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. Email to: [email protected]. We encourage our readers to become more aware of the needs of these worthy organizations as they continue to provide much-needed services with reduced resources.
'Putt N' Crawl' at the Landing
On Sept. 14, The Jacksonville BUZZ Magazine is hosting the inaugural Jacksonville Landing Putt N' Crawl. Throughout the venue, there will be 12 handmade miniature golf holes.
"We have been hosting the Putt N' Crawl miniature golf tournament at the beach for nine years now. Every year our participants ask us when we are going to add another location for the tournament," said Mike White, owner of the publication.
The participating restaurants are Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub and Restaurant, Benny's Steak & Seafood, Koja Sushi, Vito's Italian Café, Hooters, American Grill, Cinco de Mayo, Chicago Pizza and Sports Grill, and the Landing Food Court.
Tickets are $25 and available for purchase at Fionn MacCool's or at puttncrawl.com. A collectible mug and a scorecard are included with price of admission.
Tickets will be available for purchase on the day of the event.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit Bands Against Breast Cancer, Daniel, Hands On Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens, the MaliVai Washington Foundation, Mission House, Pine Castle and the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association, White said.
The event is scheduled from 1-8 p.m.
For more information, email [email protected] or call Kyle Brown at (904) 232-3001.
Holland & Knight schedules day of service
The Jacksonville office of Holland & Knight is giving back to the community Saturday as part of a nationwide campaign to honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
More than 100 volunteers from Holland & Knight, EverBank, Lender Processing Services and Deutsche Bank, along with Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, will assist the Police Athletic League of Jacksonville with painting, landscaping and maintenance projects in the classrooms and playground areas of PAL's location at 1050 Franklin St.
For the third consecutive year, Holland & Knight is participating in the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, a service initiative created in part by Jay Winuk, brother of Glenn Winuk, a Holland & Knight partner and volunteer EMT who exited the firm's New York office and died while rescuing others during the collapse of the World Trade Center.
Benefit concert and golf tournament for HEAL Foundation
Country music artist Jack Ingram and golf course architect Bobby Weed are teaming up for a two-day event to raise funds for the HEAL Foundation (Healing Every Autistic Life).
Cocktails, a light dinner and a private concert performed by Ingram and members of his "Beat Up Ford Band" is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse.
On Sept. 13, The Bobby Weed-Jack Ingram Charity Golf Classic will be played on Dye's Valley Course, a course Weed co-designed with Pete Dye, at TPC Sawgrass.
Presented by The Players Championship and the Nimnicht family of dealerships, the private concert will raise funds to purchase iPads to be used in North Florida Exceptional Student Education classrooms.
"Our daughter Lanier is nonverbal and profoundly affected by autism. Through the iPad, Lanier is able to communicate with us. It has opened up a whole new world to her and has given her a voice," said Weed, who founded HEAL with his wife, Leslie.
After witnessing the progress students with autism are making with iPads, the Weeds decided to dedicate the funds from this year's HEAL event to purchase iPads and donate them to ESE classrooms in the five-county area surrounding Jacksonville.
"The Players is a proud supporter of HEAL and is honored to present this year's event at TPC Sawgrass. The organization's mission to provide educational programs and camps tailored to the needs of the autism community coincides with The Players' goal to generate $50 million for youth-related charities in Northeast Florida.
Together we can help bring new learning opportunities to those with developmental disabilities through the touch of an iPad," said Matt Rapp, executive director of The Players Championship.
Tickets are $100 per person and may be purchased online at healautismnow.org.
Jay Fund receives Helping Hands Grant
The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund, an organization dedicated to supporting families that are tackling childhood cancer, won a grant from TRC Staffing Services of Jacksonville that awarded the nonprofit 40 hours of free, temporary staffing support.
The Jay Fund is the first of 12 organizations in the 2013-14 cycle to receive the grant through the Helping Hands Grant program, an initiative aimed at helping local nonprofits meet staffing needs within tight timetables and budgets.
Jay Fund Office Manager Cari McGowan said the nonprofit elected to bring on a technology professional through the grant because the staff had recently moved office locations and was struggling with technology issues, from setting up the Internet connection to installing telephone lines.
"We cannot thank TRC Staffing enough for the support its technician provided our office," McGowan said.
TRC Staffing Services of Jacksonville President Keith Fairchild said he created the Helping Hands Grant program to help connect local nonprofits, like the Jay Fund, with qualified employees who can offer short-term immediate relief in trying economic times.
"It is an honor to award the first Helping Hands Grant to the Jay Fund. The support the Jay Fund provides to families every day makes an incredible difference in the lives of those battling childhood cancer. We are proud to have connected the Jay Fund with someone who can make a difference for them in return," he said.
Twelve organizations will each receive a Helping Hands Grant worth $1,050 to $2,900 over the course of the next 12 months. Grants may be used to provide administrative, technical, professional, finance, accounting, engineering, managerial, supervisory, marketing, sales, fundraising, project management or similar support within nonprofit organizations.
Recipients are selected through a review of submitted applications. The TRC employees who are selected to service the grants are compensated fully for their work and, to the extent possible, are selected not only for their technical skills but their affinity for the mission of the nonprofit organization.
For more information or to apply for a Helping Hands Grant, contact Erin Powers at (904) 641-1665 or email [email protected].
$900,000 gift for Community Hospice
The Neviaser Charitable Foundation has awarded a $900,000 gift to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida for ongoing support to the organization's Community PedsCare program.
The three-year gift will provide funding for operations of the program, which relies on philanthropy for a large portion of its $1.5 million annual budget, as well as an endowment to ensure stable funding for the future. A portion of the gift will be directed for a new fellowship in pediatric palliative medicine that will begin next year at the University of Florida.
"When our family first heard about the Community PedsCare program, we were interested. As we came to understand more about the needs of these children and families, and as we learned about all the Community PedsCare program has to offer, we knew we wanted to do something that would make a real impact for this program and our community," said Nancy Neviaser Baker, trustee of the foundation.
The gift builds on the foundation's 2010 contribution of $2.5 million to establish the Neviaser Family Community PedsCare Endowment Fund and the Community Hospice of Northeast Florida/Neviaser Family Professorship in Pediatric Palliative Care at the University of Florida. The professorship is held by Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen, medical director of Community PedsCare.
"The Neviaser family has made a tremendous impact on Community Hospice for many years. During their lifetimes, parents Doris and Buddy were very involved. They gave $1 million in 2000 to establish the Community Hospice Charles M. Neviaser Educational Institute, and they continued to generously support our educational programs annually," said DeAnn Collins, executive director of Community Hospice Foundation.
"Their children, Nancy and Michael, have continued the work their parents initiated here, and have focused on our direct care for children with life-limiting conditions," she said.
Established in 2000, Community PedsCare is a nationally recognized pediatric palliative and hospice program for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. A program of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida in collaboration with Wolfson Children's Hospital, Nemours Children's Clinic and the University of Florida-Jacksonville, Community PedsCare serves more than 150 children and their families each day in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties.