The Community Foundation of Central Blue Ridge gives over $500,000 in grants

STAUNTON, Va. (WHSV) -The Community Foundation of Central Blue Ridge gives over $500,000 in grants to 143 non-profit organizations in the Valley.

CFCBR is dedicated to improving the community through non-profit organizations in the Valley. Dan Layman, president and CEO of CFCBR, said the impact of these grants and the organization can be seen all around him.

“We get to see the new programs get created to help teens get on a great path for their own lives,” Layman said. “We get to see the impact of the scholarships that we direct to students who are first-generation.”

Layman said the grants can be seen through children and infrastructure built by these non-profits.

One of the non-profits who received a grant was the Boys & Girls Club of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta. The organization works with kids to provide additional education opportunities and provide parents with affordable childcare.

Debra Freeman-Belle, the CEO of the organization, said the grants help keep costs low for families who use their services.

As a former parent who used the Boys & Girls Club, Freeman-Belle said she was able to accomplish a lot in her career and still be able to provide for her children as a single mother of three. She said that her goal was to ensure every child had equal access to important resources like food and education.

“We don’t leave children and families behind; we make sure that regardless of the resources or the money or the income that a household has, they have the ability to get the support they need and not have money be the primary resource for them to get that support,” Freeman-Belle said.

She said that the Boys & Girls Club strives for inclusivity. The club does this by providing the same meals to kids, providing the same access to activities to kids and ensuring every kid could get the same thing if they wanted.

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