WINFREY GRANTS Helping Foster Kids
Guy Winfrey knew hard times. His mother died while he was a boy, and he quit school at age 14 to support his younger sisters. After working in a drug store and as a railroad laborer, he forged a successful career selling cars in Norfolk at Conoly Phillips Lincoln Mercury. Despite his accomplishments,
Guy Winfrey
Winfrey never forgot what it was like to struggle. Before his
death in 1996 he arranged to leave a $2.1 million bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to help abused children and spouses. He chose to name it for his first wife who had died before him. Over the decades the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund has awarded more than $1.1 million to 16 organizations ranging from Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters to Samaritan House. In 2010 the Winfrey fund provided seed funding for two Hampton Roads nonprofits helping foster children thrive as adults. The Together We Can Foundation is using a $77,940 grant to help foster children and young adults who are ages 14 to 24. The program links them with mentors, provides educational opportunities and teaches them life skills. The Up Center is applying a $135,000 three-year grant to provide mentors to foster children ages 6 through 17. On one recent evening 19-year-old Paris Barrett met her new mentor, a 30-year-old mother of a 5-year-old child. Barrett has lived in three different foster homes in the past seven years. As part of Together We Can Foun- dation’s Connections Program, the Virginia Beach resident has earned a diploma from the Adult Learning Center and is studying to become a licensed pharmacy technician. She participates in Together We Can workshops that help her write a resume, master time management techniques and apply other coping skills.
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togetherwecanfoundation.org and
theupcenter.org 33
H A VE S UCCESSFUL L IVES Along the way Barrett has learned
to listen to good advice from help- ful people – something she used to avoid. “I don’t just blow people off anymore,” she says. “I try to make wiser decisions.” Young adults who leave the foster care system “have the
In 2010 Foundation grants to more than 70 human service organizations helped thousands of area people lead better lives.
worst statistics of having problems in the future,” says Tom Crockett, executive director. His program works with older foster kids who have no family support. Staff and volunteers help them find out “what they want to do and how we can get them there,” Crockett says. A second 2010 Winfrey grant lets The Up Center match 270 younger foster children with mentors through its Foster Care Youth Mentoring Program. The children live in Chesa- peake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach but often move from one foster home to another. That’s where men- tors like state trooper Ross Thompson can provide stability. The 35-year-old Virginia Beach resident meets weekly with the same 15-year-old boy to talk, have fun and be a stable force in his life. Movies, bowling, sailing and bike riding are among their favorite activities.
“I saw a huge change in him after the first year,” says Thompson. “He thought I would leave when he moved, but I was still there.” Mary Midyette, who coordinates the mentoring program
for The Up Center, says: “I’m proud of the mentors who come in with their big hearts knowing it will be difficult because of the nature of foster care, but they still want to help.”
A mentoring program is helping Paris Barrett plan a positive future.
Courtesy of the Winfrey
family
IMPACT Photo by Eric Lusher Hampton Roads Community Foundation • hamptonr oadscf.or g
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