Smith Mountain Lake Charity Home Tour future in question

FILE | Laker Media

Representatives from charities receiving proceeds from the 2009 SML Charity Home Tour gather after their checks were presented in November.

FILE | Laker Media

Visitors file through one of the homes open for last year's tour.

As the SML Charity Home Tour enters its 20th year, the board of directors has raised concerns over whether the tour should continue after this year.

Former applicants and beneficiaries of tour proceeds received e-mails in June from a board member who questioned whether there should be a 21st home tour because of declining sponsorships, attendance and volunteers.

"I got a letter saying there's some discussion about what to do next on their board," said Dr. Sam Campbell, director of Helping Hands of Franklin County. "They asked for our input and we gave it to them."

Marty Bowers, tour chairperson since 2004 and one of 12 board members, said she did not know about the e-mail. She later said she learned it was sent by an unidentified board member.

Bowers said she understood the e-mail's intent was to explain why the board wasn't yet soliciting charity applications for the 2011 tour, a process that traditionally begins in June.

"Perhaps the e-mail that went out did not use a good choice of words," said Bowers. "I think it led some people to believe the tour was ending."

The e-mail stated: "While our board is totally committed and prepared to carry through with the 2010 tour, we have been wrestling with whether or not to sponsor the home tour after this, our 20th year."

The e-mail pointed to drops in recent years of sponsorships, attendance and volunteers. Bowers said that before the e-mail was sent, the board had decided to perform a review of the home tour.

"After so many years, and especially in today's climate, any organization would need to do an evaluation and take a look at the future," she said.

As part of the process, the board solicited feedback from area nonprofits that have benefited from the tour and from prominent community members, said Bowers.

For a more in-depth study of the annual event, which has generated more than $3.5 million for charities since 1991, the board elected to form an ad hoc committee said Bowers.

The committee is being organized by tour founder Jeanne Wagoner, said Bowers. Bill Telford, former board president, will chair the committee. Bowers said the committee's deadline is "only to try to complete the study as soon as they are able."

"Right now, we don't have any intention to close [the tour] down unless the ad hoc committee says something like that," said Bowers. "I don't think that's what's going to come back from the ad hoc committee."

According to the e-mail, most of the tour's board of directors do not plan to continue serving after this year's tour. Campbell said that doesn't surprise him.

"There have been a number of people who have worked with [the tour] for years who have just gotten a little older and a little tireder, and I don't blame them," he said.

Don Craighead Jr., executive director of Bedford Christian Free Clinic, said the home tour's donations are so important, that he would be willing to help the home tour board find people willing to serve in 2011.

The discontinuation of the tour would strongly impact area nonprofits, especially given the state of the economy. Both Craighead and Campbell said their organizations have seen an increase in new clients.

The SML Charity Home Tour donates proceeds from the annual tour of eight lake homes to eight area nonprofits. The donation number has been dropping, along with attendance numbers, for a few years.

From 2001 to 2006, each charity received at least $22,000. In 2002, more than 3,300 people attended the tour and charities received $23,663, the tour's record donation. In 2007, home tour donations dropped to $20,000, and attendance numbers dropped from about 2,600 to about 2,300.

It took a bigger hit in 2008, with attendance around 1,800 and donations dropping to $15,000. About 10 percent came from the tour's reserve funds.

The board of directors dipped into the reserve again last year to bring donations up to $15,000. Close to 50 percent came from the reserve fund. Tour attendance was about 1,400, although the tour was cut from three days to two.

At a check presentation luncheon last year, Bowers said donations were down, in part, because some of the tour's long-time sponsors had gone out of business. Sponsorships provide the bulk of the tour's charity donations. Money also is raised through a pre-tour gala.