Lake Toxaway Charities was founded 45 years ago by a few generous residents who recognized the profound needs of our community at that time, as well as the anticipated needs of the future. They believed in the importance of charitable giving and support of our neighbors, knowing this to be a necessity for Lake Toxaway to continue to be the vibrant and special community that it remains. Because of our founders and your steadfast support, we are proud to report that LTC’s grants to local non-profit organizations have disbursed over $5,000,000 to date.
Our “Peace Love and Happiness” annual sports day and gala raised over $1,000,000 this year, resulting in another record year of fund-raising. In addition, the 2022 Angel Tree Giving Program cosponsored by The Greystone Inn will provide over 200 families with food, clothing and gifts this holiday season.
Our Grant Assessment Committee works throughout the year by staying in close relationships with Agency Directors, allowing annual grant decisions to be made carefully and wisely. To complement this, our Volunteer Program has connected many residents and agencies, allowing them to share their knowledge and experience.
Hundreds of volunteers continue to log countless of hours both annually and seasonally. Because of this, we are able to retain minimal part time staff with astonishingly minimal expense, resulting in 98% of your gifts directly benefiting Transylvania County individuals and families.
Our county shares the vast economic and social challenges also seen in many communities across the country. The continual after effects of the pandemic, inflation, and natural disasters are an unfortunate certainty. Because of this, Lake Toxaway Charities needs your continued support to sustain our giving to deserving neighbors in need of assistance.
We hope you will enjoy reading this review, which describes more details about the positive impact of your contributions. It also provides information on how you can donate to Lake Toxaway Charities via checks, gifts of appreciated stock, planned giving from your estate, and gifts specifically designated for our board directed endowment fund, the Lake Toxaway Charities Community Giving Fund.
Please accept our gratitude for embracing our culture of care and concern for those in need. You continue to amaze us with your gifts, and because of you, Lake Toxaway Charities is able to reach deeply into Transylvania County with generous assistance. We thank you.
Chip Brown, Jenny Renfroe, Gary Sperduto, and Carroll Summerour
Giving back to our Lake Toxaway Estates community has been around a long time. In the early 1900’s, Lucy Armstrong Moltz began the strong tradition of supporting her Lake Toxaway neighbors. In the Depression, she taught cooking and canning to area women and created jobs on her estate, part of what is now The Greystone Inn. She hosted picnics for local families and paid the full college tuition for over two dozen young people. Since 1975 when Lake Toxaway Estates property owners hosted the first annual golf tournament, named ‘The Bird in Hand’, to benefit the Lake Toxaway Volunteer EMS/Fire Department, our residents have also reached out to assist neighbors in need. Subsequently, tennis players joined the golfers in financially supporting the Volunteer EMS/Fire Department. The funds resulting from both efforts bought the first fire truck, which you can still see today parked in front of The Grand Olde Station restaurant.
Lake Toxaway Charities (LTC) was incorporated as a non-profit in 1989 with three directors. While we have no complete records of the monies donated from then until 2001, that year saw a generous $92,000 raised through the continued golf and tennis sporting events. The donations continued to climb and in 2004, $118,000 was raised in donations plus Bill Minnich and David Burchfield, who lived full time in Lake Toxaway Estates, created the first LTC endowment fund and raised $10,000 with a matching gift from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. That year LTC supported 16 non-profits in Transylvania County.
In 2010 LTC held its first annual themed gala, “A Night In The Orient.” The gala along with additional year-end contributions, raised $250,000. Every year since, a creative and fun gala theme has been enjoyed by many gracious donors who care deeply about supporting Transylvania County. In 2013, a croquet tournament was added to the day’s activities, and in 2021, pickleball. This year’s “Peace, Love and Happiness” welcomed 387 gala guests and 171 sports participants. It was a fabulously successful event and raised four times the amount of the first gala in 2010.
Today, the LTC board consists of four directors. Operational, financial, budget, and administrative processes and actions are monitored continuously throughout the year. More importantly, an extensive volunteer team and their dedication to helping others remain LTC’s foundation for success, allowing it to support local non-profit agencies and their many recipients now and for many years to come.
Sherry Minnich
• A Night In The Orient, 2010
• An Evening At The Oscars, 2011
• An Evening In Casablanca, 2012
• Welcome To Safari, 2013
• Under The Tuscan Sun, 2014
• Come Together (Beatles), 2015
• Diamonds Are Forever, 2016
• Havana Nights, 2017
• A Night On Broadway, 2018
• An Evening In Wonderland, 2019
• Passport To Adventure, 2020 and 2021
• Peace Love And Happiness 2022
Lake Toxaway Charities supports WNC Source’s Liquid Nutrition Program. This program provides Ensure at a low cost to medically needy participants with documented conditions such as chewing or digestive issues, or those who are receiving cancer treatments that prevent from them from being able to consume regular food.
The Haven of Transylvania County helps individuals and families in crisis who are experiencing homelessness by providing temporary refuge in a clean, supportive environment. They help coordinate the community’s resources for counseling/case management, medical care, mental health, education, employment assistance and access to long-term permanent housing. Funding by Lake Toxaway Charities is an important part of their ability to serve the community.
SAFE wants to ensure all victims of domestic violence and sexual assault can find safety, be treated with dignity and respect, and get access to the opportunities and services they need to create long lasting changes that will result in a better life.
Lake Toxaway Charities continues to champion SAFE by providing grants for the underfunded services needed to support these families.
St. Baldricks Foundation is a private non-profit that holds fundraisers to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research. Lake Toxaway Charities has supported St. Baldricks’ fundraising endeavors such as bowling tournaments, a motorcycle ride on the Parkway, 5K races, and head shaving events.
The Transylvania County Schools Educational Foundation’s mission is to promote, develop, and encourage public and private support of the Transylvania County Schools. With support from Lake Toxaway Charities it has been able to cultivate partnerships and relationships throughout Transylvania County to build a team named the Tiger Impact Group to support Rosman Elementary, Middle and High Schools. The focus of “TIG” is to instill and cultivate the values of work ethic, self-confidence, and having big dreams about future possibilities.
Lake Toxaway Charities is focused on offering assistance to the Hungry, the Homeless, those in need of Healthcare, the Abused, and to Education systems and programs.
At the heart of Lake Toxaway Charities is the enormous generosity of spirit of our community members who pledge their resources to make a positive difference in the lives of our neighbors who are most in need. A volunteer Grant Assessment Committee donates over 250 hours of their time to determine grant funding to local agencies through a rigorous review assessment. Each member of the Grant Assessment Committee serves as a liaison to four or five agencies. They stay in contact with their agencies via personal vis its, emails, and/or phone calls. Annually, interested agencies apply for grant funding anew, there is no automatic funding/guarantee for continued funding. Each agency request stands on its own merit, and we say “no” if a new or previous agency does not meet our mission’s criteria.
We currently have 57 agencies we support for the hungry, the homeless, those in need of healthcare, the abused, and to educa tion systems and programs. For those agencies which are awarded grants, funds are distributed in June.
Minimal part time staff are utilized, while maintaining a ratio of 98% of your gifts directly benefiting Transylvania County residents.
Over 12,250 citizens of Transylvania County benefited through its funding and volunteer ing in 2022, impacting the lives of 33% of our residents.
Over 100 volunteers give thousands of hours collectively to allow LTC to make its impact on Transylvania County!
• Anchor Baptist Church
• Gods Way Fellowship Food Pantry
• Meals on Wheels of Brevard
• North Toxaway Baptist Church Food Bank
• Quebec Community Club
• Rice Street Community Garden
• The Bread of Life
• The Salvation Army
• The Sharing House-Transylvania Christian Ministries
• The Transylvania County Hunger Coalition
• Transylvania County Farmers Market
• WNCSource
• Pisgah Legal Services
• SAFE
• The Children’s Center
• Augustine Literacy Project-Brevard
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC
• Blue Ridge Community College Educational Foundation
• Bound for Glory Camp
• Brevard College
• Centro Communitario Hispano-Americano
• Creating a Family
• Earthshine Nature Programs
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes
• Friends of Gorges State Parks
• Handshake America Inc
• Let’s Go Boys and Girls Inc.
• The Mediation Center
• Mountain Roots
• Mountain School of Strings
• Cove Shelter
• Isaac Homes Youth Shelter
• The Haven of Transylvania County
• STEP WNC
• Transylvania Habitat for Humanity
• Blue Ridge Community Health Services
• Blue Ridge Mountain Health Project
• Brevard Lions Club
• Four Seasons Compassion For Life
• Free Rein Center
• Jameson’s Joy Memorial Foundation
• Lake Toxaway Community Club
• MedAssist
• St. Baldricks Foundation
• Muddy Sneakers
• Neighbors in Ministry Inc. - Rise and Shine Freedom School
• Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
• Smart Start of Transylvania County
• Summit Charter School
• The Cindy Platt Boys & Girls Club
• The Family Place of Transylvania County
• Through The Trees
• Transylvania Community Arts Council
• Transylvania County Schools Educational Foundation
• Veterans History Museum
• Weekday Children’s Program: Brevard’s First United Methodist Church
• Young Life of Transylvania County
Lake Toxaway Charities is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization and all contributions to it and/or its endowment are fully tax deductible.
• These gifts will fund the 2023 Operating Budget.
• These non-directed gifts support 501 (C)(3) agencies in Transylvania County
• Write your check payable to Lake Toxaway Charities, and mail to PO Box 163, Lake Toxaway, NC 28747
• For details on transferring gifts of stock, contact Jenny Renfroe, Board Vice Chair, at jennyrenfroe@comcast.net
• These gifts will sustain LTC into the future
• Due to a conservative approach, investment results for the first nine months of 2022 were 13.5% better than the S&P 500.
• Write your check payable to Lake Toxaway Charities and use the memo line to specify “for endowment”.
• To learn more about the endowment contact Gary R. Sperduto, Endowment Chair. Text or call 404-694-0233
There are many opportunities to enrich your life. Contact us to explore any of these options:
• Work with an agency we support
• Attend or help with the Volunteer Fair
• Serve on the Grant Assessment Committee
• Help with general administrative tasks
• Assist with Annual Gala
• To learn more about these opportunities contact Jenny Renfroe, Board Vice Chair, at jennyrenfroe@comcast.net
• Think ahead! Consider including Lake Toxaway Charities in your will.
• Your planned gift may be credited to you, in memory of another, or remain anonymous at your request.
• Planned gifts should be made to “Community Giving Fund - The Endowment of Lake Toxaway Charities”, and cite Tax ID #56-1882460 and mailing address PO Box 163, Lake Toxaway NC 28747
• For more information or help making a planned gift contact Gary R. Sperduto. Text or call 404-694-0233
Because of your support, our patients remain healthy and independent, secure in the knowledge that they no longer have to make the choice of purchasing essential medication vs. putting food on the table. Your gift impacts the person, their family, their employer and their entire community.
We know that through education and training we can stop generational poverty, and your gift is helping us with these efforts! Please share our sincere appreciation with everyone.
Your support has been greatly influential in our mission of helping families and children in crisis in Transylvania County. We are extremely grateful!
When housing costs take over 60% of a family’s income, it becomes unsustainable when an unexpected expense happens- such as a job loss, and illness, or a broken down vehicle. Your generous gifts speak of your love for the people we serve, and the compassion you give to make this world a better place.
