Planting the Seeds of Giving

For a Lesson in Philanthropy, Students Help Distribute Grants

For years, the Rust family has been recognized as among Loudoun County's leading philanthropists.

In 1986, William F. Rust Jr. and his wife, Margaret Dole Rust, gave 141 acres to Leesburg to build Ida Lee Park and Rust Library. In 2000, the couple donated the family's manor house to the Audubon Naturalist Society to create the Rust Nature Sanctuary in Leesburg.

Now the Rust Family Foundation has embarked on a somewhat different mission: teaching local students how to practice philanthropy. An endowment from Rust family members is funding a student grant program run by the Piedmont Community Foundation of Middleburg.

The program encourages youth-driven organizations to apply for grants of up to $2,500 a year. A committee of 18 high school students from Loudoun and Fauquier counties evaluates the applications and recommends to the Piedmont Community Foundation's board of directors which group should receive funding.

The foundation approved the first set of annual grants last week -- $2,050 to the Highland High School Key Club in Warrenton for a music therapy program and $2,500 to the Loudoun County chapter of the American Red Cross for a children's safety project.

Karen Krei, executive director of the Piedmont Community Foundation, said the grant program encourages youth volunteerism by empowering young people.

"This is a chance for the kids to get their hands on the checkbook and to encourage other kids to get engaged in their communities," she said.

With help from high school counselors, Krei assembled the committee of 18 students in November. The group's first order of business was a crash course in grant terminology.

"They needed to learn basic things like what is a grant, what is an endowment," Krei said.

Alex Creech, 16, a sophomore at Broad Run High School in Ashburn, said he didn't know anything about the grant-making process.

"We pretty much learned everything from the beginning," he said.

Once the grant-application deadline passed in February, the student committee studied each proposal and interviewed potential recipients.

"That was the best part for me -- interviewing the youth representatives and hearing their stories," said Lily Withers, 17, a junior at Wakefield School in The Plains. "To hear how close they were to the project they were working on and afterwards seeing that they were able to get funded."

The student committee recommended funding for the Highland Key Club's "Mission: Music" program, which offers music therapy to children with special needs with help from a local respite program, Mary's Family. Students from the key club, Prefect Board and National Honor Society will participate.

The Loudoun chapter of the American Red Cross will receive funding for its "When I'm in Charge" program, which teaches children how to stay safe when they're home alone after school, Krei said.

Krei said most of the student committee members are sophomores and juniors and have already expressed interest in participating next year.

"They'd like to return to the county after . . . college and see that what they've done has made a difference. They want to leave a legacy," she said.