Residents from Piedmont Housing Alliance’s Communities Visit Monticello

Residents from Piedmont Housing Alliance’s communities in Crozet and Scottsville took a trip up the mountain for a tour of Monticello, thanks to the generosity of the SunTrust Foundation in partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello.

On June 13, 2017, a small group of residents of Crozet Meadows, the Meadowlands and Scottsville School Apartments travelled by bus to Monticello, and received a special tour of the home of Thomas Jefferson from the Monticello staff.  They were accompanied by Ophelia Kier, property manager at Piedmont Housing Alliance as well as Scott Horchler and Chad Brown of SunTrust. Crozet Meadows, the Meadowlands and Scottsville School Apartments are all senior affordable living communities.

Following their tour, the residents were greeted by SunTrust teammates in the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center at Monticello for lunch and Financial Education event focused on the needs of those over 55 years of age. The financial education component helped teach the residents about how to prevent financial exploitation. Patrice Waller of Crozet Meadows said, “I really enjoyed the tour of Monticello and learned a lot.” The tour was enjoyed by the residents from start to finish.  On their way out, a gift of seeds from Monticello’s gardens and notecards made from vintage postcards was presented to all by Courtenay Dobbins, Monticello’s development officer. 

“We are very grateful to Scott Horchler at SunTrust and the SunTrust Foundation for making this our third visit to Monticello with our residents, and for their significant support of our financial education and housing counseling services,” Karen Reifenberger of Piedmont Housing Alliance said.

The SunTrust Foundation’s mission is to support nonprofit organizations and institutions engaged in activities promoting education, health and human services, culture and art, and civic and community involvement that contribute to the social and economic development of the communities we serve.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today, the foundation seeks to engage a national and global audience in a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideas. Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a United Nations World Heritage Site. As a private, nonprofit organization, the foundation’s regular operating budget does not receive ongoing government support to fund its twofold mission of preservation and education. About 440,000 people visit Monticello each year. For information, visit Monticello.org.