNC a $15,000 WINS grant in support of their project, “That Time of the Month”.  More than just an inconvenience, “that time of the month” can be a crisis for women and girls without access to feminine hygiene products, resulting in missed days of school and work.  “We need over 5,000 tampons and 4,000 pads per month to meet our current commitments to area schools and agencies.  The grant award from the Community Foundation will give us the resources to guarantee enough product,” says Morgan.  

An update from Morgan in late April shared that as a result of CFHC’s grant and another generous donation, Project Dignity of WNC has been able to expand its outreach to include 49 schools and 21 organizations in Henderson and Buncombe counties.  Most recently Project Dignity distributed 2,348 bags containing 11,200 tampons, 11,639 pads, and 7,080 panty liners.  

Director of Student Services for Henderson County Public Schools, Matthew Glover comments, “Project Dignity makes it easier for students to get feminine products when necessary, even if the students don’t have transportation or supplies at home.  The organization helps our students stay in school; having product at school means students don’t have to run to the store, call mom or dad who are likely working, or even miss school because students stay home when they want to avoid the embarrassment of being at school without.  Finally, being a student is hard enough these days, Project Dignity helps our students to be confident and secure at a time when they might not feel otherwise.”

To learn more about Project Dignity of Western North Carolina, visit www.projectdignitywnc.com.

Call for Nominations: 2019 Sauer Award

Presented at Community Foundation of Henderson County’s Annual Luncheon, the Richard C. and Vina L. Sauer Charitable Leadership Award is CFHC’s highest honor and celebrates individuals who provide outstanding leadership through their personal philanthropic efforts in Henderson County.  The Community Foundation of Henderson County will make a $1,500 grant to the charity of the recipient’s choice. 

The deadline for nominations for the 2019 Sauer Award is Friday, June 28th.  Nominees for the award must be living residents of Henderson County.  Committees, corporations and organizations are not eligible.  More details and the nomination form may be found online at www.CFHCforever.org/SauerAward or by calling Senior Program Officer, Lee Henderson-Hill at (828)697-6224.

Richard C. and Vina L. Sauer Charitable Leadership Award Recipients:

1994 Frank Ewbank

1995 Kenneth Youngblood

1996 Morris Kaplan

1997 Kermit Edney

1998 William E. “Jamie” Jamison

1999 William “Bill” Stokes, Jr.

2000 Marcia Caserio

2001 Eleanora Meloun

2002 Tom and Sue Fazio

2003 Frank Byrd

2004 Dr. Colin Thomas

2005 Dot Marlow

2006 Duane and Peggy McKibbin

2007 Jeff Miller

2008 Dr. Kathleen McGrady Family

2009 Robert and Doris Eklund

2010 Teddi Segal

2011 Marian Lowry

2012 Dr. Stuart and Carola Cohn

2013 Mary R. Garison

2014 Thos R. Shepherd

2015 Ruth Birge

2016 Phyllis Rothrock

2017 Bernd and Toby Linder

2018 Grace Poli

Read more about these past recipients on our website.

Grace Poli: 2018 Sauer Award Recipient

Immediately upon moving to Hendersonville in 1988 Grace became an active community member, getting involved with Immaculate Conception Church and joining the League of Women Voters. In her 31 years as a Hendersonville resident, Grace has served and chaired a number of boards championing a myriad of causes for which she is passionate. To this day she takes the Eucharist to those who are no longer able to attend services and calls monthly BINGO games at Carolina Village.  

When asked why she was and is so heavily involved in her community, the response is simple, “I like to be useful, my faith has a lot to do with it, it leads me to give back.”






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