Jennifer Mooney Greene Fund

On August 13, 2013 the world lost a great teacher when Jennifer Mooney Greene of Virginia Beach died of melanoma. Her sister, brother and parents knew a scholarship in Jen's name would be an appropriate tribute. They first thought of starting a private foundation to create "an endowment that would grow over time," says Karen Mooney Sampson from Washington state. When an online search connected her to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and its robust scholarship program, Karen knew she had found "a faster, easier way" to permanently honor her sister.

Jen's family met with community foundation staff and had her scholarship fund established in time to have details in Jen's obituary, online and at her memorial service.

Jennifer Mooney Greene taught English at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. She founded her school's Achievement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, which equips students from lower-income families to be the first in their families to go to college. The scholarship that bears her name is for lower-income Virginia Beach students with limited history of college attendance in their families or for AVID students with a preference for those from Green Run.

A year after Jen's passing the first Jennifer Mooney Greene Scholar headed to Virginia Tech bolstered by a scholarship that honors a special teacher.