Smith Vicars Family Foundation Invests in Food Security for Virginians | January 2026

Smith Vicars Family Foundation ended 2025 with an investment towards food security for the Commonwealth of Virginia, making two significant gifts to longstanding nonprofit organizations in the state: Feeding Southwest Virginia and Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Feeding Southwest Virginia is the largest supplier of charitable food assistance in Southwest Virginia. With a network of over 320 feeding programs, the organization serves 26 counties and nine cities in the Southwest Region with 19 million pounds of nourishing food on an annual basis.

As the largest hunger-relief organization in central and western Virginia, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank serves 25 counties and eight cities along the Blue Ridge through a network of more than 400 community partners and program sites.

For SVFF, the collective impact of these philanthropic gifts is especially meaningful, as the organizations operate in the two geographic locations that align with the Foundation’s mission to invest in innovative initiatives benefitting communities, with a special focus on Central and Southwest Virginia.

“It’s a privilege to support these nonprofits, strategically aimed at bolstering the broad networks that offer consistent access to safe, nutritious food for so many Virginians” said Stuart P. Smith, President of the Foundation. “The goal is to relieve some of the financial pressures of these organizations serving Central and Southwest Virginia, fueling the year ahead and ensuring a continued focus on their missions of nourishing those in need.”

Smith Vicars Family Foundation Advances Campership for Camp Holiday Trails | October 2025

The Smith Vicars Family Foundation is excited to partner with Charlottesville-based Camp Holiday Trails for a new challenge grant, the Campership Endowment. Inspired to help the camp and the staff achieve full utilization of core programs, this creates an opportunity for a 1 to 2 match designated for campership. 

Camp Holiday Trails is the only camp of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It provides an interactive, traditional camp offering for children and teens with medical needs and their siblings, offering everything from s’mores and songs to horseback riding and archery.

The Campership Endowment ensures that every camper can partake in the Camp Holiday Trails experience while removing the financial stress of attending camp. In 2025, the camp offered a $100 camp fee - a significantly reduced portion of the actual cost of $2,000 per camper. Additional contributions to the Campership Endowment unlock the challenge grant offered by the Smith family and ensure this reduced fee for campers into the future.

“We are thrilled to invest in Camp Holiday Trails in this capacity” says Stuart P. Smith. “For those with medical needs and their families to have such positivity in their lives, and for additional donors to step forward and shape this experience is phenomenal. The Campership Endowment has a ripple effect on Camp Holiday Trails – a one-of-a-kind nonprofit in Virginia – and an incredible lasting impact on the campers it welcomes each year.”