For the fourth year, Clays for a Cause, an annual sporting clay shoot presented by local homebuilder MasterCraft Builder Group, raised money for local charities.
This year’s event total was $21,000, more than half the amount of money raised from the first three years combined.
Clays for a Cause 2015 benefitted St. Augustine Youth Services, the Cotta family, the Monique Burr Foundation for Children and a project by St. Johns Housing Partnership and a local church to help restore the home of a St. Johns veteran.
St. Augustine Youth Services will use its $10,475 donation to build six efficiency apartments for men 18 years of age who no longer qualify to be part of the foster care system and are ready to transition to independent living.
Also benefiting this year is Issac Cotta, whose father is a MasterCraft Builder Group trade partner. Cotta is battling an illness, which has required multiple brain surgeries. The family received a $6,000 donation.
The Monique Burr Foundation received $2,000 from the event. The organization is dedicated to protecting children from abuse and bullying through providing to all Florida elementary schools MBF Child Safety Matters.
It’s a prevention education program to provide elementary school students, personnel and adults with information and ways to prevent bullying, digital abuse and all forms of child abuse.
A church and St. Johns Housing Partnership have raised money to help rehabilitate the home of a retired military veteran in St. Johns County. Proceeds from the event provided $2,550 toward the project.
Clays for a Cause began in 2012, which was MasterCraft Builder Group’s first full year in operation. In its first three years, the event raised more than $30,000.
Instead of having a holiday party, the company instead each year invites their employees, trade partners, bankers and consultants to shoot sporting clays and have an afternoon of camaraderie and charity. MasterCraft pays for the event in exchange for the participants making donations, of which 100 percent is given to local charities.
In its first three years, the event raised more than $30,000.
“We are beyond thankful to the participants and sponsors,” said MasterCraft Builder Group partner Chris Shee. “Giving back to the community which has helped our business grow is a vital part of who we are as a company. There’s plenty of need right here in our own backyard.”
The fifth annual Clays for a Cause will be in early December and the charities will be announced in November.
To qualify, charities must serve the local community, have low overhead and typically involve helping children.
Shoes and socks for City Rescue Mission
City Rescue Mission and the 15 Bailey’s Gyms in Jacksonville partnered for the second annual sock-and-shoe drive.
Throughout the holiday season, employees and gym members were encouraged to bring in lightly worn tennis shoes and unopened packages of socks.
This year, donations exceeded last year’s from a few hundred pairs of socks and shoes to more than 1,000 pairs.
“We are so fortunate to have great partners like Bailey’s Gym. The kindness shown to City Rescue Mission and those we serve is demonstrated through their commitment to helping the less fortunate through the sock and shoe drive,” said Penny Kievet, executive director of the organization.
City Rescue Mission has been caring for the homeless and needy in Northeast Florida since 1946. In addition to the New Life Inn homeless shelter downtown, the nonprofit organization offers an 18-month, Christian-based addiction recovery program called LifeBuilders and the New Day workforce development program.
The mission is funded by individuals, businesses, foundations and churches, accepting no government money whatsoever.
Joni Shook joins Monique Burr Foundation
The Monique Burr Foundation for Children appointed Joni Shook to manage program outreach for the statewide organization.
Shook recently retired from Duval County Public Schools after a 34-year career. She is an instructor with the Hope Haven Children’s Clinic and Family Center and the American School Counselor Association.
She is a member of the American School Counselor Association, Florida School Counselor Association and First Coast Counseling Association. Shook has presented at conferences including the American School Counselors Association National Forum, the Florida School Counselor Association State Conference, the Education Trust Summer Academy and the College Board National Forum.