Philanthropy Stories

Trisha Rawls of Norfolk donates to the Community Fund for Arts and Culture to help a variety of nonprofits bring music, theater, art and dance to Hampton Roads. As chair of the Norfolk Arts Commission, Trisha is passionate about giving area citizens access to all kinds of arts and culture.

Life was good to Lin and Ethel Mason, and the Norfolk restaurant owners found a way to return the favor – leaving a bequest that will forever benefit people in Hampton Roads through grants to an array of nonprofits.

Margot Barnhardt fondly recalls the 30 years she lived in Hampton Roads. She grew up in Pittsburgh, lived in various cities and retired to North Carolina but partnered with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to create four permanent, endowed funds to benefit the region she calls home.

Pediatrician Alfred "Buzzy" Schulwolf, M.D. was nearing retirement in 2003 when he started reflecting on the generosity bestowed upon him nearly 50 years before by a stranger. That led to him creating a scholarship fund to help students who remind him of himself. Buzzy attended medical school at the University of Virginia on a Florence Smith Scholarship from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. His scholarship from 1954 to 1958 came from a bequest from Florence Smith, daughter of a Norfolk physician.

When Glenn Scott and Anne Brower wed in Norfolk in 2001 they chose charity over china by starting a field-of-interest fund for the arts through the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Guy M. Winfrey, who passed away in 1996 at age 84, overcame a hard-knock life he endured at a young age. He dropped out of school at age 14 after his mom died to go to work and support three younger sisters. Today he helps abused adults and children gain better lives.