Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment awards $500,000 in grant awards across eastern NC (November 2019)

The North Carolina Community Foundation recently announced $500,000 in grant awards across eastern North Carolina from the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment. Grants were awarded to nonprofit programs serving education, health and human services in 41 eastern counties.

“We were honored to award these grants to nonprofit programs making an impact in eastern North Carolina,” said Leslie Ann Jackson, NCCF vice president of community investment and engagement. “This marks the second year of the competitive portion of the grants program from the fund.”

This year the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment awarded:

• $40,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain for the academic success program in two of under‐served counties, Craven and Carteret. The program includes tutoring, additional academic support and a focus on STEM‐related programs and camps for girls and young women.
• $25,000 to the Cape Fear Guardian Ad Litem Association for the academic tutoring program, providing tutoring for abused and neglected children in our communities where there is no funding available from any source except for the Cape Fear Guardian ad Litem Association. Tutors provide needed one‐on‐one attention and an improved attitude toward school and learning.
• $50,000 to the CarolinaEast Foundation for the patient assistance program, which partners with all local healthcare providers to ease the journey of an illness or health‐related condition by assisting patients with various medical needs (travel vouchers, medications, medical supplies, ramps, etc.) not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or charity care.
• $25,000 to the Diversity Nurtures Achievement Community Youth Center for the afterschool/summer enrichment program. DNA provides STEAMA based on‐site learning and activities aimed at preventing academic loss.
• $33,700 to the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services, Inc. for general operating support to ensure vital, life changing support services remain available to victims seeking a safer, peaceful life away from violence and that prevention, education and outreach programs are available for the community through agency initiatives.
• $34,200 to the Edenton‐Chowan Food Pantry for the Book Bag Buddies and Children’s Summer Nutrition programs to provide weekend meals to 140 children during the 2019/20 school year and to 225 children during their 2020 summer vacation. The children are all at-risk for inadequate nutrition and attend Chowan Middle, White Oak or D.F. Walker schools.
• $30,000 to Families First, Inc. for general operating support to provide shelter and services to survivors of adult and child domestic violence and sexual assault, with the goal of preventing these crimes from occurring. This is accomplished through trauma Informed care and proven prevention efforts.
• $25,000 to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Inc. for nourishing families in eastern North Carolina. The Food Bank will work across the food system to provide access to nutritious food that nourishes families, children, seniors and individuals. Through partnerships, education and programs, the Food Bank empowers communities to overcome hunger, creating an environment where all North Carolinians thrive.
• $35,000 to NC MedAssist for expanding NC MedAssist’s Free Pharmacy program for uninsured and low‐income residents. The program will provide low‐income NC residents with life‐saving prescription medications at no cost, preventing families without health insurance from having to choose between purchasing their monthly medications or buying groceries for their home by collaborating with local charitable clinics.
• $25,000 to Prevent Blindness North Carolina for star pupils preschool vision screening in southeastern NC. The program will provide vision screenings to preschoolers aged two to five onsite via the preschool and childcare network across nine southeastern counties during the 2019‐2020 and 2020‐2021 school year and provide access to vision care for referred financially needy children in that region.
• $43,400 to Robeson County Teen Court & Youth Services / NC Youth Violence Prevention Center for the Robeson County Teen Court & Youth Services DMC Project. This project will address the Disproportionate Minority Confinement rates by offering community driven programs holistically supporting needs of identified high risk minority offenders using a research‐based teen court model thus avoiding a formalized court process, while providing parent support.
• $30,000 to the Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI) for supporting ROI designing and implementing interventions that help make Pattillo Middle School a trauma‐responsive school. The results and insights from this collaboration will inform future partnerships between ROI and other schools or community organizations looking to become trauma responsive.
• $30,000 to the Sylvan Heights Bird Park for the STEM Education Enrichment program to continue providing area K‐12 schools with out‐of‐classroom STEM enrichment opportunities, including formal education courses offered by Sylvan’s education staff, school outreach, and school‐conducted sessions at Sylvan Heights using the Park’s birds and wetlands exhibits.
• $40,000 to the Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe for the Traditional Indigenous Educational program to implement experiential learning activities to supplement the formal educational experiences of Waccamaw Siouan tribal youth, utilizing multiple generations.
• $33,700 to the YWCA Lower Cape Fear for the New Choices Economic Empowerment Program, supporting the independence of women with low incomes by enhancing their education and opportunity to obtain a living wage, thus delivering successful long‐term outcomes for the entire family.

NCCF was proud to announce the establishment of the $20 million Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment in 2015. The endowment has been granting to Burevitch’s named nonprofits since then, when the plan was announced for a portion of the fund to grow before commencing the competitive portion of the grants program this year.

“Mrs. B,” as Burevitch was known to her friends, was a Wilmington native whose generosity was well-known in southeastern North Carolina and beyond. The story of her philanthropy can be found here.

“Thanks to Mrs. Burevitch’s lifelong support of charitable causes, the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment will have an impact across eastern North Carolina for generations to come,” Jackson said. The Endowment and the nonprofit programs supported due to her generosity sustain her legacy as a philanthropist who cared deeply for her community.”