Bank of America donates more than $400,000 locally

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation today announced that it was donating more than $400,000 to local groups and individuals in its Neighborhood Excellence Initiative program.

The Chesapeake Care Free Clinic, which provides medical and dental care to low-income, uninsured families, and the public broadcasting company WHRO will receive $200,000 each.

The bank also will provide $5,000 each to five Local Heroes for a charity of their choice. They are:

• Charles Crone of Williamsburg, the Rita Welsh Adult Literacy Program.
• The Rev. Joseph Green Jr. of Norfolk, the Crispus Attacks Cultural Center.
• Thomas Johnson Jr. of Norfolk, Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads.
• Andria McClellan of Norfolk, the Up Center.
• Newport News Sheriff Gabriel Morgan, Southeast Community Weed & Seed.

Bank of America also named five Student Leaders: Ashley Bullock and Caleb Riddle, seniors at Grassfield High School in Chesapeake; Amanda Gregory of Virginia Beach, a freshman at James Madison University; Lenny Vasquez-Buret of Newport News, a freshman at the College of William and Mary; and Kristina Woodward of Hampton, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Through our Neighborhood Excellence Initiative, we are helping to generate meaningful and cumulative economic and social impact a the local level, where it's needed most," Charles Henderson, Bank of America's Hampton Roads market president, said in a statement.

The bank has donated $2.7 million to Hampton Roads groups and individuals in the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative since 2005.

- Philip Walzer

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