Children’s Home Society of Virginia is an adoption agency with a mission to serve Virginia’s at-risk youth.
CHSVA was founded in 1900 on the belief that all children deserve a home. We have been serving youth and families in the Commonwealth ever since.
To date, we have served more than 17,000 Virginia children, youth, and families. Finding permanent, loving homes for at-risk youth is our biggest reward.
To celebrate 123 years, we hosted an anniversary celebration last month at Main Line Brewery in Richmond. This was our second time hosting this event, and it was a great success! During the night, we looked back at our comprehensive history and looked forward to the future – a future that will hopefully be filled with serving another 17,000 children, youth, and families.
This year, 175 people attended to support Virginia adoption! Thank you to everyone who came out – none of our success would be possible without you. Financial contributions are how we have continued to make a difference in the lives of children and youth for more than 100 years. Every dollar makes a difference in the life of a child.
Keep reading to hear more about the event’s highlights!
2023 Anniversary Celebration Success
The night started with fantastic food from three local food trucks, River City Wood Fire Pizza, Bikini Panini, and Boka Tako, along with yummy beer and hard seltzer from Main Line Brewery. Guests enjoyed perfect weather and their food and drinks while participating in a silent auction and listening to great music by Heinsohn & Day.
For the silent auction, gifts included more than 73 items and packages!
- 30 gift certificates to local restaurants, bakeries, and wineries
- Tickets to more than 30 local attractions, sporting events, and shows
- Spa services
- Two chef-prepared, in-home surf & turf dinner parties
- More than a dozen pieces of local artwork, including paintings, blown glass, photography, and a handmade quilt
- Three “staycation” packages with Richmond hotels and meals/activities
- Four golf foursomes
- Themed gift baskets (pets and crafting)
- Memberships to local museums, parks, social clubs, and recreation associations
- Two party truck rentals
For the silent auction, we raised $12,000! A huge thank you to everyone who made a contribution. This money will accomplish so much in the lives of many! To see where your money goes, click here.
We also raised $1,400 in raffle ticket sales. In total, we raised over $62,500 after expenses. This money came from sponsorships, ticket sales, pledges, raffle tickets, silent auction bids, and book sales. Again, every dollar makes a difference in the life of a child. We cannot thank you enough to all who donated! All the generous donations raised from this event help our mission of supporting permanency and life-long connections for Virginia’s at-risk children and youth.
2023 Anniversary Celebration Highlights
Rob Scheer, Keynote Speaker
One highlight of this year’s event was our keynote speaker, Rob Scheer.
Rob has experienced the foster care system firsthand. More than 40 years ago, he entered the foster care system and walked up to his foster home carrying a tattered and torn trash bag.
He aged out of the foster care system at the age of 18 and continued to carry his possessions in a tattered and torn trash bag.
After serving in the military and moving on to have a successful banking career, Rob and his husband decided to grow their family through adoption. Eleven years ago, four of his children arrived on his doorstep with their belongings in, you guessed it, tattered and torn trash bags.
Rob and his family decided it was time to change this. Not long after, Comfort Cases was born.
Comfort Cases are backpacks filled with comfort and personal care items for youth entering the foster care system. Comfort Cases provides the essentials for a child’s first few days in foster care.
Rob is also the host of Fostering Change, a weekly audio and video podcast that brings in guests of prominence who discuss issues regarding foster care, adoption, LGBTQ+, and other timely and topical issues.
Lastly, Rob is also the author of A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time. Rob’s memoir tells the inspiring story of his journey from foster care to foster parent and his drive to rebuild a broken system.
Thank you, Rob, for your time and passion for change!
Other Speakers & Volunteers
Guests also heard from Nick Ward, a CHSVA adoptive father, John Owen Gwathmey, CHSVA Board Chair, and Mel Tull, CHSVA Interim CEO.
Nick told his powerful story about adopting his three children with the help of CHSVA and how adoption changed his life.
Emceeing the night was Riley Wyant, an NBC12 reporter and anchor. Thank you for all your help, Riley! We appreciate all the time you committed to us!
We also want to thank our incredible onsite volunteer team – Kristen Moslow, Joan Straus, and the ten representatives from AvePoint. The night would not have gone so smoothly without you!
Live Music | Heinsohn & Day
Another highlight was live music from Heinsohn & Day, a groove-based, harmony-infused acoustic guitar duo.
Heinsohn & Day combines the sweet brother-like harmonies of classic vocal groups Simon & Garfunkel and The Everly Brothers with the lead guitar-driven grooves of The Allman Brothers Band and Dire Straits. They have toured extensively throughout the Atlantic Coast and Southeast, most notably joining their friends the Indigo Girls on stages in Atlanta, Nashville, and at Wolf Trap.
2023 Sponsors
We are also so very grateful to all our sponsors for continuing to support our work and helping us to reach our fundraising goal!
Sponsors included:
- Estes
- Troutman Pepper
- Wills Financial Group
- Greene Hurlocker Attorneys at Law
- Aetna Better Health of Virginia
- Virginia Commonwealth Corporation
- Biringer Builders
- Ed & Gretchen Solarz
- Anthem HealthKeepers Plus
- Steve & Beth Yeakel
- Zan’s Refuse Service, Inc.
- Birchwood Homes, LLC
- Charles Bosiky & Denis Riva
- The Monument Group
- RiverFront Investment Group
- Strum Group
Thank you again for your generous contributions!
The Children’s Home Society of Virginia | Support Children in Foster Care
We want to reiterate how thankful we are for all the support from our community who made this event possible and just as successful as last year’s!
When we allow children to thrive, our entire community benefits.
If you would like to give financially to our mission and work, you can do so below. Together, we can change the lives of children of all ages.