Joe and Linda Daniel named to GCC's President's Circle

Joe and Linda Daniel joined a prestigious club Friday morning.

The Culpeper businessman and his wife were enshrined in Germanna Community College’s President’s Circle, honored for their monetary and personal contributions to the college.

“Joe and Linda have supported the college for at least two decades,” Germanna President David A. Sam said. “They’ve contributed money out of their own pockets and from their own businesses that amounts to seven figures. More than that, they’ve both provided time and leadership in supporting this college. Without them, Germanna wouldn’t be where it is today.”

The Daniels join an exclusive club — only Rose Bente’ Lee Ostapenko can claim to be a member of the elite President’s Club, awarded for cumulative lifetime giving in excess of $1 million.

More than 300 people turned out — in the building named for Joe Daniel — for College Learning Day where the Daniels were honored at the beginning of the ceremony, receiving a plaque from Sam recognizing their accomplishments.

“It’s always nice to get recognized and I appreciate being named into the circle, but at the same time it’s not about recognition,” Joe said. “The joy I get out of it is when I come out and see this kind of event. Seeing this building and this facility and Germanna Community College have an impact on the people that live here is the charge I get out of it.”

Joe and Linda have been instrumental in the growth of Germanna Community College, especially the Culpeper campus.

Joe’s passion for community colleges was driven from experience.

He said he was a mediocre student in high school, but then had a hard time when he started college.

“I was not what you would call a stellar student by any stretch of the imagination,” Daniel said. “In 1962, I struggled at East Carolina College. So I began attending a University of Virginia Extension School in Madison County. It was the equivalent of what today would be called a community college.”

For Daniel, it was a bridge to the McIntyre School of Business at UVa., which prepared him to succeed with his business, Jefferson Homebuilders Inc.

That led to his decision to become involved with Germanna in the 1980s.

“I understood the mission; I understood the importance,” Daniel said. “My initial intent was to create a Germanna scholarship for a student who may have a financial challenge or another issue we don’t even dream of. When I realized the foundation then had no endowment and no employees, my wife Linda and I became involved.”

Since then, the duo has helped drive donations and helped the community college’s education foundation thrive.

Joe was a principal leader in establishing the Germanna Guarantee Program — which helps fill in the gaps for students whose financial aid may not cover their full tuition.

Their donations have helped provide higher education for countless community members.

“An educated citizenry is the best way for us all to succeed,” Linda Daniel said. “For me personally, because I worked in medicine for my whole career, a lot of our nurses came through community college systems. By being educated here and knowing what is available they also have that influence. It’s like you drop a little pebble in the water and it has a ripple effect, it impacts all of us when it hits the shore. I just really appreciate all that Germanna has done.”

Linda, who worked for years in radiology, has a passion for the nursing program and for health care in general. That’s what led to the formation of the idea of the Drop It! Healthy Culpeper Weight Loss challenge, which helps donate money to the GCC Educational Foundation for GCC Nursing and Allied Health Program development and scholarships.

Joe and Linda donate $20 per pound each community participant loses during Drop It!, while Culpeper Regional Health System donates $30 per pound. The Daniels’ contribution goes directly to Germanna and the community college receives a portion of the hospital’s donation as well. The funds also go to support the nursing program at Eastern View High School and other educational ventures in the community.

“They’ve been extraordinary,” Mike Catell, director of the Germanna Education Foundation and Alumni Relations said. “It’s a range of examples, but its changed lives of thousands of people across this community. Add to that the fact the leadership and the example that they’ve set has brought other people to the mission. Because of that this organization has continually grown and will continually fill the mission that is here and that is to support Germanna Community College.”

One of Joe’s favorite events each year is the Scholarship Monte Carlo Casino Night hosted each year — this year’s event is slated for April 21 at the Daniel Technology Center. He has been a driving force for the fundraiser for 18 years, and it has raised more than $1 million for the Germanna Guarantee Program.

“I was excited that he was pushing that because there are so many of these young people who are capable and competent, they just don’t know how to get there,” Linda said of the Germanna Guarantee Program. “It seems too big of a hurdle.”

“The Germanna Guarantee is about education and the Drop It! program is about health, if you have health and you have an education, what else could you really hope for?” Joe said. “They’re all integrated. My focus is giving support where it’s got lifelong benefits. What’s better for this community than improving its health and improving its educational quality?”

The Daniels also contributed to advancement of technology in the community, donating $750,000 toward the local funds needed for state funding to kick in for the GCC Joseph R. Daniel Technology Center, which opened in 2006.

“I don’t think there’s a day in the week that goes by that this facility isn’t used for something in the community,” Joe said. “The reality of it is, this facility and Germanna Community College, has an impact on this community at many different levels.”

“It’s also very important for many people in the community to have this available to us for classes we want to take,” Linda said. “It’s a great gift to the community to have Germanna here.

“For old fogeys like us, this is where we learned computers,” she added with a laugh.

Their biggest contribution may simply be as leaders and supporters of Germanna, helping lead other community members to help donate to the community college.

“What happens is that a lot of folks, even though they live here and they’re part of the community, they may not have a connection to the college, whenever we have an opportunity we tell them about Germanna and the impact it has on the community,” Joe Daniel said. “The great satisfaction is seeing folks who stood on the sidelines — not because they weren’t interested but because they didn’t have a connection — to become volunteers and donors.”

The Daniels have invested $1.8 million in Germanna Community College during their more than 20 year association with the school.

“Germanna is extremely important to Culpeper and the citizens of the Culpeper area,” Joe said. “It provides affordable, easy access and highly competent teachers. The net result is these people become better citizens, better employees, they become better people in every way.”