For the second year in a row, a family that prefers to remain anonymous presented a $10,000 gift to the Salvation Army of Northeast Florida and its Red Kettle Campaign in hopes of encouraging others to give generously for the remainder of the holiday season.
Funds raised from kettles support the nonprofit’s hunger and homelessness programs, such as the food pantry that gives supplemental groceries to 250 households each week.
The organization’s meal ministry program serves 82,000 meals each year to the homeless and working poor and the Towers Center of Hope provides 18,000 nights of emergency shelter per year.
All funds given to kettles stay in the community where they are received. For details, visit salvationarmynefl.org.
Land Trust buys 2,551 acres along Nassau River to preserve
North Florida Land Trust acquired 2,551 acres along the Nassau River, the largest parcel of previously unprotected land in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and the biggest land purchase in the trust’s 16-year history.
The property is located along an 11-mile stretch from Interstate 95 to the Nassau Sound. It largely consists of marshland and will protect the oyster reefs, saltwater and brackish cordgrass and black needle rush marshes that spread out for miles along the river’s edge.
The parcels are located in Duval and Nassau counties and include all the marshes off the northern end of Black Hammock Island surrounding the Eagle Bend Island and more than 800 acres of marsh along Interstate 95.
North Florida Land Trust purchased the property for $750,000 from the estate of Theodore Carey, who died in 2014. The organization is in negotiations to sell the land to the National Park Service.
New philanthropic effort at the Beaches
A group of concerned Beaches-area families are pooling their dollars so they can make an impact in the lives of their neighbors who struggle.
The Beaches Community Fund, an initiative of The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, was created to harness the power of collective giving for the purpose of learning about and addressing basic human services needs in the area.
“There is a perception that everyone who lives at the beach is well off, when in fact, there are very clear pockets of need east of the intracoastal from Mayport to Guana. While the rates of impoverishment are lower than those in metropolitan Jacksonville, the situation at the beach is exacerbated by multiple governments, a lack of transportation and an often overburdened system of providers,” said Community Foundation Trustees Tracey Westbrook and Martha Baker.
While the Beaches Community Fund will enter its first full grant cycle in 2016, it made two grants this fall, including $75,000 to Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry. The group is partnering with Feeding Northeast Florida to open a satellite food distribution center at 7North.
The grant will go toward development of The Beaches Community Food Bank, part of a new “hub-and-spoke” model of food distribution through which recovered food from grocery stores is collected and stored locally.
The fund also made a $10,000 grant to the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida to create the Eleanor Ashby Leadership series of social and skill-based events to connect and strengthen the nonprofit sector at the Beaches.
For more information, go to jaxcf.org/learn/beaches-community-fund or contact Joanne Cohen, vice president of philanthropic services at [email protected] or (904) 356-4483.
Meals on Wheels says ‘Merry Christmas’
Aging True Community Senior Services, The Jacksonville Jewish Center and Congregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple) will partner for the 28th year of holiday meal delivery in celebration of Christmas and the Hebrew tradition of Mitzvah.
On Friday, the team will deliver more than 500 holiday meals to homebound seniors and disabled residents in Duval County. The meals, part of Aging True’s Meals on Wheels program, are critical to the residents they serve, who might not have visitors or a hot, nutritious meal on Christmas Day.
Students from Crystal Springs Elementary School, the youth class at Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Church and Girl Scouts in community troops from Gateway Council have contributed to the cause by creating more than 500 holiday cards to accompany the meals and spread holiday cheer to the recipients.
To learn more, visit agingtrue.org.
TD Bank partners with Jax Chamber Foundation
The TD Charitable Foundation donated $15,000 to the JAX Chamber Foundation to benefit the organization’s work in entrepreneurial education, workforce development, community leadership and women’s initiatives. From left, Daniel Davis, chamber president and CEO; Carlton Robinson, chamber senior director entrepreneurial growth division; Sandy Bartow, president of the JAX Chamber Foundation; Cindy Stover, North Florida market president, TD Bank; Pam Onstead, a member of the chamber foundation’s board of directors; and Pat Blanchard, director of the Jacksonville Women's Business Center. To learn more about the chamber foundation, visit jaxchamberfoundation.org or call (904) 366-6600.