from staff
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 feel 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.
Safe place for victims of abuse
Intimate partner violence accounts for almost $1.8 billion in lost productivity and earnings each year. Victims lose nearly 8 million days of paid work each year – the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity. Health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of this total, nearly $4.1 billion is for victims requiring direct medical and mental health care services.
Those statistics from the American Institute on Domestic Violence demonstrate the impact of domestic violence on business and its prevalence in our society. This crime isn’t confined to physical abuse but includes economic, emotional and verbal abuse as well. One in every four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. These and other statistics reveal that everyone will know someone who needs help.
The hotline number is 800-500-1119 and help is available 24 hours a day, as is the emergency shelter at Micah’s Place in Nassau County.
Micah’s Place started in 1999 with a group of concerned citizens who knew that survivors of domestic violence needed a safe place to go. Prior to Micah’s Place, victims of domestic violence and their children had to go outside of the county, if they even had transportation.
Micah’s Place, Inc. was incorporated in October 2000 and registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in March 2001. In June 2003 Micah’s Place began offering outreach services, information and referrals via a 24-hour toll-free hotline. Six months later the organization opened a 16-bed emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence. The Department of Children and Families certified Micah’s Place in 2004 as the 41st center in the state and it remains the only certified center in Nassau County.
Micah’s Place programs are growing exponentially to meet the needs of the community as resources become available. Current programs include outreach, the crisis hotline, community education, court advocacy, training for community professionals, emergency cell phone distribution, support groups, volunteer programs and a resale center.
The emergency shelter and services for victims of domestic violence and their children compose the intervention efforts of the Micah’s Place mission. The other is prevention. One prevention program is the Dating Violence Prevention and Education program for high schools which was so well received that the Nassau County School Board approved an additional program for middle schools. The Healthy Relationships program includes an anti-bullying component. Nassau County’s Head Start recently approved a curriculum for appropriately processing emotions which Micah’s Place presents to children ages 3-5.
To support all of these programs, the Purple Dove resale center generates much needed revenue and more. Victims can actually come to the center to be referred for services, shop for affordable or free furniture and clothes and offer their talents in crafts for consignment as a way to gain independence. The store is located at 1002 S. 14th St. in Fernandina Beach.
Besides the center, individual contributions and grants, an important source of support for Micah’s Place comes from events and projects coordinated by its Auxiliary. Three hundred members strong, the Auxiliary is best known for the annual Home and Garden Tour on Amelia Island Plantation. An expected 1,200 people will participate in the ninth tour March 16 and 17, 2010. Sponsorship is now available.
To learn more about Micah’s Place, the Home and Garden Tour, or if you are interested in volunteering call 904-491-6364.
In temporary custody for charity
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has issued arrest warrants for 250 Downtown community leaders who will be “Locked-Up” to benefit MDA May 28 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
The “jailbirds” have been charged with having big hearts and must now do the time that suits the crime. Upon apprehension by MDA officers, bail raisers will be booked and processed and their sentence is to serve time at MDA’s maximum appreciation jail site at the West Club of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. The goal for the event is to raise $150,000.
Funds raised by the “Lock-Up” give MDA, a voluntary health agency, the means to continue providing direct services, research, and professional and public health education to children and adults with neuromuscular diseases in North Florida and South Georgia. MDA provides assistance in the purchases of wheelchairs, leg braces and communication devices for its clients and offers several support groups. Individuals can also visit MDA’s clinics in Gainesville at Shands Hospital or in Jacksonville at Nemours Children’s Clinic and Mayo Clinic. This year’s MDA summer camp, Camp Love, will take place at Epworth by the Sea in St. Simons Island, Ga. June 13-19.
MDA (www.mda.org) is a nonprofit organization funded almost entirely by individual private contributors and is the number one provider of neuromuscular research. The voluntary health agency works to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA also has more than 200 offices across the country, 230 hospital-affiliated clinics and supports nearly 400 research projects around the world.
For more information about “Lock-Up” events or MDA, contact Brittany Duke at 296-7434, or visit the Web site at www.mda.org.
Dinner and auction benefit Children’s Home Society
An Evening of Taste with Chef Matthew Medure presented by MPS Group raised more than $40,000 for Children’s Home Society of Florida May 3 at Matthew’s of San Marco.
The evening included a personal presentation of Chef Medure’s most exclusive menu items, a harpist and a silent auction featuring packages from more than 80 donors. The restaurant was opened exclusively for the event and was filled with about 100 guests.
Other sponsors included Dan Harris Photo Art, Kuhn Flowers, Rev. William Reister as the evening’s harpist, More Than Ink and Sight & Sound Productions. Chartered in Jacksonville in 1902, Children’s Home Society of Florida is dedicated to embracing children and inspiring lives. For more information about CHS visit www.chsfl.org/buckner.