Community is at the heart of the Bank of Clarke County’s 2021 #GivewithBocc campaign – with a twist. Every year, BoCC asks the managers of its more than a dozen area branches to designate a charity for which it will raise funds during the holiday season. Most of the beneficiaries targeted with this year’s campaign, “Help Together,” have served their locales for a decade or more, but a couple of notable newbies struck a chord with their efforts to memorialize a loved one, or because bank managers have themselves volunteered with the organization.
Count on it; with Bank of Clarke, it’s personal. We learned that first hand when we spoke with John Hudson, former Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the bank, as he embarked last year on a new mission to head the Bank of Clarke County Foundation. His motto has long been that a bank is only as strong as the communities it serves. Now, that mission can take flight under the direction of Serena Bowen, VP and Marketing Director of the bank and a digital-first millennial by conviction.
This year, instead of boxes in bank lobbies, the branches’ chosen charities all will share an online site http://www.bankofclarke.bank/givewithbocc, putting patrons as close to the organizations’ “donate” links as possible. Be forewarned, though. Online giving may not be as easy as just tapping a link (though a couple of charities do have Amazon wish lists posted, making giving to charity feel like shopping online!) You may find that, all of a sudden, you’re following the Clarke County Animal Shelter on Facebook and finding out in real time when they run out of Purina cat food! As always, once you know what’s needed and that you can help, it’s much easier to say, “I’ve got this!”
We urge you to follow the Bank, as the campaign continues through year’s end, and to subscribe to as many of the Facebook and Instagram feeds of these local charities as you’re willing. We know it will increase your appreciation of how much impact just one person can have in making our communities great places to live.
So, get out there and, “Help Together.” It demonstrates our gratitude for God’s grace in getting us through challenging times, and our love for our neighbors, without whom life would be unbearably empty.
1. Berryville Branch: The Bank of Clarke Foundation.
The Bank of Clarke County Foundation was created this year to continue the bank’s 140-year legacy of addressing the needs of charities and non-profits located in the bank’s coverage area. Just last month, the bank generously supported the Loudoun Cares Annual Art Auction fundraiser. In the Berryville branch, a retail table display will spread awareness about the bank’s commitment to community, with monthly raffles beginning in October and finishing off in December with a “big ticket item,” as yet undisclosed.
All the money donated through the collective website will go directly to the BoCC Foundation, which will in turn provide grants to designated charities. Online, click: www.bankofclarke.bank/givewithbocc and fill out the online form.
2. One Loudoun Branch: Good Shepherd Alliance
The Good Shepherd Alliance – soon to be Good Shepherd of Northern Virginia – is a comprehensive network of services for the homeless, near-homeless, and those in need in Loudoun County. Its emergency shelter and six transitional homes for single women, single mothers and families provide immediate needs like food and shelter, while its thrift stores in Ashburn, Sterling and Leesburg provide additional support for its residents.
Just this year, more than 30 households have lived in Good Shepherd’s residences and the group has helped more than 40 people through its shelter services. Executive Director Gene Ficarra says, “our program is unique because we provide three to 12 months of services like finding a job, resume writing, interviewing skills, parenting skills, and financial budgeting. We’re helping people get back on their feet and be self-sufficient.” Counseling also helps people who are in danger of becoming homeless, he adds. With assistance, 77% of individuals and families engaged go on to maintain stable housing.
Good Shepherd’s outreach programs also feed families in need through its food pantry and thrift store voucher program. Year round, the charity can make good use of grocery and gas gift cards and accepts vehicle donations. “Whatever you can give it will make a difference in someone’s life,” Gene says.
Employees at One Loudoun will work with the Alliance to distribute flyers and brochures to raise awareness and will host a drive this season for coats and winter clothing.
3. Leesburg Market St. Branch: Mobile Hope
For 10 years, Mobile Hope CEO and Founder Donna Fortier has been loading up a bus with clothing, meals and hygiene items to distribute to Loudoun County’s homeless youth. Now, finally, the organization has a permanent home for Hope’s Village at 302 Parker Court, a short walk to the historic downtown.
There are multiple buildings on the property: one serving as a store and training center which kids can use to train in retail jobs; a separate trade school, where Donna hopes teens can be certified in various trades; a gym and boxing ring where professional boxers can work with kids to better deal with their anger and frustration and stay in shape; and a welcome and donation center.
During the COVID crisis, Mobile Hope served around 50 clients aged 24 and younger with housing needs, but has helped well over 100,000 residents through its bus donations. Cash donations fund immediate crisis care for hotels and transportation as well as operations.
Says Donna, “I do this work every day because these kids deserve a vocal advocate. It is so rewarding to celebrate the small and large successes with them. Helping to empower them to see their worth, regardless of all the judgement, is truly an honor.”
The Main St. branch manager met with Mobile Hope’s board members recently and said, “After hearing about their mission and purpose, we knew we needed to support them.” They’ll be working through year end to raise awareness of the mission and channel donations through the bank’s website.
4. Purcellville Branch: UpsideDown Moments
Becky Saunders and her husband became certified foster parents with the Loudoun County Department of Family Services in 2018, and learned through their training that children placed into care often join foster families with just the clothes on their backs. It is during these moments of their lives they need to experience some normalcy, as everything ordinary has been turned “upside down,” Becky said, explaining the inspiration for her charity’s name. The Saunders began to collect clothing and hygiene supplies on their own, then in March of 2019 received 501(c)(3) status, just as the pandemic hit.
Last Christmas, the group assembled all its donated clothing, hygiene items, stocking stuffers and winter coats and set up a "free store" for foster parents to pick out clothing and other items for foster children. The group hopes to expand this to a “Seasonal Blessings” celebration to help foster parents with clothes for seasonal changes as well, and many times, they can even accommodate requests, as in when they recently supplied a bicycle for a teen. to use for transportation.
More than 183 children have been helped in this fashion, largely by word of mouth and Facebook requests. The group also provides one-time supplies like furniture for teens and young adults who are aging out of the foster care system. Monetary donations aren’t that frequent, but Becky says they have been used to send a teen to summer camp and also helped an aged-out youth with a semester of college.
Bottom line, it is UpsideDown Moments' goal to assist both groups of foster youth in meeting their basic needs, and in doing so, improve their self-confidence and well-being until their lives are right-side up once again.
The Purcellville Branch team is taking a hands-on approach to helping this charity with a drive for donations of new underwear and socks to put in duffel bags that will be given to children coming into the foster care system, along with deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, brushes, and combs for basic hygiene kits, in addition to monetary donations.
5. 50W Branch: Round Hill Ruritan Club
Love for the Round Hill Ruritan Club springs from two branch employees who were part of the club’s 4-H groups in their youth. The club provides and coordinates a wide range of community improvement projects and activities, including community fund-raisers, food drives, and scholarships to deserving students. It also collects and distributes Rudy Bears to hospitals for sick or injured children, school counselors, assisted living facilities and emergency and law enforcement agencies.
Because the group supports youth meetings in its Round Hill Ruritan building and that building is in need of repair and upgrades to its facility, the 50W branch is making that need the focal point of their fund raising. A month-long raffle started October 25th, and the branch is still collecting donations and contributions that will be raffled off.
The group has its own monthly craft sale. November 20 and December 18th will both feature Christmas gifts.
7. Pleasant Valley Branch: Faith in Action / Wheels for Wellness
Formerly known as Faith in Action, Wheels for Wellness is a non-profit that provides free door-to-door rides to medical appointments for people without transportation. Typically, they serve people who may not qualify for social services but who can’t afford to own and insure a vehicle, or who are unable to drive due to age or medical infirmity.
The organization, with just two part-time employees, including the director, is clearly punching beyond its weight class. One of those part-timers handles scheduling of the all-volunteer drivers who use their own vehicles, gas and time in performance of their service. Each is screened and trained by Valley Health Systems.
Traci Chapman Toth served on the board of directors for the organization for 8 years before becoming the organization’s executive director in 2017. Not surprisingly, she told us that her primary need is for drivers. “We need 30 to 35 in a normal year, but last year with COVID our crew dropped to 5. We’re now operating with 16, a number under pressure from the Delta variant,” given that both the drivers and those transported are in a high-risk category. “Anyone healthy and working doesn’t have the time to do transports so most of our drivers are retirees,” she explained.
This small contingent is nothing if not faithful – volunteer driver Mike Morrison retired from service in 2018 after driving some 39,000 miles! The mileage adds up quickly: just 100 clients per year may require up to 3,000 transports annually, and because of the current shortage of volunteer drivers, there’s a waiting list.
The annual fundraiser, a “Tablescapes” dinner featuring displays of fine dining displays by local participants, has been delayed again until 2022. The Pleasant Valley branch team is planning a bake sale the week of November 15-19 in the meantime. Cash donations will more than likely cover the organization’s minimal operational budget or to buy gas cards for its most active volunteers.
7. Boyce Branch: Clarke County Humane Foundation
Bank of Clarke County’s Boyce Branch is chock full of animal lovers. Basket raffles and bake sales will feature here too in their efforts to raise awareness for the Clarke County Animal Shelter, but that will only, pardon the pun, “scratch the surface.”
While dogs seem to have been the beneficiary of quarantine adoptions and are in fairly short supply, the shelter now houses more than 60 cats and kittens! The adoption fee for cats is just $35, and the shelter – jointly owned and managed by Clarke County and the Clarke County Humane Foundation – is offering a two-for-one price for kittens. Mature animals must be altered before leaving the shelter, either upon adoption or by a participating veterinarian within 30 days of the animal reaching 6-months old.
The Clarke County Humane Foundation often covers the cost of spaying and neutering animals adopted by Clarke County residents, and provides a subsidy program for residents of Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, and Warren counties. Those who can’t adopt are encouraged to donate Purina cat and kitten chow and Purina or Purina One dog food. “Currently our biggest needs are for puppy potty pads and canned cat food,” says shelter lead Marcella Helinski. As noted earlier, there’s even an Amazon wish list for supplies, which auto-populates the shipping address.
Like her Boyce Branch supporters, Marcella says, “I have always been very passionate about animals.” She says she was very fortunate to grow up with family who worked in animal rescue and had horse farms, so for as long as she can remember she wanted to work with animals. Last year, the shelter placed 37 dogs and 76 cats with forever families.
Of course, there’s always that one story that makes the thousands of hours of effort worthwhile, and for Marcella, it’s the story of a stray named Rosie, found wandering and in rough shape. She was nearly hairless – covered in mange – mostly skin and bones, her feet swollen and inflamed. It took weeks and weeks and multiple vet visits to get her back on her feet, but she was ultimately adopted by a family that still keeps in touch.
8. Sunnyside Branch: Katie Teets Bradshaw Comfort House
In the last hours of Katie Teets Bradshaw’s young life, nearly 40 of her friends gathered by her beside at Winchester Medical Center. Given Katie’s special status as a former ICU nurse at the hospital and later an RN at Shenandoah Oncology, the gathering was afforded a “comfort room” on the second floor of the facility. As her brother Brandon recalls, “there were maybe 8 chairs. Nobody would leave to grab a breath of fresh air because, being on the second floor, it would take 20 minutes to get outside and back.” What he didn’t say was that those minutes could have been her last.
Katie lost her fight with cancer at the age of 28 on June 25, 2021. She spent her life and her career helping others. Through her diagnosis and grueling battle, she told everyone, "This isn't it; I'm destined for something big!"
To keep her promise, Katie's family and friends have set out on a mission to build the Katie Teets Bradshaw Comfort House, where terminally ill patients can spend their final days in a home setting with family and friends. The house, when built, will have all the accommodations to make it feel like home, say organizers. “We, along with your help plan to change the entire face and stigma behind comfort care.”
There were helping hands aplenty at a fundraiser the last weekend in September at Grove’s Winchester Harley-Davidson. (The family are all car lovers and Katie was a huge fan of her Jeep.) The car show friends and family organized drew more than 70 volunteers and raised $27,000 to help fund the house. Next up is a Halloween gala, October 30 at Trumpet Vine Farms, between Stevens City and Middle Town.
As Sunnyside Branch managers who support the effort as part of Help Together put it, “Cancer has impacted everyone’s lives here ... whether it be loved ones lost, loved ones who have battled, or those battling the disease themselves. Katie Teets Bradshaw’s story is one of a life cut way too short from this terrible disease.” The project also has struck a chord with administrators of Valley Health whom Brandon said are working to find enough land on the property of Winchester Medical Center to be as close to care as possible. Blue Ridge Hospice, Right at Home – “we’re all in this together,” Brandon said.
“Katie fought for two years with a smile on her face so why wouldn’t we honor her by making a good thing out of a bad thing?”
9. OTC Branch: Bright Futures
Bright Futures—Frederick/Winchester is a non-profit organization that helps Frederick County and Winchester City Public Schools connect student needs with resources that already exist in the community. The Bright Futures framework brings together businesses, human service agencies, faith-based organizations, and parent groups and partners them with schools in a way that helps them quickly and efficiently meet the needs of students and schools.
Volunteers meet weekly to pack meals containing 1 vegetable, 1 fruit, 2 lunches, 2 breakfast items and 2 snacks that go out to 1,114 students on the food pack program. That is a total of 8,912 food items the group sends out every week! Shopping? The highest need items for this school year are earbuds and headphones, pencil boxes (no pouches), high-school appropriate backpacks and reusable water bottles.
Old Town Center branch managers chose Bright Futures because they’ve seen the impact it has on a kid to not have all the resources they need. “The last thing a kid should have to endure is the emotional stress of not having the same items other kids have access to. They have more important things to focus on at a young age!”
Look for the OTC team to coordinate with Bright Futures on their winter activities and for a drive to bring in packed bookbags.
10. Senseny Road Branch: Winchester Rescue Mission
The photo, from Winchester Rescue Mission’s Facebook page, is captioned “Nothing feels as lonely as believing no one is in your corner.” It’s for people like this, who feel almost beyond hope, for whom this organization exists. Its mission: to transform lives by providing shelter, supportive services, and advocacy to improve and enhance the lives of the poor, powerless and persecuted, to reach their full potential through Christ.
Senseny Road Branch managers chose the Mission to support this season because of its “holistic approach” in helping the downtrodden. They’ve obviously seen miracles happen in the lives of those the mission has touched, because one of the ways they’re choosing to highlight the work of the charity is a “meet and greet” with participants who have gone on to live independently.
Executive Director Pastor Brandon Thomas says, “our team inspires excellence, compassion and professionalism while fully embracing individuals experiencing homelessness with the love of Jesus.” The mission provides safe shelter, hot meals, medical care, job training and other services including Bible study and personal support from a team of “compassionate, dedicated and Godly men and women” who come alongside the homeless to help them live independently.
Frankly, there’s just not enough room for those who need help. The group’s men’s shelter on North Cameron Street in Winchester, also the mission’s headquarters, has 32 beds. The women’s shelters on East Clifford and East Southwerk Streets have an addition 21. Both are above capacity and too many people in too little space create conflict and anxiety, in part because 90% of the mission’s current shelter residents have a diagnosed mental illness.
The Mission recently closed on the purchase of a building at 2655 Valley Ave. that it hopes will provide an additional Emergency Shelter and Day Center adding dozens of new beds. The day shelter will be a place where clients can stay warm and dry, shower, use the restroom and enjoy a hot meal, and the staff can have a small office. The organization needs funds to install a new sprinkler system and to upgrade its restrooms and shower facilities and is working with the City Council to amend city zoning to accommodate its operation.
Since January 2021, Winchester Rescue Mission has sheltered more than 130 people, but it had more than 300 calls seeking assistance. In addition to its shelter programs, it provides free meals, shower and laundry facilities and food boxes to those in need. Since January the organization has provided 25,5778 meals and 4,968 food boxes.
11. Stephens City Branch: Highland Food Pantry
We’ve all seen prices creeping up on grocery store shelves, but too many of our neighbors are already facing the prospect of hunger at home. Thankfully, both Bank of Clarke County’s Stephens City Branch manager and her husband already volunteer at the Highland Food Panty, making this an easy choice for support.
“With our community experiencing an increase in the number of people in need of food, along with the high prices of food, I thought this would be the perfect way to give back in Stephens City.” The branch certainly will collect food this quarter, and will ask for donations at the teller line and at the new accounts desk in good old fashioned Mason jars.
A member agency of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank network, Highland Food Pantry of Winchester, Virginia, serves people in the northern Shenandoah Valley experiencing chronic hunger. Its main activity is distributing food to people in need, but it also engages the community in awareness of food insecurity in the region.
In 2020 Highland Food Pantry served more than 8,500 households in Winchester and the surrounding area, which translates to more than 22,000 people experiencing hunger in the community. The organization never closed its doors during the pandemic as the difficulty rose for many parents to remain employed.
The pantry’s signature fundraiser, “Men on a Mission,” is planned for November 6, at First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall on the Old Town Mall. Money raised will help provide needed supplies, but will also support the charity’s facility improvement project.
12. Millbrook Branch: I Can 2
I Can 2 is another recipient on Bank of Clarke County’s list that was both launched just before the pandemic, and born of personal sensitivity to local needs. Executive Director Vicki Robertson’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was born with Down syndrome, making her client number 1 of I Can 2, which was founded in March of 2020 to provide jobs and workforce training to residents with developmental disabilities.
The organization’s workshop on Mulberry Street in Stephens City is a place where people with disabilities learn first safety, then how to produce and assemble quality marketable products and services. It's important to organizers to offer participants a range of training so they can then pick a career they'll love. Their training and interests may lead them into a variety of fields such as woodworking, photography, baking, gardening, home décor, hair styling – and ministry! Several participants are trained in how to share their faith and conduct their own church services by the nearby Orrick Chapel and/or work in a Christian book store the organization operates. None of the products or services are self-sustaining, and individuals aren’t charged to participate in the program, so the group depends on local donations.
Millbrook’s branch managers said, “We believe that everyone should have a chance to prove themselves and this organization gives that chance to those that may be overlooked or forgotten. I Can 2 provides an environment that will allow those with disabilities to learn at their pace, collecting skill sets needed for everyday careers. This is a program that is much needed in every community, and we are proud to support them.”
The Millbrook team will individually be making themed baskets and selling tickets to raffle them off on December 16. Organizers hope to include some of the artwork done by I Can 2’s program participants in the fundraiser.