In the 1930s, Melvin Lane was an attorney practicing in New York City who decided it was time for a change. He drove across the United States, looking for the ideal home for himself, his wife Georgianna, and their daughter, Lyn. He found it in the Dana community of Henderson County. There, the family purchased land and began growing apples. An innovative businessman, Melvin Lane was the first local grower to do his own grading, packaging, and marketing.
The Lanes were active in their community, with “Georgie,” volunteering at Pardee Hospital and starting their “pink ladies” program, recalls the Lanes’ daughter, Lyn Fozzard. With money the family earned and an earlier inheritance, the Lanes began supporting local charitable efforts, such as providing the seed money to start a hospice and a new hospital wing at Pardee.
Later in their lives, the Lanes established a substantial charitable trust to assure that people living or working in Western North Carolina would have appropriate access to quality health care, safe and affordable housing, and supportive social services for youth, elderly and the disabled. After operating for 10 years as a private foundation, the Trust was moved to The Community Foundation in order to maximize the family’s philanthropic efforts.
A new multi-year grants program was created, combining the Trust’s original purpose with an expanded mission to help nonprofit organizations become stronger and more collaborative. The new program is overseen by Lyn Fozzard, her son, Peter, and an advisory board. “It is a nice way to keep in my life the memory of my grandfather and grandmother,” Peter says. “It has allowed their examples and views to live on.”