Priory of the Monitor and the Merrimack

EDMARC
Edmarc Hospice for Children works tirelessly to ease the trauma of a child’s illness or death, and to reduce the disabling effects of pediatric illness, loss, and bereavement on families. Fully understanding the overwhelming challenges that families face when a child is sick, Edmarc’s services – home healthcare, hospice care and bereavement support – are designed to alleviate pain, anxiety and fear. Established in 1978, Edmarc Hospice for Children was the first hospice in the nation designed specifically for children and is the only pediatric hospice organization in Hampton Roads. Edmarc was founded by members of Suffolk Presbyterian Church in Suffolk, Virginia, along with their minister who was dying of cancer, and a young couple whose only son was dying of a progressive neuromuscular disease. The minister’s name was Edward and the boy’s name was Marcus; the agency is named in their memory and today offers comfort, strength and support to patients, parents, siblings and families, so that they are able to do the same for each other. The Priory of the Monitor and the Merrimack provides direct donations, contributions of food and gifts for holiday baskets at several major holidays, and basket delivery services in support of this outstanding organization in our community.

VetsHouse of Hampton Roads
Vetshouse, Inc. is a unique nonprofit organization serving homeless veterans in Hampton Roads. It is not a shelter, but a 12 month program providing contemporary living quarters in a group environment, assistance in job hunting, transportation, personal skills and development guidance. Vetshouse states that there are approximately 2500 homeless vets in our area, and that one of every four homeless persons here is a vet. The VetsHouse mission is best summarized in the statement, “A hand up, not a hand out.”

Lee’s Friends
LEE’S FRIENDS is a support program for cancer patients and their families in South Hampton Roads. Person-to-person help and needed emotional and practical support is provided to cancer patients and their families facing the crises of diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Any cancer patient and any family member of a cancer patient who lives in the South Hampton Roads area of Virginia is eligible for support services. Services provided include: One-on-One Emotional Support, Transportation Assistance, and Emergency Humanitarian Grants.

YMCA - We Build People - Mount Trashmore
The YMCA We Build People Program helps fund care and YMCA programs for low income families in Virginia Beach. We Build People, the annual giving program of the YMCA of South Hampton Roads, helps bring to reality the promise to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities, regardless of one’s ability to pay.

EquiKids
Located in southern Virginia Beach, the mission of EquiKids is to provide, promote and support equine assisted activities for individuals who have mental, physical, emotional, social or learning disabling conditions. With 18 horses, a 24 stall facility with spaces for dedicated indoor riding and education, and 92 acres, EquiKids serves more than 80 individuals a week. Program and facility expansions have enabled the elimination of a waitlist for services and the 2010 implementation of a corollary program, EquiVets, offering physical and mental healing through equine activities for armed service members wounded in the line of duty.

Guiding Eyes For the Blind
Guiding Eyes for the Blind is dedicated to enriching the lives of blind and visually impaired men and women by providing them with the freedom to travel safely, thereby assuring greater independence, dignity and new horizons of opportunity. Guiding Eyes is an internationally accredited, nonprofit guide dog school with a 50-plus year legacy of providing the blind and visually impaired with superior Guiding Eyes dogs, training, and lifetime support services. Their family of professionals, volunteers and donors are all committed to giving the gift of greater personal freedom, independence and dignity by providing the finest bred and trained guide dogs in the world. The Priory of the Monitor and Merrimack proudly supports the organization’s Virginia Beach Puppy Raising Program.

Air Compassion for Veterans
The influx of wounded warriors during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom is, and has been, a strain on our military medical facilities. Thousands of these injured and ill men and women need to reach specialized medical facilities, especially as close as possible to their families. The military cannot always provide the needed transportation, and other options may not be available.Air Compassion for Veterans® serves to ensure that no financially-stressed wounded warrior, veteran, or adversely-affected family member is denied access to:

• Distant, specialized medical evaluation
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Counseling
• Rehabilitation
• Healing and restorative programs
• Programs assisting with reintegration into a productive life

Committed to the ongoing healing process of our nation’s injured veterans, ACV is the major link that connects veterans of all ages to life-saving and life-changing programs. Also included in these medical air transportation services are older veterans who served prior to OIF/OEF. Though ACV is a charity with a national focus, their administrative offices are locally based here in Virginia Beach.

Little Creek Lions Club
Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization. Founded in 1917, Lions are best known for fighting blindness, but they also volunteer for many different kinds of community projects - including caring for the environment, feeding the hungry and aiding seniors and the disabled. Here in Hampton Roads, The Priory of the Monitor and Merrimack has a special relationship with the Little Creek Lions Club. Our organizations partner in fundraising events many times each year, supporting each other’s objectives, and our Priory proudly contributes funds towards the purchase of a much needed new sight and hearing testing van to support the Little Creek Lion’s laudable mission.

H.E.R. Shelter
The mission of Help and Emergency Response, Inc. is to provide shelter and to engage in dedicated efforts to eliminate domestic violence. Founded in 1985, Help and Emergency Response (H.E.R. Shelter) provides advocacy, support, and education to those who have been affected by domestic violence in the cities of Chesapeake and Portsmouth, VA. Working under the belief that everyone is entitled to a violence-free life, H.E.R. Shelter also provides emergency shelter to 42 women and children every night and provides comprehensive programs to help them become self-sufficient.

Holy Land Christian Scholarship Fund
The Priory has obligated funds dedicated to the support of two Palestinian Christian scholarship recipients who are attending the Hotel School at the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center in Ramallah, Palestine. ETVTC’s mission is to improve the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of Palestinian youth in Ramallah and surrounding areas so that they can become creative, productive members of society through technological education, vocational training, music and arts instruction, communication skills development, and the building of intercultural understanding. This mission, and ETVTC’s success in it, in seen as critical to enabling the minority Christian population in Palestine to achieve financial security, support and sustain their families, and to successfully remain in this region.

Comprehensive Health Investment Project - Chesapeake
Traditionally, children from low income families lack access to medical care and may receive fragmented, limited, and sporadic services from clinics or hospital emergency rooms. The CHIP of Virginia network increases access to health care for thousands of Virginia’s low income children and their families. In FY10, 3,700 children and 500 pregnant women in 2,900 families were served. CHIP targets children from birth to age six, when comprehensive prevention-oriented services make the greatest impact in the life of a young child. Central to CHIP’s mission is the creation of a relationship between a child and a primary care provider – a medical home that provides cost-effective prevention services in a consistent setting. CHIP also links each family with a CHIP team consisting of a public health nurse and a outreach worker. The CHIP team coaches families with complex social, behavioral, or medical challenges to more efficient and cost-effective use of health care and community services. The CHIP of Virginia network includes 10 sites operating in 30 Virginia communities; the Priory of the Monitor and Merrimack supports the Chesapeake location.

The Lynn Fund of the Brain Injury Association of America
The Lynn Fund is a memorial organization which, in honor the wife of a fellow Knight who died as a result of traumatic brain injury in 1996, raises funds for and structurally is a subsidiary of the Brain Injury Association of America. The mission of the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) is to advance brain injury prevention, research, treatment and education and to improve the quality of life for all people affected by brain injury. BIAA is dedicated to increasing access to quality health care and raising awareness and understanding of brain injury. In the past, the Priory of the Monitor and Merrimack has provided manpower for golf tournaments and wine tasting events in support of the Lynn Fund, as well as direct contributions of funds.