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Highlighting Jacksonville’s Philanthropic Community
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. E-mail 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.
Children’s Home Society recognizes contributions
The Children’s Home Society of Florida, Buckner Division, has honored local individuals and organizations for their efforts for children.
Child Advocate of the Year is Mrs. Arthur W. (Sister L’Engle) Avent. Sister, as she’s known to many, has been a longtime Children’s Home Society family member, serving 25 years on the board of directors for the Buckner Division.
The Public Official of the Year is State Sen. Tony Hill. He works with One Church One Child, an organization that recruits adoptive families to care for foster children. Because the Legislature is in session, his legislative assistant, Deborah Parsons, accepted the award on his behalf.
Lender Processing Services is the Corporate Citizen of the Year. The company sponsors the society’s Caring Chefs event, participates annually in the Back-to-School drive and hosts a Christmas party and provides gifts for residents.
Tracy Ralys is Volunteer of the Year. She works with the First Coast Alliance, the society’s auxiliary group. Ralys has worked on several fundraising events, including chairing the “Hope by Design” Fashion Show for three years in a row, raising $15,000 each of the last two years.
Foster Parents of the Year are Bridget and Keith Hawk. They have fostered 32 children in the last five years and are caring for 3-year-old twin girls and their two younger brothers.
Chartered in Jacksonville in 1902, the Children’s Home Society of Florida is dedicated to embracing children and inspiring lives. CHS works to restore and strengthen families through its programs and services, such as adoption, foster care and child-abuse prevention programs.
For more information, visit www.chsfl.org/buckner.
Bank fostering financial literacy
Florida Bank’s Downtown branch hosted an educational field trip for pre-K students attending the Community Connections school program. Community Connections is a nonprofit that helps homeless women with children by giving them a safe place to live along with education and counseling to grow their job marketing skills and independence.
Ten children and their chaperones visited the branch office at 135 W. Bay St. for a day of financial education and to learn more about a community bank. The participants toured the bank and its vault, learned how to make deposits and withdrawals and processed mock deposit tickets behind the teller line. The day started with the activity of “A Visit to the Bank,” narrated by Branch Manager Tanya Guydos, and ended with each student earning money and taking a piggy bank and a goodie bag to start their own savings plan.
Showhouse tour to benefit Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
The Guild of the Jacksonville Symphony announces that the 2010 Designer Showhouse, presented by Toll Brothers at Coastal Oaks at Nocatee in Ponte Vedra, will be open for public tours April 17 to May 9.
“Coastal Oaks at Nocatee is an outstanding setting for this celebrated Northeast Florida tradition,” said Toll Brothers North Florida Division Vice President Jim McDade. “We are honored to be the exclusive builder of the 2010 Designer Showhouse and we look forward to welcoming thousands to this spectacular event at Coastal Oaks at Nocatee.”
The home will feature the Marquis design, which will be accentuated with many features that include a two-story foyer with a dual curved staircase. The home is on a site featuring nature views and a canopy of oak trees. The Designer Showhouse has more than 5,000 square feet of living space with five bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths and a four-car courtyard garage. It features a gourmet kitchen with a center island and breakfast bar and will be priced at more than $1 million.
The Designer Showhouse is the centerpiece of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild’s benefit fundraising program. Proceeds support the Jacksonville Symphony and the Guild’s music education programs. For ticket information, visit www.jaxsymphonyshowhouse.com.
Golf tournament for symphony
The Second Annual AT&T Advertising Solutions Support the Symphony Golf Tournament takes place with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Friday at The Golf Club at South Hampton. Proceeds will benefit the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The cost is $75 per player or $250 per foursome, which includes lunch and unlimited beverages, including water, beer and Gatorade. Hole sponsorships are available for $50.
The best foursome wins Starry Nights table seats Saturday evening at Metropolitan Park for the performance featuring Styx with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Other prizes will be awarded for Beat the Maestro, Hole in One, Longest Drive, Closest to the Pin and more.
Contact Katie Scales at 354-9240 or [email protected] for more information or to register for the tournament.
Zoo Walk to Autism April 25
The HEAL Foundation (Healing Every Autistic Life), a local organization dedicated to helping individuals and families living with autism, will host the First Coast Zoo Walk For Autism at 8:30 a.m. April 25 at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.
HEAL is a local foundation dedicated to assisting individuals and their families living with autism. HEAL has granted more than $600,000 to local camps, support groups, seminars and schools to support those with autism spectrum disorders.
Autism is a neurological and biological disorder typically affecting children at different levels of severity. Individuals are affected in four key areas: communication, social skills, behaviors and learning.
“One in 100 children is now diagnosed with autism,” said Dr. Julie Buckley, co-founder of HEAL and a physician who treats children on the autism spectrum. “Our educators are struggling to keep pace with the many children with autism now attending First Coast schools. Because the need is so critical, the First Coast has shown strong support for autism awareness and education efforts,” she said.
Last year’s Zoo Walk raised more than $75,000, which was given back to local schools and programs through grants. The Zoo Walk not only received support from the Jacksonville Jaguars, but also drew a crowd of nearly 1,000 walkers.
The mission of the HEAL Foundation is to develop a community dedicated to medical research, treatment and education of individuals, community awareness and, ultimately, prevention of autism spectrum disorders. HEAL supports services for local families who have a member with autism, including parent education seminars, programs, camps and social events. For more information, visit www.HealAutismNow.org
Banks sponsors art contest
Deutsche Bank Jacksonville is sponsoring the American Heart Association’s “Go Red For Women” campaign and its second annual “Show Us Your Heart” art contest for middle and high school students living in Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties. The contest gives students the opportunity to express their creative talents while increasing their awareness about the prevalence and risk of heart disease.
The winner of the contest will receive recognition at the “Go Red For Women” event May 14 at the Osborn Center and a $1,000 scholarship from Deutsche Bank.
Jill Donaldson with Deutsche Bank Global Business Services has been selected as a local representative of the “Go Red For Women” campaign.
“This important campaign aims to raise students’ awareness of heart disease in an effort to save lives,” said Donaldson. “All of us at Deutsche Bank are proud to support a movement that educates and inspires these students through their artistic talent.”
Benefit concert at The Bolles School
The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus presents “I Never Saw Another Butterfly: A Musical Memorial and Songs from the Jewish Faith” concert at 6 p.m. April 18 in the McGehee Auditorium at The Bolles School San Jose Campus.
The concert will feature musical settings of poems by children of the Terezin Concentration Ghetto as well as a selection of songs from the Jewish faith.
In 1941, the Nazis established a Jewish ghetto in the former fortress town of Terezin, Czechoslovakia. The ghetto was a holding place as Jews awaited their transfer to one of the extermination camps. Many of its citizens in pre-ghetto times were employed as artists, composers, conductors, singers, instrumentalists and writers. Two hundred thousand persons passed through Terezin, of which 15,000 were children. Only 132 of those children survived.
Poems and children’s drawings were hidden at Terezin inside mattresses and stuffed in cracks between the walls of houses. They were recovered after the war, and many are collected in a book which was published by the Holocaust Museum, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.” The title poem was written by a young person in the ghetto, where the arts flourished as a defiance of the soul, even in children.
“Our performance of ‘I Never Saw Another Butterfly’ is a reminder of the tragic consequences of prejudice, discrimination and bigotry and the importance of promoting understanding, tolerance and acceptance among all people,” said Darren Dailey, Jacksonville Children’s Chorus artistic and executive director.
The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus provides a choral music education for children of diverse backgrounds, fostering teamwork, self-discipline, accomplishment and pride while filling a cultural need in the community and sharing the beauty of the choral art form through performances. Each year the program teaches vocal music to more than 450 children representing more than 100 schools through weekly classes offered after school and through annual outreach programs.
Tickets for the performance are $15 per person. To buy tickets, call 353-1636 or visit www.jaxchildrenschorus.com.