What the Foundation Does
Community projects throughout Virginia Beach need your support! With your help, the Foundation can protect our coastal environment and encourage healthy lifestyles.
Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation Foundation
Community projects throughout Virginia Beach need your support! With your help, the Foundation can provide enhancements for the city’s parks and recreation centers, encouraging healthy lifestyles.
When you donate to support a Parks & Recreation project, your contribution goes directly toward making that project a reality. And when you donate to the Foundation’s general fund, you can be sure your gift will be directed to where it’s needed most.
Capital Improvement Projects Funded by the Foundation
- Marshview Park and Natural Area/Mountain Bike Trails – Information kiosks, trail signage, and other trail amenities installed at the city’s first mountain bike trail system.
- Mary’s Garden – Mary Prier, Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation's former Marketing Manager and designated liaison to the Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation Foundation, died in 2022. She was known as a “force of nature,” loved and admired by a multitude of friends, co-workers, and colleagues. A memorial garden has been planted adjacent to the Parks & Recreation Administration office.
- Students on the Swim – This vital program provides two-week Red Cross-certified swim lessons free to second-graders at Title I elementary schools. Lessons take place at city recreation centers.
- Community Care Fund – Since July 2021, funding has supported more than 80 youth and adult participants with recreation center memberships, sports camp registrations, and childcare. Since its inception, the Foundation has helped fund numerous summer camp scholarships, after-school programs, and recreation memberships.
- Bench and Tree Buddies – More than 200 new benches have been installed and more than 250 trees have been planted throughout the park system.
- Bike Buddies – Since 2000, 50 bike buddy racks have been sponsored along the Virginia Beach boardwalk and at Mount Trashmore Park.
- Communication Boards – Coming Soon! Boards with symbols that help non-verbal and limited language users communicate with others will be installed at several playground locations around Virginia Beach.
- Parks Plus – Working with local civic leagues and others, several neighborhood parks received upgrades, including Bellamy Woods, Lynnhaven Colony, and Bishopsgate.
- Environmental and Water Safety Signage – Waterway environmental and water safety signage was installed at six access locations around the city in cooperation with Wild River Outfitters, Lynnhaven River NOW, VB Department of Parks and Recreation, and Patagonia
- Pleasure House Point Natural Area – Through a partnership with Trust for Public Land, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the City of Virginia Beach, and the local community, the largest undeveloped parcel of land on the Lynnhaven River (122 acres) was preserved instead of converted to high-density development. The Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation Foundation participated as the designated 501(c) (3) organization to receive funds for improvements to the natural area.
- Reese F. Lukei Jr. Raptor Trail – In partnership with other community organizations, the Foundation provided funding for signage and Bench Buddies at two city sites along the trail: Lake Lawson/Lake Smith Natural Area and Pleasure House Point Natural Area.
- Meadows Environmental Signage – Provided educational signage at several locations around the city where regular mowing was stopped to allow the areas to redevelop into natural grasslands.
- Beach Wheelchairs – Provided specialized beach wheelchairs for the city’s Therapeutic Recreation Programs.
- AEDs – Funded placement of Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) at Great Neck Park, the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp & Beach Facility, and Woodstock Park.
- Kempsville Preschool Playground – Added a playground at the Kempsville Recreation Center to support the preschool program.
- Transportation – Helped fund transportation services for the Seatack Youth Empowerment Program.
Fundraising Activities
- Golf Tournament – Each Spring and Fall, the Foundation hosts a golf tournament. To date, over $65,000 has been raised and used to fund ongoing programs.
- VBPRF Official Merchandise - Proceeds from shirts sold at VBPRF’s online store help the nonprofit foundation support popular parks and recreation programs and initiatives not funded by taxpayer dollars. You’ll find a variety of designs and styles. Start shopping!
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