A Dolphin’s Promise

If you have noticed the large, shiny blue dolphin at the entrance of our hotel, you may have assumed that is was only a decorative statue. It was actually acquired in support of “A Dolphin’s Promise”. This is a project with a very important purpose; to raise one million dollars for cancer research and to help save and protect marine life. Ninety percent of all money raised goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation with the remaining ten percent going to the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Program. Each uniquely decorated dolphin will serves as our city’s promise to do all we can to help fight cancer. {More}

Grommet Island Park

Located only steps away from the Schooner on Virginia Beach’s Boardwalk is a wonderful playground but it’s also so much more. JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park and Playground For EveryBODY is the first of its kind in America: a 100% accessible oceanfront park. This 15,000 square foot beach park features wheelchair accessible entrances and an incredible playground that includes poured-in-place surfacing, raised sand tables for sandcastle building at an accessible height, a sensory board for children who are autistic and visually impaired, and a sway boat.

The playground also boasts sculptural features such as dolphins, a surfboard, and a wave that are all fully accessible for children to pretend to ride the waves and swim with the dolphins. Wood polymer decking extends from the playground to accessible seating areas with an umbrella and hand-operated sand scoop designed to be used by a person in a wheelchair, allowing everyBODY to play in the sand. {More}

Kiwanis Annual Fishing Trip for Children with Special Needs

This year will mark 31 years of big smiles and excited young people having the time of their lives. Just imagine a small child catching his/her first fish. An easy accomplishment for many able bodied children, but when these special children do it, it’s an immense achievement and their faces prove it. This past year, the Virginia Beach Kiwanis Club hosted over 300 of these wonderful children to experience this excitement in their lives. {More}

Surfer’s Healing

Originally started in California, Surfer’s Healing is day camp at the beach where children with autism and their families can be exposed to a completelynew experience of surfing.

For over a decade, the Virginia Beach based Surfers Healing Foundation Team has hosted thousands of children and their families at annual camps held only a few blocks north of the Schooner. {More}

Wave Warriors Surf Camp

Local surfers Ken Hunt and Jason Borte have utilized the thrill of surfing to give back to those that have paid heavy physical, mental and spiritual sacrifices in defense of our country.

Through sharing this indescribable feeling with combat-wounded veterans as a form of therapy, the Billabong crew created Wave Warriors Surf Camp; an annual, volunteer-driven event that gives these soldiers a slice of the incredibly joyous lifestyle that we so often take for granted. This event creates inevitable synergy between participants and volunteers, creating a sense of unity and joy that enriches the spirits of everyone involved. {More}

Keep it Beachy Clean Initiative

Virginia Beach was voted one of the top ten cleanest beaches in the country. And we want to keep it that way so that when you visit, your trip is incredibly enjoyable. Litter, beach closures and plastic pollution are all avoidable with a few small steps that every beach visitor can take. The Beachy Clean Initiative was designed to heighten awareness about litter on the beach and help change behavior. Pocket ashtrays are distributed at the front desk and signage in the hotel and on the boardwalk are all measures to help keep our beautiful beach, well, beautiful! {More}

Virginia Beach Fallen Heroes

VBFH is a group of dedicated local residents and businesses from the Virginia Beach, VA community. We have come together annually over the last five years to dedicate our time and efforts coordinating and hosting events to raise funds to benefit our military men, women and their families.

We understand that unfortunate events happen and will continue to take their toll on the brave heroes and their families who unselfishly defend our freedoms. Their sacrifices sometimes come at the cost of their very lives and this is a small way to honour them by contributing to their families’ wellbeing. {More}

East Coast Surfing Championship

The ECSC is the second longest running surfing contest in the world and it is held at the south end of the Virginia Beach resort area at the end of August every year. The Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships is a major professional and amateur event for the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA). Each year, several hundred surfers from menehunes to masters compete for East Coast surfing titles, prizes, history and the sheer love of surfing. Other beach oriented sports and recreation include volleyball, a boardwalk 5K run, street skate and ramp contests, swimsuit contests, food and drink concessions, and live music on the beach. {More}

Steel Pier Classic and Art Expo

The Annual Steel Pier Classic Surfing Contest and Surf Art Expo hosts over 300 surfers from all over the United States and is held directly in front of the Schooner Inn every Memorial Day Weekend.

The Annual Steel Pier Classic is a professional and amateur surfing contest in Virginia Beach. This dynamic event helps promote the art of longboard surfing in a fun, family atmosphere for people to enjoy from all over the country. {More}

Keep Virginia Beautiful

Keep Virginia Beautiful is an organization that engages and unites Virginians to improve our natural and scenic environment. Their goals include becoming the leading statewide voice, providing a framework for improved communication and collaboration, cultivating and supporting sustainable programs, and engaging citizens by linking them to volunteer opportunities and information about 5 impact areas: Litter Prevention, Recycling, Waste Reduction, Beautification, and Education. {More}

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is working hard to cure cystic fibrosis and to provide all people with the disease the opportunity to lead full, productive lives by funding research and drug development, promoting individualized treatment and ensuring access to high-quality, specialized care. {More}

Respitality Weekends for Parents Program

Respitality is a combination of respite and hospitality that offers families who care for a child or adult family member with disabilities a Friday or Saturday night away from their home. This includes a stay in a hotel with dinner and breakfast provided . For 24 hours, parents/caregivers can enjoy a relaxing night away from the everyday stress of caring for their disabled family member. {More}

Rudee Inlet Foundation

Beyond the mouth of Rudee Inlet, past the bustling marinas and restaurants, swaths of marshland emerge from Owl Creek. This gem of nature is only a short kayak, paddleboard, or Virginia Aquarium boat ride from the Schooner Inn. The Rudee Inlet Foundation was established to help protect this important waterway through trash cleanups, community outreach, and the establishment of oyster reefs. {More}

Surf for the Cure

Surf for the Cure is an annual surfing competition and day of water awareness in Virginia Beach, VA, hosted by the Wahine Surf Club and Sponsored by Coastal Edge. The first Surf for the Cure was held October 11, 2014. The official name of the Event is “The Coastal Edge Surf for the Cure” Surf for the Cure is a fundraising event for Susan G Komen Tidewater. In 2014, The Wahine Surf Club donated over $8,000 in proceeds from this event! The Event Director is Cindy Stokes, Founder of the Wahine Surf Club. The 2015 event will also include Surfing Clinics, an SUP race, and live entertainment. {More}

JDRF

Our flagship fundraising event draws more than 900,000 people who raise money for T1D research each year. Many have T1D themselves, and many more are friends, family or coworkers of someone with the disease. Come walk with others who believe together we can turn Type One into Type None. {More}

ST BALDRICK’S FO9UNDATION

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-powered charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long, healthy lives. {More}

CAMP GROM

Everyone needs an adventure. And camp is definitely an adventure—one that can help forge lifelong friendships, build self-confidence, and change lives for the better. But for adults and children living with disabilities or special needs, camp is an opportunity that’s often frustratingly out of reach.

That’s why we’re building JT’s Camp Grom. The only camp of its kind on the East Coast, this amazing 70-acre, beach-style adventure camp is designed to welcome everyone. Wounded veterans, families of the fallen, and adults and children with disabilities or special needs will finally have a place to call their own. {More}

Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. Junior Achievement’s programs – in the core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy – ignite the spark in young people to experience and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in the 21st Century. {More}

The Princess Anne Hunt Club Foundation

The Princess Anne Hunt Club Foundation was started in honor of Tyler Smith, owner of Princess Anne Farm. Tyler, who was an avid supporter of children and animals, passed away suddenly due to complications from diabetes, leaving behind three young children. The goal of the Foundation is to receive and distribute contributions through community resources which focus on providing educational grants and scholarships, agricultural based programs and seasonal camps for children and developmentally and physically challenged children, based on areas of community gardening and animal care. {More}

operation Jingle

Operation Jingle gives hotel rooms to visiting families
Active-duty service members are invited to participate in the 21st Operation Jingle, sponsored by the hotel/motel associations and convention and visitors bureaus from Norfolk and Virginia Beach. The program provides complimentary hotel accommodations to visiting families of locally stationed service members who are unable to go home for the holidays. {More}