Notable Gifts for Sunday, June 7

Richmond's professional ice-hockey team went out of business in late March, but the Richmond Renegades are still supplying some excitement for local charities.

Founder and owner Allan B. Harvie Jr. has donated exercise equipment used by the hockey players to Virginia State University and furniture from six team apartments to the CARITAS Furniture Bank.

"It seemed like the right thing to do -- take a bad situation and make something good," Harvie said. "If we can't keep the team going, at least we can use what we had there for a good cause."

The furniture, which included 16 bedroom sets, was delivered on a Thursday, the same day the furniture bank is open. Clients who have been homeless can pick out furniture and other necessities for their transition to stable housing.

"While we were there, people came in looking for furniture," Harvie said, and that reinforced his decision to donate the furniture instead of trying to sell it. "You probably couldn't have paid me enough money to equal the smiles of those people."

Since it opened eight months ago, the CARITAS Furniture Bank, at 1125 Commerce Road in Richmond, has distributed $58,413 worth of furniture, assisting 487 people, said Karen Stanley, executive director of CARITAS. In the past month alone, 50 children got beds of their own, she said.

The $17,000 worth of exercise equipment for VSU's department of health, physical education, recreation and dance includes a three-tiered weight rack equipped with free weights, four barbells, a resistance machine and two weight benches.

Individual weights that were donated will also be used with barbells and weight machines in the University's Wellness Center.

Harvie said he had worked with VSU's sports-management program several times, including a recent symposium. "I enjoyed being down there a lot," he said. "I knew that like every other university, they were tight on money. We had some weight equipment; I thought this would be an ideal place to send it."

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Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. will donate $200,000 to area charities through its Golden Gift program this year. Customers who participated in the annual giving program have received vouchers to present to any of 1,700 participating nonprofits.

Organizations must present their collected Golden Gift vouchers by Saturday to a Ukrop's location. The more Golden Gift points each nonprofit organization receives, the greater its portion of the $200,000 payout. Checks will be mailed in late August.

Since creating the Golden Gift program in 1987, Ukrop's has distributed $12 million to nonprofit organizations.

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A new credit-card program at Capital One Financial Corp. will allow nonprofit organizations of all sizes to create their own affinity cards.

Nonprofits can register online for Card Lab Connect, create a series of up to three uniquely designed credit cards for their organization, and use online tools to encourage their supporters to apply for the affinity card.

All rewards earned on the cards, including 1 percent of net purchases and an additional $25 with the first purchase, go directly to support the affiliated nonprofit organization.

The need for such a program can be seen in a charitable-giving survey conducted by Capital One, according to Pam Girardo, company spokeswoman. More than half of respondents said financial concerns have caused them to decrease their charitable donations in the past year. Even though 61 percent of Americans have supported local organizations in the past, only 34 percent in the survey plan to support local organizations this year.

"We recognize that for nonprofit organizations, particularly smaller, community-based groups, fundraising programs are an even greater priority in this tough economic climate," Girardo said. "The need for their services is greater and . . . donations are harder to come by."

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June is volunteer month at CarMax.

Hundreds of associates are forming teams to help such nonprofit organizations as Boys and Girls Clubs, Special Olympics and Habitat for Humanity. Activities include literacy projects, landscaping and animal care, as well as assistance with summer camp.

When a CarMax associate team decides on a project, the organization not only gets the volunteer hours but also a grant from the company. In June, the amount of those grants has doubled to $1,000 per team.

Boys and Girls Clubs are the primary national team-builder organization this June. During the past two years, the Boys and Girls Clubs also have been awarded more than $180,000 by the CarMax Foundation's Regional Giving Program.

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or . Send notices for Notable Gifts to .