Thursday, March 26, Westin Virginia Beach Town Center
The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities will hold its 62nd annual Tidewater Humanitarian Awards event this month. These awards honor individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the promotion of respect and understanding among people of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in South Hampton Roads.
Among the recipients is Bruce Waldholtz, M.D., a native of Pittsburgh who moved to Tidewater in 1988. During his 35 years of private practice in gastroenterology, he has taught hundreds of medical students and residents. He continues to precept weekly at the Hopes Clinic (an EVMS Medical Student Run Clinic) and volunteers at the Chesapeake Care Free Clinic. Waldholtz has been a member of the Community Faculty at EVMS and was the Rector of EVMS during the period that led to the creation of The Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ODU. For more than three decades, he has been an American Cancer Society Volunteer at the state, regional, and national levels. He played a critical role in the pilot and launch phase of the ACS VOICES OF Black Women, a generational study of 100,000 African American Women to better understand health conditions and how to improve overall health among Black women.
Other Humanitarian Award recipients this year include Clyde T. Clark, Jr., Captain Janet H. Days, and Conrad M. Hall.
Jane P. Batten will receive the 2026 Tidewater Distinguished Virginian Award.
Sixty-two years ago, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities – then called the National Conference of Christians and Jews – began a tradition in South Hampton Roads, “to honor the work of our friends, neighbors, and family members who gave to others the same rights, respect, and dignity that they sought for themselves.” Today, VCIC works with schools, businesses, and communities to achieve success through inclusion.
VCIC also provides professional development for many local educators, businesses, and nonprofit organizations, leveraging diversity and inclusion to achieve success. In 2018, VCIC opened an office on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan University.
For more information about VCIC or reservations for the Awards on March 26, go to www.inclusiveVA.org.