Fifty children were chosen for Dreams Come True of Jacksonville’s annual Dream Day event.
The celebration, hosted by the nonprofit and PRI Productions, gives children and their families battling life-threatening illnesses a chance to enjoy a special day.
The event features characters from books, movies and television greeting the children as they arrive on the red carpet before going inside for a day of fun and games.
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley and Jaxson de Ville also were there to talk with the children and their families.
This was the second year Bradley has been involved in greeting children invited to the event.
Moose Tracks, Publix give to Salvation Army
Jacksonville came out in full force June 6 to help the Salvation Army raise $10,000 for local programs.
Denali Flavors, makers of Moose Tracks ice cream, challenged people to eat 10,000 scoops of ice cream in Hemming Park and donated to the organization $1 for every scoop given away.
Even with impending Tropical Storm Colin, $10,000 was donated to the nonprofit.
In addition, Publix Super Markets’ 2016 Food for All initiative, in which customers donated at the cash register to help provide food for families in need, brought in $77,883 for local Salvation Army hunger programs.
The organization provides a hot dinner for the homeless and the working poor in Jacksonville seven nights a week and three meals a day for residents of the Red Shield Lodge homeless shelter for women and families, as well as the Towers Center of Hope housing for men.
The agency also distributes supplemental groceries though its food pantry, serving 250 income-eligible households per week.
Cheering for Communities In Schools
More than 200 elementary and middle school students participated in the 17th annual Communities In Schools Cheerleading Competition and Step and Dance Extravaganza at Edward Waters College.
About 1,000 spectators were at the event, which featured performances by cheerleading and step-and-dance teams from 14 Communities In Schools sites competing in elementary and middle school divisions.
The event was organized through the nonprofit’s after-school initiative — a free program serving kindergarten through eighth-grade students in 23 Duval County public schools.
Students attend classes Monday-Friday for three hours each day and work with staff on six core areas: academic enrichment, sports and recreation, life skills, cultural enrichment, parental involvement and community service.
Operating within schools since 1990, the Jacksonville affiliate serves more than 6,900 students in 37 schools annually with case management, mentoring, literacy and after-school initiatives.
For more information, visit CISJax.org.
$250,000 grant for heart issues in Health Zone 1
GE Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant to The Agape Community Health Center Network to launch the One Heart cardiovascular community outreach program.
The program will screen 10,000 residents for cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions during the next two years.
One Heart, a partnership between Agape, the Florida Department of Health in Duval County and Florida A&M University, will host large-scale screenings and events, primarily in Health Zone 1.
The area is an underserved community largely at-risk for chronic conditions and where more than 30 percent of deaths are attributed to cardiovascular disease.
One Heart also will provide health education for residents and connect them to the care they need through health centers and other community-based organizations.
Health workers and students from FAMU’s College of Pharmacy will help conduct the screenings.
Cardiovascular health disproportionately affects underserved communities.
Half of the residents in Zone 1 under the age of 18 live in poverty, 66 percent of adults are overweight or obese, and less than 16 percent of the population has post-secondary education.
Run and walk for SPAR and Urban League
Lace up your shoes for a tour through historic Springfield. The Jacksonville Urban League and Springfield Preservation and Revitalization are teaming up Saturday to host a 5K run and walk.
Registration begins at 7 a.m. and the race starts at 8 a.m.
Participants will start and finish at the Wells Fargo Community Learning Center at the corner of Sixth and Main streets.
The entry fee is $30 through Friday and $35 on race day. Visit jaxul.org to register or call (904) 723-4009 for information.
After the morning exercise, the community is invited to support local entrepreneurs at the Small Business Expo. There will be vendors, entertainment, games and more.
River Garden again recognized for excellence
River Garden Hebrew Home for the Aged will be recognized with the Governor’s Gold Seal Award for Excellence in Long-Term Care for the eighth consecutive year.
Among more than 680 nursing homes in Florida, River Garden Hebrew Home has consistently earned the recognition since the award was created in 2002 by the Florida Legislature.
The Gold Seal Award recognizes nursing homes that demonstrate excellence in long-term care over a sustained period, promote the stability of the field and facilitate the physical, social, and emotional well-being of nursing home facility residents.
River Garden is the only skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility to earn the distinction eight consecutive times and the only agency in Duval County to earn the award more than once.
The not-for-profit agency offers elder care services on a 40-acre campus in Mandarin.
Arts nonprofits share
$5,000 education grant
Any Given Child Jacksonville awarded a total of $5,000 to six local arts education partners: Theatre Jacksonville, World Arts Film Festival, JASMYN, Ritz Chamber Players, VSA Florida and Duval County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Planning Dana Kriznar.
The organization received $5,000 to be awarded to people, organizations or schools actively involved with AGC Jacksonville or demonstrating an awareness of the group’s goals and working to respond to specific needs in the community.
The group pre-allocated $2,000 to support Theatre Jacksonville’s residency program for communication and social skills students at Southside Estates Elementary and the World Arts Film Festival’s scriptwriting residency program for the Englewood Elementary School Film Club.
The steering committee and working groups then nominated and voted on which organizations would receive the remaining $3,000.
First- and second-place prizes of $1,000 each were awarded to JASMYN, for offering free Safe Space workshops for arts educators in public schools, and to the Ritz Chamber Players, for free, in-class performances for music students and consultation on the “Arts Education: Lift Every Voice” event in January.
Third- and fourth-place prizes of $500 went to VSA Florida, for a free workshop for music teachers to create adaptable lessons for students with special needs and two new visual arts residencies at Lake Shore Middle School, and to Kriznar, for including AGC Jacksonville goals in the public school system’s strategic planning, supporting the Safe Space initiative and involving the public schools student government in the AGC Jacksonville mission.