The following statement is from Brett A. Loftis, Chief Executive Officer of Crossnore School & Children’s Home:
I am thrilled to announce that Crossnore School & Children’s Home has finalized the $6.5 million dollar conservation easement with Piedmont Land Conservancy (PLC). PLC is purchasing the development rights to 92 acres of land on our Winston-Salem campus farm. This is an exciting time for the organization, and we are thrilled that these 92 acres will be protected green space forever!
The last three years of becoming a fully merged organization and addressing deferred maintenance issues on our physical campuses resulted in the depletion of funds in our reserve account. In addition, Crossnore took a loan from our endowment (which is held in the Crossnore Children’s Foundation) to cover expenses related to several capital projects. Therefore, a portion of the PLC payment will be used to repay the outstanding loan to the endowment.
The remainder of the money will be used to replenish our operating reserve account, create a capital reserve account as well as a strategic reserve account. These reserve accounts will allow us to address unexpected expenses related to operating, capital and strategic needs without having to borrow from the Crossnore Children’s Foundation in the future.
Crossnore is a financially healthy organization with more than $30 million invested in our endowment. The payment from PLC is strengthening our financial health and providing the organization flexibility around unexpected expenses. We are so pleased that this project is a win/win for Crossnore and for the Winston-Salem community.
With additional questions, please feel free to contact me, Brett Lofits, CEO, at bloftis@crossnore.org or Meribeth Robinson, Executive Director – Triad Region, at mrobinson@crossnore.org.
