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Changing Lives ~ One Toll at a Time |
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Gary Dickens |
Group shot courtesy David Madison Photography. Video courtesy Dulles Greenway. |
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Lilly Tella, Greenway employee and Terry Hoffman, "Drive for Charity" event manager, collect a toll from a Greenway patron.
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If you work for a non-profit organization, then you know that these are hard times. Donations from corporations and citizens are down, the need for services up. However, one local corporation is determined to buck that trend. Officially, they are the “Toll Road Investors Partnership II, L.P” but you know them better as the Dulles Greenway, whose western terminus is on the outskirts of Leesburg. The Greenway, whichmakes it possible for Loudouners to have a saner commute east or make it on-time for a flight out of Dulles, for five years now has donated an entire day’s gross receipts to several area charities through an event they call “Drive for Charity”. |
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The 2010 "Drive for Charity" check is presented to this year's recipients. From left to right: Tom Sines (TRIP II CEO), Kelly Burk (BOS - Leesburg), Joe Coleman (Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy), Jean O'Meara (ECHOWorks), Paula Grace Halewski (Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter), Sara Donahue (March of Dimes), Terry Hoffman (Dulles Greenway), Chuck Harris (Fresh Air/Full Care) |
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Just what does an entire day’s toll receipts look like? Well, for this year’s event held on May 20th, it looked like a check for $226,246! Over the past five years the Greenway’s “Drive for Charity” has raised over $1,000,000. This year the money was distributed among: ECHOWorks ~ a Leesburg group who for 35 years has improved the lives of disabled adults through vocational training and job placement. Fresh Air/Full Care ~ a Loudoun group whose mission is to place the children of needy families into summer care programs. Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy ~ who strives to preserve and increase the habitats available to local wildlife and educate residents about the value of such places. The Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter ~ their name says it all. March of Dimes (The NeoNatal Intensive Care Family Support Unit at INOVA Fairfax) ~ a place for families to retreat to while their infants are in NICU. Greenway Scholarship Program ~ educational scholarships for area students I am hard pressed to think of another area business which has given so much back to the community. To their credit, small businesses frequently make donations of dollars and products to local groups, but simply cannot match the scale of what the Greenway can accomplish in a single day. Local governments are trimming budgets way back and while non-profits are typically highly cost effective in delivering much needed services, funds for them have to be cut too. So that really points to Loudoun’s community of larger businesses to make a difference. The Toll Road Investors Partnership II, LP has shown us that they are determined to invest in lives well beyond the 14 miles of efficient asphalt we know as the Greenway. We are a much better community because of them. |
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Contact: gary@leesburgmag.com |
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