Do you know about Community Funds?
Millie Modlin and Louise & Sam Smith and Frances & Jesse Smith
This article first appeared in the November 10th, 2022 edition of the Davie County Enterprise Record
Did you know…
Last week we talked about the importance of Community Fund endowments that provide Community Grant dollars for Davie County. Did you know there were ninety-nine Community Funds at the end of October, representing an investment of more than $5.5 Million!
With an average fund size of $56,000 opening a Community Fund can seem daunting; but they can be opened with $5,000. The Foundation also started the Davie Community Impact Fund right from the beginning of operation. It is a fund that everyone in the community can contribute to in any amount, at any time. The importance of the Davie Community Impact Fund is that it provides a place for everyone who wishes to give to improve the lives of Davie County residents to participate. You may have heard that the Foundation is only for the rich and famous, but you have heard wrong.
As a community foundation, we strive to be accessible to everyone in the community! Thanks to the gifts of many, the Davie Community Impact Fund’s balance has grown to more than $220,000. That’s a lot of $100, $500, and $1,000 gifts! Grants from the Davie Community Impact Fund are part of what makes Davie such a special community. We care about one another, and we strive to make our community a better place for everyone.
Of course, it can be difficult to give to your own community while you are living, especially in times when inflation takes every extra dollar. Some of the Community Funds were established through a bequest in a donor’s will. I think of Mildred Modlin, Millie to most of us, who left a significant bequest to open the Mildred Modlin Fund for Education when she died in 2013. Millie taught senior high English and journalism in China Grove, Thomasville, and Wilmington before returning home to Mocksville. Her newspapers won national awards for excellence year after year. Millie was a caring, inspiring and respected educator who expected and got the best from her students. It made sense to Millie to start a fund that would support education upon her death. Since that time, her fund has provided support for many school projects and for the innovative creative education taking place at Cognition of Davie County. Millie would have loved that space!
If you know where to find Andy’s country store in Davie County, you may have heard of the Smith sisters, Louise and Frances. Both sisters married and lived most of their lives in Winston-Salem while continuing to own property in Davie County. Andy’s Country Store and the house on the opposite corner are two of the properties owned by the sisters. Neither Louise or Frances had children but they both were surrounded by them in their classrooms, teaching in Winston-Salem for 38 and 35 years respectively.
Louise married Sam who was associated with retail business through Watkins Book Store and Bocock-Stroud for 54 years. Frances married Jesse, who owned and operated Temple’s Jewelry and Gift Store in Winston-Salem for 34 years. Both couples chose to give back to the community where the girls grew up. Upon their deaths they created unrestricted Community Funds to provide support for their beloved Davie County. Sam and Louise left the C.D. “Duke” and Effie Smith Family Fund in memory of her parents in 2005. Frances and Jesse left the Frances & Jesse C. Temple Fund in 2013. Important grants have been possible from both funds over the years since.
All three of the funds created through bequest have played an important role in grantmaking in Davie County since their creation. I have to believe that Millie, Louise and Sam, and Frances and Jesse would be well pleased with the impact they have had on Davie County.
The Davie Community Foundation Inc. “inspires philanthropy to strengthen Davie County for present and future generations.” The Foundation is working to promote a spirit of giving in our community and build a permanent endowment that is invested forever. Earnings from the endowment will benefit Davie County organizations and projects that are important to you. The Foundation accepts gifts in any amount, at any time: for an existing fund, the Community Scholarship Fund, or the Davie Community Impact Fund. A variety of options for establishment of named funds in honor or memory are also available. To learn more about the Davie Community Foundation contact Jane Simpson at (336) 753-6903 or jsimpson@daviefoundation.org or visit the Foundation web-site at www.daviefoundation.org.