The Birdsong Trust Fund set a record in 2016 for the amount and number of monetary gifts it gave.

The trust fund, which is 73 years old, gave more than $100,000 to 18 different organizations throughout Suffolk and Western Tidewater.

“We’re real proud we gave to so many this year,” said John Harrell, chairman of the fund’s board of trustees. “(This) is the most we’ve ever given, other than when we gave big sums to the cultural arts center and the YMCA.”

The fund was founded in 1943, when the Birdsong family organized it to “assist local charitable, literary, religious and educational organizations” in the Suffolk and Western Tidewater areas, according to trustee Billy Chorey Sr.

Trustees are allowed to distribute money as they see fit within the general guidelines of the original charter.

“We get a lot of bang for our buck,” Harrell said. “We have to be proactive. We can’t find, a lot of times, viable recipients of the funds. It’s not as easy as you’d think.”

This year’s recipients included the following organizations:

• Boys and Girls Club
• Children’s Center
• Children’s Literacy of Suffolk
• Meals on Wheels
• Nansemond-Suffolk Academy
• Nansemond River Preservation Alliance
• Riddick’s Folly
• Suffolk Art League
• Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts
• Suffolk Cheer Fund
• Suffolk Christian Academy
• Suffolk Historical Society
• Suffolk Humane Society
• Suffolk Literacy Council
• Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community
• Wakefield Foundation
• Western Tidewater Free Clinic

Requests from worthy organizations should be made to Birdsong Trust Fund, P.O. Box 916, Suffolk, VA 23439. Other trustees are Dr. Leroy Howell, Richard Savage and Kent Spain.