As our community continues to face a tight economy and shrinking budgets, the Daily Record has established this page that will each week chronicle the efforts of local nonprofit organizations. Bailey Publishing & Communications invites all members of the local nonprofit community to submit news, announcements, success stories and any other information they believe would be of interest to our readers. Email to: [email protected].
We also encourage our readers to become more aware of the needs of these worthy organizations as they try to continue to provide valuable services with reduced resources.
Outreach program at Woodland Acres Elementary School
Donations by The Main Street America Group and the JAX Chamber have helped launch a community outreach program initiated by Woodland Acres Elementary School.
Main Street America Group donated $2,000 and the JAX Chamber donated $1,000 to fund the program.
Checks were presented to Woodland Acres principal Timothy Feagins by Tom Van Berkel, Main Street America Group chairman and CEO, at the chamber's annual meeting.
"The Main Street America Group exemplifies what a partnership should be between a local business and a public school," Feagins told the audience of more than 1,100 JAX Chamber members and local business leaders.
"Main Street America provides our school with in-house tutoring by their employees, book drives and supply drives. They also host a field trip every year for our entire fifth-grade class to visit their corporate headquarters. They lend endless support to us throughout the entire school year," he said.
$5,000 for War on Poverty
The TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable-giving arm of TD Bank, donated $5,000 to War on Poverty-Florida as part of the bank's commitment to giving back to the community, in support of Bank on Jacksonville.
Bank on Jacksonville, established in 2010, is administered by War on Poverty-Florida. Its Moving Forward initiative serves as a financial empowerment model for Jacksonville communities.
The City and more than 60 partners will participate to create access to financial education and bring unbanked and underbanked people into the financial mainstream.
Bank on Jacksonville engages partners and financial institutions to develop a feasible, responsible small-value loan product. It promotes the use of Individual Development Accounts to offer savings and incentives through matched savings for individuals and families. The funds from the foundation will support the marketing and promotional activities for financial education and promotional campaigns to encourage savings.
"Increasing access to capital, opportunities for families to save for emergencies, encouraging families to open savings accounts for children and investing portions of their income tax returns in matched savings are just a few of the options that expand access to financial freedom and build wealth," said Karen Landry, executive director of War on Poverty-Florida.
Blood donor wins new car
The Blood Alliance, in partnership with Nimnicht Buick GMC, announced that the name of Steven Carr was randomly drawn Jan. 28 to win a 2013 Buick Verano.
Carr is scheduled to be presented with the keys to his new vehicle Wednesday at Nimnicht Buick GMC at 11503 Philips Highway.
Carr has been a regular donor in Jacksonville since 2001 and has donated almost five gallons to The Blood Alliance.
The promotion attracted about 42,000 donors and was conducted Aug. 29-Jan. 18, said Valeria Collins, alliance president and CEO.
"Our need for blood is constant and we depend on our community to make that happen. Providing the car as incentive to come in and donate blood brought awareness of our need to new donors as well as donors that hadn't donated in a while," she said.
"As the only provider of blood to all our area hospitals, we felt that this was one way of helping an organization that really needs the community to come together on," said Bill Nimnicht III, dealership owner.
Dance for fathers and daughters
Fathers and daughters are invited to attend the 5th annual Spring Daddy Daughter Dance hosted by Girls Inc. of Jacksonville.
The event is 5:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Hyatt Downtown, with proceeds designated to empower girls in the community.
Beth Hughes Clark, Girls Inc. CEO, said the event is held in honor of girls and their fathers or special men in their lives and celebrate the positive impact such a relationship can have as girls grow into women.
"Some of the girls we serve don't have a strong father figure to guide them as they grow up. The Daddy Daughter Dance is an opportunity for fathers and daughters in the community to inspire girls in our program to be strong, smart and bold," Clark said.
Tickets are $85 for each father-daughter couple and $30 for any additional daughters.
The event includes dinner, music, professional photography and a silent auction and raffle. Up to 900 fathers and daughters are expected to attend.
The deadline to reserve tickets to the event is Feb. 18, or when sold out.
For information, visit girlsincjax.org.
Food drive for Catholic Charities
The Jacksonville Regional Office of Catholic Charities will receive 15,000 cans of food and other nonperishable food items this week from 20 area Catholic schools.
The food drive, an annual event as part of Catholic Schools Week, is one of the largest food drives for the agency.
Catholic Schools Week was last week.
More than 50 volunteers, including 20 students from St. Paul's Catholic School in Jacksonville Beach, will be involved in the pickup, delivery and stocking of the food items.
The food will be used in Catholic Charities' food pantry, which provides bags of groceries to those who come to the agency for emergency financial assistance and those who come on Wednesdays and Fridays for public distribution.
"We rely on this project every year to help stock our shelves," said Lisa Obringer, food pantry volunteer coordinator.
"Last year our food pantry provided 46,035 meals to those in need in our community," she said.
"Every day that we share what God gives to us, is a gift back to God. We want our children to understand that all we have is from God and giving back is a way to help others and to please God," said Jan Magiera, principal of San Jose Catholic School.
During its last fiscal year Catholic Charities served 18,071 people in Jacksonville, including 13,762 people through its Emergency Assistance Program.
The program prevents homelessness by helping families in crisis stay safe in their homes, by providing financial assistance for rent, mortgage or utilities payments.
Those interested in organizing a food drive or assisting in another way can call Charlene Akers at (904) 354-4846, ext. 269.