The Leon Washington Foundation held a Casino Night last week to raise money to help low-income families. Washington is a Jacksonville native who plays for the Tennessee Titans.
FreshMinistries receives $1.5 million federal grant
Jacksonville-based FreshMinistries has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to help 188 court-involved youth make a transition into jobs and their communities.
FreshMinistries is one of 37 organizations nationwide selected for similar grants. Others in Florida are in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
Recruitment and referral to the program will be carried out by FreshMinistries’ partners — the State Attorney’s Office, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and Andrew Jackson High School.
Training and job preparation are coordinated by Career Source of Northeast Florida. Jacksonville Area Legal Aid will provide assistance in expunging the records so the youths can start a new life with a clean slate.
All activities will be at FreshMinistries’ newly renamed J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Center for Community Outreach at 616 A. Philip Randolph Blvd.
Food and fireworks at World Golf Village
Davidson Cares, the corporate giving program of Davidson Realty Inc., announced title sponsors for the 2014-15 school year, which include Mojo Old City BBQ, Bank of England, Heekin Law and the Jacksonville branch of Charles Schwab.
Title sponsors are at the $2,000 giving level and are featured in Davidson Cares’ marketing and advertising collateral and media outreach.
The nonprofit is entering its third year of offering support to local schools in the World Golf Village area. During the 2013-14 school year, Davidson Cares raised more than $20,000 for schools to help purchase books and updated technology as well as fund programs.
The next Davidson Cares event is its Red, White & Boom barbecue cookout at the Davidson offices Thursday before the start of World Golf Village’s fourth annual fireworks show. The reservation-only event will last from 5:30 p.m. until the start of the fireworks.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 15, and include barbecue, soft drinks and water.
Call (904) 940-5000 for reservations or visit davidsoncares.com for tickets.
State funds for Sulzbacher Center
The Sulzbacher Center’s dental clinics are one of four safety-net health care clinics in Alachua and Duval counties that will receive funding as part of Florida’s $77 billion state spending plan for 2014-15. The funding will support an expansion of services in the clinics.
The $750,000 state appropriation, which went into effect July 1, will be distributed among the four clinics in Florida. The Sulzbacher Center’s Federally Qualified Health Centers are one of the clinics receiving funding based in part on its partnership with the University of Florida.
“During my tenure, we have seen the demand for dental services grow significantly in Northeast Florida,” said Dr. Suzanne Ebert, director of dental services at the center. “This funding will help us hire an additional dentist and will significantly increase the amount of services we provide to our community.”
Community Hospice in Nassau County
Baptist Medical Center Nassau opened a Community Hospice inpatient care center on the first floor of its new medical office building adjacent to the hospital.
The Community Hospice Jane and Bill Warner Center for Caring will provide acute end-of-life care in a homelike setting.
“The fact that the new hospice center is an integral part of our hospital campus will make patient transfers seamless and provide families with the peace of mind that their loved ones are being well cared for,” said Stephen Lee, hospital president of Baptist Nassau. “We will be able to take patients from a hospital room directly to a hospice room, so they will never have to leave our facility.”
The hospice center has eight private bedrooms and bathrooms, family gathering areas, a family laundry area, kitchen and a meditation room. A large garden surrounds the center. Family and friends may visit any time, including overnight stays. Pets are welcome.
The center is named in honor of Jane and Bill Warner, founders of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, in recognition of the legacy the Warners and the Concours have had on Nassau County.
Their support of Community Hospice has provided patients and families with compassionate care from dedicated physicians and nurses.
Baptist Nassau’s new three-story medical office building is an $8 million expansion which also features Baptist Heart Specialists, the Borland-Groover Clinic, a new sleep lab and urology and pulmonology services.
Program gives hope to kids of jailed parents
The children of ex-offenders are significantly more likely to follow in their parent’s footsteps. The average client in Operation New Hope’s ex-offender re-entry program, Ready4Work, has 2.4 children and there are nearly 28,000 children of ex-offenders in the 32209 and 32206 zip codes of Duval County.
A. Philip Randolph Park hosted families working on filling in the gaps created by the difficulties associated with parental incarceration with activities like a bouncy house, an autograph signing by the Roar, cupcake-eating contests and a talent show.
“Breaking the Cycle offers additional services and hope to the children of ex-offenders,” said Kevin Gay, founder and CEO of Operation New Hope. “It is important that we work on repairing the damage and chaos that parental incarceration creates within the family.”
Breaking the Cycle is an economic development initiative aimed at the reunification of families and improving the outcomes for children of ex-offenders in Jacksonville.
For more information visit operationnewhope.com.