z. smith reynolds grant announcement The Trustees of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to Sustainable Sandhills on November 16, 2007. The funds were awarded as an operational support grant, so they are not restricted to a particular project or specific use.

An important objective for Sustainable Sandhills, as advocates for sustainable practices in the Sandhills and Cape Fear regions, is to raise awareness of our organization and the ongoing programs and events we sponsor and support in our eight representative counties, as well as in the three counties represented by the BRACRTF and RLUAC our collaborative partners in the region.

Our six Community Resource Teams: Air, Water, Land Use, Energy, Materials Use and Cultural composed of volunteers from our eight counties work to achieve success in each of their individual areas.

Examples of those successes include the curbside recycling initiative in Fayetteville and the work of the Recycling Task Force in Harnett County, the Vision to Action Program, work with counties to develop a cultural heritage tourism program, and the Suitability Maps workshop for county planners to name a few.

The grant award from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation will be used to support an expanded staff role to serve the needs of the teams, as well as a staff coordinator for our new Green Business Program (GBP) which will increase the engagement of the business sector in the greening of our communities.

The Zachary Smith Reynolds Foundation was established in 1936 as a memorial to the youngest son of the founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. In that year, the siblings of Z. Smith ReynoldsR. J. Reynolds, Jr.; Mary Reynolds Babcock; and Nancy Susan Reynolds Bagley decided that their inheritance from his estate would be used to establish a trust for the benefit of the people of North Carolina. One of the initial trustees of the Foundation was Z. Smith Reynolds' uncle, William Neal Reynolds, who, at his death in 1951, created a trust that now provides a portion of the Foundation's annual income.

In its history, the Foundation, as the beneficiary of the income from the Z. Smith Reynolds Trust and the W. N. Reynolds Trust, has made grants totaling more than $414 million to recipients in all of North Carolina's 100 counties. The Foundation currently gives special attention to certain focus areas: community economic development, the environment, democracy and civic engagement, pre-collegiate education, and social justice and equity.

The Sustainable Sandhills' Board of Directors and Staff, along with our Members, thank the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Trustees and Staff for their timely support and encouragement.