Money Raised
Grant Funding
People Impacted/Helped
Community Served
We measure our success in actual lives changed. These stories are a testament to the difference that communities can make when we come together to create lasting change.
Words can’t describe how grateful I was when I learned I was being adopted as a senior by GBDF. Throughout my first year in college, they helped so much with the gifts and the messages and phone calls I received throughout my first year. COVID-19 really changed a lot for me as I was sent home after being on campus at East Carolina University, but it taught me a lot as well.
I realized I wanted something different for my remaining college years, so I transferred to North Carolina A&T University! I’m going to be the best I can be. I’m excited for the new friends and going to make it the true college experience at my dream school. Just know I’m forever grateful for everything!
Many thanks to GBDF for having the vision to assemble the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Project! I am so appreciative to have been included as part of the Halifax County Public Health System. Collaborating with the team to share the important message of facts over fear regarding COVID-19 vaccines was truly rewarding.
This project afforded the space to share the truth and debunk circulating myths and educated individuals for the purpose of allowing them the opportunity to make informed decisions surrounding the vaccines.
Very important and necessary work! My most memorable and gratifying experience with the project was having the privilege of partaking in the canvassing of communities where some of our most vulnerable citizens reside to share the facts. To the entire team of trailblazers and go-getters, you all are true inspirations! I so appreciate being a part of this journey! Again, thank you GBDF for the opportunity!
GBDF has truly been an inspirational force in efforts addressing health disparities in rural northeastern North Carolina. They have worked diligently as one of the founding partners of the Roanoke Valley Breast Cancer Coalition and not to mention serves as a lead fiduciary and programmatic advisor for several grants provided by several funders.
Most recently, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with GBDF on a CDC Foundation funded project focusing on COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence in the Roanoke Valley Area. I SALUTE YOU, GBDF!!!
Since its founding in 2000, health has been one of the Gregory B. Davis Foundation’s truest callings — its “True North.” Across rural northeastern North Carolina, where distance, cost, and limited resources have long kept quality care out of reach, GBDF worked to close the gap, carrying education, screening, and support directly into the communities of the Roanoke Valley. From breast cancer awareness to pandemic response, the Foundation’s health work was guided by a single conviction: that everyone, in every corner of Halifax, Northampton, and Warren counties, deserves a fair chance at a healthy life.
As a founding member of the Roanoke Valley Breast Cancer Coalition (RVBCC) in 2014, GBDF helped create what the coalition called a “Pink Print” for northeastern North Carolina — a coordinated effort to confront the region’s high breast cancer mortality and move more women into, and through, the continuum of care.
Working with partners including the North Carolina Cancer Coalition, the North Carolina Community Engagement Alliance (NC-CEAL), the former Susan G. Komen Foundation, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Kappa Iota Omega Chapter Mobile Mammography, area hospitals, health departments, clinics, churches, and sororities, the coalition brought education and screening to the places people already gathered.
Trained Community Lay Health Advisors carried that message into non-traditional settings — public housing, mobile home parks, laundromats, retail stores, and workplaces — reaching thousands of women and their families. The coalition convened major conferences and women’s health expos — from a 2014 conference at Halifax Community College that drew more than 400 attendees to a 2017 “Breaking News in Women’s Health” expo that welcomed over 250 — and sustained breast cancer support groups in communities such as Hollister, Roanoke Rapids, and Scotland Neck.
Beyond awareness, RVBCC partnered with hospitals, universities, and health departments to expand screening access — and even transportation to treatment — helping ensure that care was never delayed by distance or cost.
When COVID-19 reached the Roanoke Valley, GBDF and its partners launched the “Facts Not Fear” project, an education and outreach campaign backed by $75,000 in grants from the CDC Foundation and Cardinal Innovations Healthcare.
The campaign met people where they were — through radio and television spots, flyers, five billboards across Northampton, Halifax, and Warren counties, COVID-19 testing events, and community forums convened with the Rural Health Group, the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Project, the Halifax County Department of Public Health, and Vidant Health.
Mobilizing more than 60 community organizations and trained Lay Health Advisors, GBDF distributed 9,692 COVID-19 kits and response cards across the region and delivered “Facts Not Fear” materials to 5,000 students in Halifax and Northampton county schools.
The Foundation and its partners also stocked skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities across Northampton, Halifax, Nash, and Warren counties with masks, sanitizer, cleaning supplies, and activity books, and carried information and kits into convenience stores, food drives, and public housing.
A Facebook Live town hall extended the conversation online, and among community members surveyed, fewer than 8% remained hesitant or unwilling to be vaccinated — a measure of how far trusted, local outreach could move the needle.
From 2007 to 2022, GBDF’s Ride for a Cause turned a shared love of the open road into support for the community, drawing more than 100 motorcyclists — 114 at its 2014 peak — from as far north as Maryland and Washington, D.C., to as far south as Raleigh and Charlotte for a roughly 100-mile ride that began at the Foundation’s longtime partner and co-sponsor, Collier Harley-Davidson in Roanoke Rapids.
Across thirteen rides, each year rallied around a different cause — among them diabetes, prostate and breast cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency prevention, caregiver support, and youth leadership — with proceeds going to an organization serving that need. The 2013 ride funded Halifax County’s Teen Court, the 2014 ride paired with free prostate screenings and men’s health breakfasts, the 2016 ride honored family caregivers in Northampton and Halifax counties, and the final 2022 ride gathered school supplies for local school personnel.
Police departments across the region escorted riders to a safe finish at River Falls Park in Weldon, where awards, food, and music awaited, and partners ranging from the Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta sororities to local churches and motorcycle clubs made each event possible.
GBDF hosted its final Ride in 2022 and now lends its support to other sponsored rides whose causes align with its mission — a fitting close to one of the Foundation’s most spirited traditions.
On the following pages 6 – 8 are a few pictures through the years of the GBDF Bike Ride.
Underlying all of GBDF’s health work was a belief that good health should not depend on a person’s zip code. Rather than wait for residents to come to a clinic, the Foundation trained Community Lay Health Advisors — trusted neighbors who carried screening information, prevention guidance, and resources into the everyday places of rural life, from housing communities and laundromats to local stores and workplaces.
Paired with community forums, health fairs, and outreach events across the Roanoke Valley, this approach made health feel reachable for families who had too often been overlooked. It was health equity in its most practical form: meeting people where they live.
Education has been a defining pillar of the Gregory B. Davis Foundation, giving life to its mission to enhance the lives of youth. Over 25 years, GBDF’s educational work took many forms, but its purpose held steady: opening doors for students across Halifax, Northampton, and Warren counties — rural, Tier 1 communities where public schools have long been under-resourced. GBDF created experiences that reached beyond county lines — introducing students to scientific equipment, college campuses, and professional possibilities — so that young people could see the wider world of opportunity awaiting them.
To help students picture their own futures, GBDF hosted panel discussions for juniors and seniors at Northampton County High School West (NCHS West). The panelists were all NCHS West graduates who were attending or had completed college, giving students relatable role models drawn from their own community.
Conversations covered what influenced each panelist’s decision to continue their education, how they navigated financial aid, and what campus life was really like, and students were encouraged to ask questions of their own. These discussions were designed to ignite excitement about higher education and to ease the fears and anxieties many students felt about life after high school.
Closer to home, GBDF partnered with Halifax Community College (HCC) to create a week-long GBDF STEM Camp for Northampton County high school students.
The camp introduced students to hands-on career pathways including cosmetology, information technology, welding, auto mechanics, and nursing. In partnership with Vidant North Hospital, the camp added a Boot Camp experience that exposed students to EMS services, Life Flight, and blood bank operations.
Students also visited corporate leaders such as SAS and AskBio in the Research Triangle Park, connecting what they learned in camp to real-world industry.
GBDF regularly organized college and STEM tours, busing students to campuses and research centers across North Carolina. At the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) on the campus of North Carolina Central University in Durham, students took part in hands-on experiments in DNA and cancer research and other areas of biotechnology, and spoke directly with science professionals, graduate students, and a student recruitment representative.
Additional trips took students to UNC Chapel Hill and its Gillings School of Global Public Health, the ECU science department in Greenville, and Durham Technical Community College. Every trip was offered free of charge and included transportation, a hot breakfast and lunch, snacks, and a bookbag of supplies — pens, pads, a water bottle, and a GBDF t-shirt — so that cost was never a barrier to the experience.
For many years, GBDF’s Adopt-a-Student program walked alongside local students as they made the leap from high school to college. The Foundation adopted 20 students across three cohorts (Fall 2020 through Fall 2023), easing the transition with the practical essentials of dorm life — supplies, light equipment, and a gift card — then staying in their corner long after move-in day. Each student was paired with a GBDF board member who checked in through the year, tracked their short-term, academic, and professional goals, and brought adoptees together for a yearly celebration.
These students went on to study at a dozen colleges and universities across North Carolina and beyond — including five historically Black institutions such as North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, and Winston-Salem State — pursuing fields as varied as nursing, cybersecurity, meteorology, animal science, and business.
Drawn largely from early-college and collegiate-prep high schools across Halifax, Northampton, and the Roanoke Rapids area, members of the earliest cohorts went on to complete their degrees — proof that steady, personal support can carry a student from acceptance letter to diploma.
Through the NCCU / GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Summer Immersion Experience in Biotechnology, GBDF helped Northampton and Halifax County students take part in an intensive, competitive program on the campus of North Carolina Central University.
Over two weeks, accepted students immersed themselves in biotechnology while experiencing college life firsthand. GBDF removed the logistical barriers by providing transportation for local students and a gift card to cover incidentals during their stay.
The program’s impact was clear: two Northampton County students who took part went on to win a biotech competition and earned full scholarships to NCCU.
For the Gregory B. Davis Foundation, community has always been more than a place — it is the web of relationships, celebrations, and shared purpose that holds the Roanoke Valley together. Over 25 years, GBDF brought neighbors together to raise funds, honor local leaders, mark milestones, and confront the inequities that hold communities back. From elegant galas to grassroots forums to bold new ideas for civic engagement, the Foundation’s community work reflects a simple belief: that lasting change is built together.
For more than 22 years, GBDF’s Annual Benefit Gala was a premier event in the Roanoke Valley — an elegant evening of food, wine, music, and fellowship that raised vital funds for the Foundation’s health and education work.
Each year, the gala honored community leaders and gave neighbors a chance to celebrate and connect, often around a seasonal theme such as the Valentine’s Gala once hosted at the Kirkwood Adams Community Center. Its stage welcomed an extraordinary roster of talent over the years, including jazz artists Marcus Johnson and Marcus Anderson, the Chuck Brown Band, the late Cuba Gooding Sr., former GBDF board member Lois Deloatch, and saxophonist JaShaun Peele.
More than a fundraiser, the gala was a yearly homecoming — proof that doing good and celebrating well could happen in the same room.
In 2025, GBDF marked a remarkable milestone — 25 years of service to the Roanoke Valley and beyond — with a 25th Anniversary Celebration Brunch. Guests enjoyed live jazz from saxophonist JaShaun Peele, a delicious meal, and access to a range of community resources, while the program highlighted the accomplishments, collaborations, and partnerships that defined a quarter-century of work.
Partners including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) took part as featured guests, a reflection of the relationships GBDF had built over the years. The brunch was both a celebration and a thank-you — a moment to honor everyone who had been part of the GBDF story.
GBDF has long held that the best solutions come from the community itself, and its forums put that belief into practice. In April 2023, the Foundation joined the Roanoke Valley Breast Cancer Coalition and the CDC Foundation’s Partnership for Vaccine Equity to co-host a Community Health Forum, bringing residents and leaders together to talk candidly about health, trust, and access across the region.
Those conversations did more than inform — they sparked new ideas, including the Virtual Empowerment Zone that followed. The forums reflected a core GBDF conviction: that listening is the first step toward change.
The Virtual Empowerment Zone (VEZ) grew directly out of that 2023 forum — a community-driven digital platform designed to connect residents with essential services, strengthen civic engagement, and advance health equity for Black and Indigenous communities across the Roanoke Valley.
Through a 2024 Health Leads Makers Residency, GBDF developed the VEZ prototype over a ten-week sprint, working hand in hand with more than 33 local leaders and advocates to shape a tool rooted in real community needs. To test its promise, the Foundation held three community feedback sessions between May and October 2024 — in Roanoke Rapids, with the Halifax County Human Relations Committee, and with members of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe — listening closely to residents, tribal leaders, healthcare advocates, and local decision-makers.
The response affirmed a shared vision: a platform that could help bridge the long-standing gap between communities and the decision-makers who serve them.
More than a single project, the VEZ embodies the future GBDF has long worked toward — using new tools to break down barriers, rebuild trust, and place the power to shape the community’s future in the community’s own hands.
