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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.
Walks raise money for research
Thousands of Northeast Floridians recently took to the streets, trails and walkways in support of a cure during the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Great Strides Walks, which took place throughout April and May in Northeast Florida.
The foundation raised more than $222,000, with donations continuing to come in from the seven spring walks and for the two pending fall walks. Great Strides is the foundation’s largest national fundraiser, producing more than $33 million in 2009 to support vital cystic fibrosis research and programs.
“Year after year, I am amazed at the number of people who support this event and walk for a cure for cystic fibrosis,” said Claudia Werner, executive director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation North Florida office. “We are so thankful to all of our supporters who participated and rallied against a tough economy to keep critical CF research on track. I am equally excited about the number of summer fundraisers our Great Strides supporters are planning, which will help get us closer to our goal of raising at least $300,000.”
At each Great Strides site, participants celebrated their accomplishments with food and refreshments provided by local sponsors, including Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Domino’s Pizza and others.
After more than 50 years of service, the CFF remains committed to its core mission: to assure a means to cure and control cystic fibrosis and to improve the quality of life for those with the disease. For more information, visit www.cff.org or call the North Florida CFF office at 733-3560.
15 tons of food equals 20,000 meals
City Rescue Mission, a nonprofit organization that provides food and shelter to the homeless and needy in Northeast Florida, announced that employees of CIT Group Inc., a provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies, collected nearly 15 tons of food during their annual food drive June 14-17. The collection set a record, surpassing the group’s 2009 total by about 3,000 pounds, and will provide more than 20,000 meals to those in need in the Jacksonville area.
“Once again, we are honored to receive such an incredible donation from CIT’s Jacksonville employees,” said Patrick Hayle, executive director of the City Rescue Mission.
“They continue to go above and beyond each year to support their local community with their kind contributions. We are extremely overjoyed to receive such great support from such an extraordinary group of people,” he said.
Public invited to fundraiser
The Discovery Circle, a young professionals’ group supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Jacksonville, will host a fundraiser July 13 at Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery.
The Hawaiian-themed event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with Seven Bridges unveiling its new seasonal beer. For each glass of the featured beer purchased, $1 will be donated to RMHC Jacksonville.
The evening will also serve as a kickoff for the Discovery Circle’s fall fundraising event, Pig Pickin’. Seven Bridges will offer barbecue dinners for $5. Additionally, the evening’s festivities will feature a live band, raffle and “ping pong ball challenge.” Raffle tickets and pingpong balls will be available for $1. All proceeds from the barbecue dinners, raffle and ping- pong ball challenge will go directly to RMHC Jacksonville.
The Discovery Circle invites the community to join the event.
For more information, visit www.rmhcjax.org.
Grant to Cathedral Arts supports summer program
For the first time, Cathedral Arts Project will be able to provide visual and performing arts classes to 700 underserved youth during the summer.
Cathedral Arts received a grant from the Jacksonville Children’s Commission to supply a six-week arts program this summer to community charitable organizations in the Jacksonville area.
The organizations include the YMCA, The Bridge of Northeast Florida, Police Athletic League, Communities In Schools, the Boselli Foundation and the Mali Vai Washington Kids Foundation.
By partnering with the organizations, youth between the ages of 5 and 15 will receive classes twice a week in dance, percussion or visual arts.
Cathedral Arts Executive Director Kimberly Hyatt believes the program will allow the participants to return to school in the fall better equipped to succeed.
“Study after study has shown that while middle and upper-income students continue to learn during the summer, lower-income students actually lose math and reading skills unless they, too, have access to quality summer programming,” Hyatt said.
More than 1,100 students were enrolled in Cathedral Arts’ after-school classes this school year. The program’s mission is to enrich the quality of life in Northeast Florida through unleashing the creative spirit of young people.
For further information, contact Melanie Messer, director of community relations, at 281-5599, ext. 18.