ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 TAG: 9703260088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR THE ROANOKE TIMES
MEMO: NOTE: SHorter version ran in Metro edition.
Organizers say they had never heard of the woman before the gift and still know nothing about her.
Sara Holland received a call about a year ago from the executor of the estate of a Roanoke County woman.
Holland heads Total Action Against Poverty's Youth Services Division. The executor was calling to tell Holland that the woman had died and left some money in her will for Youth Services programs - nearly $10,000.
Holland, the division's director for 18 years, said she was pleasantly surprised, but puzzled. Who was this woman?
Holland said the woman wasn't someone who had worked with Youth Services' programs, which help young people who have trouble functioning in the traditional school setting. She wasn't someone who had contributed to Youth Services before.
"I don't know anything about her," Holland said. "Maybe she was one of the grandparents of one of the kids who we've helped."
TAP Youth Services received a check for $9,760 last week. Another $4,000 will be given to the agency after sale of the woman's real estate, bringing her total donation to almost $14,000, Holland said.
The woman's attorney asked The Roanoke Times not to publish the woman's name. The attorney said the woman strongly requested that she and her gift not be publicly linked. The attorney also declined to answer questions about the woman - or why she chose to bequeath money to TAP Youth Services.
Whatever the woman's reasons, her donation "is truly a godsend," Holland said.
TAP Youth Services lost about $140,000 in federal Job Training Partnership Act funds several years ago. The money had been used for Project Success, an education and employment services program for 16- to 21-year-olds who have dropped out of school or completed high school but lack the skills needed to get a job.
Youth Services continued to operate the program with $38,000 in funding from United Way of Roanoke Valley and the city of Roanoke, Holland said. But "dropping from $140,000 to $38,000 was really quite a shortfall," she said.
The woman's donation "will not only help with that particular program but kids in some of our other youth help programs who have emergencies we have not been able to address - psychological counseling, clothing for job interviews or emergencies," Holland said.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB