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By Sarah Davis

Community Correspondent

The Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation Celebration on June 25 honored the legacy of the late Wayland L. Jenkins, Jr., and announced the 2024 grant recipients of the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation and the Bertie-Hertford Women’s Fund.

Most fittingly, four endowments, totaling $585,000, with seven beneficiaries were announced as having been created from the estate of the late Wayland Jenkins who was the driving force for the 1999 establishment of the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation, an affiliate of the North Carolina Community Foundation (NCCF).

The NCCF connects generous people with deserving causes and organizations in order to inspire philanthropy in the state’s rural communities. The NCCF sustains over 1,200 endowments and boasts affiliates in 60 North Carolina counties.

Announced by John Tayloe, a member of the advisory board of the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation, the four endowments are as follows:

The Wayland L. Jenkins, Jr., Endowment for Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church, the Wayland L. Jenkins, Jr., Endowment for Albemarle Regional Library, the Wayland L. Jenkins Jr., Church Endowment, and the Wayland L. Jenkins, Jr., Fine Arts Center Endowment for Chowan University.

The Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church Endowment is designated for maintenance of the Cladie Hardy Ruffin Ambrose Memorial Gardens.

The Albemarle Regional Library Endowment supports the special needs, exhibits, high-tech equipment, and similar uses of the Sallie Harrell Jenkins Memorial Library in Aulander.

The Church Endowment supports (1) the music programs with preference to maintenance of the organ of Aulander Baptist Church, in memory of Wayland Lawrence Jenkins, Sr., and Sallie Harrell Jenkins; (2) the music programs with preference to maintenance of the organ of Early’s Baptist Church in memory of Helen Harrell Williford; (3) non-operational special needs of St. John Baptist Church in memory of Joseph Henry Jenkins and Olivia Benthall Jenkins; and (4) the local outreach work of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church (Ahoskie) in memory of Jenny Cooke Jenkins and in honor of Joseph Henry Jenkins.

The Fine Arts Center Endowment is designated for maintaining the space/gallery and paintings donated to Chowan University by Wayland L. Jenkins, Jr., and acquiring new works of art.

Representatives from Albemarle Regional Library, the four churches, and Chowan University were recognized as the machinery of each endowment was presented.

In addition to Tayloe, members of the advisory board for the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation are Guy Holley, President; Jordan Harrell, Vice President; Lindsay Vaughan, Secretary/Treasurer; and Burney Baker, Laura Beasley, Nayland Collier, Cecelia Jones, Leslie Lawrence, Jackson Moody, Chris Rawlings, and Penny Rose, members.

Secretary/Treasurer and Grants Chair Vaughan announced the 2024 grant recipients: Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas, Dream Hunt and Fishing Program, Good Shepherd Food Pantry, and Historic Hope Foundation,

Additionally, Claudia Griffin, Chair of the Bertie-Hertford Women’s Fund, which also operates under the auspices of the NCCF, announced its 2024 grant recipients: Ahoskie Food Pantry for the Power Pack Program ; the Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas for the Bertie-Hertford Childhood Cancer Safety Net; Dream Hunt and Fishing Program for outdoor adventure and environmental camps; the North Carolina Symphony for music discovery for Bertie or Hertford pre-schoolers; and the Ronald McDonald House of Eastern North Carolina for the general operating expenses for families of Bertie and Hertford Counties.

Representatives from several of the grant beneficiaries were present to receive the grants, including the Ahoskie Food Pantry which was also noted as having been a recipient of the first grant made by the Women’s Group after its establishment in 2007.