VIRGINIA BEACH — Sponsors gathered Sunday afternoon to raise the final funds needed to complete the Virginia Gentlemen Foundation’s latest project, Camp Grom.
The VGF and Diamond Resorts International hosted a kickoff event for the annual JT Walk and Beach Party at the 15-acre main campus site, which will provide disabled people a venue to get active with their families during the warm months.
According to Bruce Thompson, CEO of Gold Key PHR, the concept of the four-year project is rooted in giving wounded warriors and disabled youth an opportunity to get active once again.
“They are recreational guys,” Thompson said. “They’ll be able to have recreational opportunities. There is not a facility that takes these guys and allows them to integrate back into the recreational things that they’ve done in the past.”
Camp Grom is the third project that the VGF has completed since it started after Thompson’s son, Josh, was diagnosed with ALS in 2006.
Following Josh Thompson’s diagnosis, a group of his friends formed the foundation and began focusing on the fight against ALS.
“Josh was kind of the big brother to all of us,” VGF chairman Andrew Yancey said. “He’d go surfing with us, teach us things, and he was the big brother figure. To see someone like that, who is so athletic, so strong, so smart, and in line to take over his dad Bruce Thompson’s company, Gold Key, be debilitated and lying in a bed not being able to move is heartbreaking.”
VGF and its partners have raised and donated funds for stem cell research and other organizations like the ALS Association.
The foundation also opened Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground for EveryBODY, a playground for disabled children and adults, and a medical transport for Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters called the “Grombulance.”
According to Yancey, the name of each project stems from his time growing up and surfing with Thompson and their friends.
“Grommet is what you’d call a young kid that surfs,” he said. “We all grew up surfing around the ocean and that’s why we decided to go with Grommet Island, and we stuck with that theme.”
Along with the projects that the VGF have completed over the last decade, the organization has also raised and donated $20 million to stem cell research as a result of the annual JT Walk and Beach Party.
The goal of the fundraiser was to raise between $1 and $1.5 million more to hit their mark for finishing the construction of the campus, according to Yancey.
Sponsors and donors attended the event at Camp Grom and packed out the venue for a live performance by platinum-selling country music artist, Cole Swindell.
Thus far, the VGF and its partners have raised over $13 million to develop Camp Grom.
“It’s just kind of a first viewing of what we’ve gotten done at the camp over the last couple years and to kick off our JT Walk which is on October 8th,” Yancey said. “We have to give people an idea of what we’re doing out here and show that we’re so close.”
When finished, the facility is projected to feature a facility with basketball courts, an athletic field, trails throughout the 15-acre main campus and beyond, and other amenities that sit around a massive lake that will be used for water sports and fishing.
Camp Grom is projected to be ready to open its doors to patrons by spring 2018.
Jordan can be reached at [email protected]
