Richmond – The late Donald Trufant of Cape Charles, Virginia, posthumously received the 2016 Chancellor’s Award for Leadership in Philanthropy. He was nominated for the award by the Eastern Shore Community College Foundation board of directors.  The award was given at a luncheon ceremony at the Country Club of Virginia on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
Hosted by the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education, the 11^th annual event honored leading philanthropists from each of Virginia’s 23 community colleges as well as the statewide foundation. This year’s class of distinguished philanthropy leaders has contributed a combined total of more than $11 million dollars to Virginia’s Community Colleges.

As attested to by longtime friends Furlong Baldwin and Katty Mears, Mr. Trufant’s generosity to his adopted home of the Eastern Shore will be long felt by the community. His sincere interest and belief in the community college system and Eastern Shore Community College’s ability to help build better lives for Shore residents inspired a legacy of giving that will provide ESCC students with scholarships and other assistance to help them succeed for many years to come. Mr. Trufant believed the community colleges were the best way to obtain an education and/or technical skills for Shore residents, and he knew wholeheartedly that ESCC touched many lives in many different ways.

In addition to helping community college students realize their dreams of continuing their education, keynote speaker Mike Petters, VFCCE board member and president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries, said donors also play a critical role in Virginia’s workforce development efforts.

“By supporting the foundation, you support access, affordability, and student success at every one of Virginia’s Community Colleges across the state from Big Stone Gap in southwestern Virginia to Melfa on the Eastern Shore – and 21 community colleges in between.”

Graciela Billingsley, this year’s Eva T. Hardy Commonwealth Scholarship Recipient, took to the podium to thank her benefactor.

“This scholarship – you – have truly impacted my life because in continuing my higher education at Northern Virginia Community College, I will be able to continue to learn important course work that will be the foundation to my future.”

“Furlong Badwin Sr. accepting the honors for his longtime friend Donald Trufant, pictured here with ESCC President, Dr. Linda Thomas-Glover in Richmond.”