At the recommendation of 2016 Conference Co-Chair Claudia Brown, the VAF Board donated $2,000 each to Mendenhall Plantation and Preservation Durham. 

Mendenhall Plantation (a stop on the Piedmont Patchwork tour) has considerable, as-yet-unmet restoration needs, including repointing of the ca.1811 brick plantation house built by Quaker James Mendenhall. 

Preservation Durham needs funds to pay interns conducting oral history interviews in the College Heights neighborhood (a stop on the City of the New South tour) as part of the organization’s Preservation Equity Project. This project closely relates to the 2016 conference theme in its focus on preservation of the city’s low-income, largely African American neighborhoods.