In 1999, Donna and her husband Tom created the Donna Designs Fund for Children and the Environment through the Outer Banks Community Foundation.
This fund has allowed them to contribute to a community butterfly garden, a local Special Olympics team, the Community Care Clinic and Kids First (an advocacy organization that represents children who have been physically or sexually abused).
Community Butterfly Garden
This fund has allowed them to contribute to a community butterfly garden.
Donna gardens at home and at her Duck store are popular spots for many species of butterflies. Overflowing with both nectar and host plants, they are registered as Monarch Waystations through Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas. Monarch Watch is a very successful educational outreach program that engages citizen scientists in large-scale research projects on monarch butterflies.
Kids First
In the summer of 2005 Donna painted murals on the walls of the Child Advocacy Center in Richmond Virginia, opened by SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now). She recreated sealife figures that Kaelyn drew when she was seven years old, to bring a child-friendly atmosphere to the facility.
