Henry Virkler is in 7th grade at Durham Academy and loves to read and write. Language Arts is his favorite subject. For most kids his age, school and extracurriculars take sole priority. However, this thoughtful 13-year old has chosen philanthropy as his passion, with Caring House as the proud recipient of his generosity. This may not be too surprising since his father, Drayton Virkler, is an active member on the Caring House Board of Directors. However, Henry explains it’s his grandparents that have played a key role in his inspiration to give back.

 “My grandparents have a really strong passion for teaching the future generations of our family how to support different organizations that we love and that we feel passionate about.” As a result, the Horton Grandchildren’s Fund was established with the direct goal of doing just that. Henry now knows how to complete site visits and draft grant proposals for the organizations of his choosing. Henry explains why it was important for him to select Caring House as the recipient of his donation: 

“I selected Caring House because when my father was a teenager, his mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and that was before Caring House was created.  She had treatment at Duke from out of town and she stayed at a hotel. My father felt that it would have made a really big difference about how she was feeling if she could have stayed at someplace like Caring House.  She could have gone through her treatment with other people who were going through the same hard treatments that she was.”

This is exactly why Frankie DuBose originally started Caring House, and we are so proud of Henry for contributing to her legacy. Henry’s favorite part of the house is the water garden, especially the koi pond. “It’s really cool that guests have a place where they can go outside. My grandparents have a koi pond at their house, and we love feeding the fish with my grandfather.” Thank you, Henry, for your kind heart and generous gift.