wcw JANUARY 2023

good news department
First Church Donates Turkeys
for Veterans in Need
First Church members led by missions chair Peggy Hite – contributed
45 turkeys and side dishes for veterans served by
Goodwill Manasota’s Veterans Services program in November.
“It is always such an amazing day when we are giving the
turkeys out to our veterans – you see the burden of providing
such a big meal taken off their shoulders,” said Todd Hughes,
American Veterans and Their Families program manager.”
Goodwill Manasota Veterans Services team member Randy
Wright (left) and program manager Todd Hughes load turkeys
and sides into cars during Goodwill’s turkey giveaway event
During the turkey distribution, the Veterans Services team
also gave out care packages and hand-written cards from a
local youth group. Goodwill’s American Veterans and Their
Families program works to help eliminate barriers to employment,
provide opportunities for higher-paying positions for
veterans and their families, and connect veterans with needed
social services.
Sarasota Opera Receives
Arts Appreciation Grant
Sarasota Opera received a $60,000 Arts Appreciation Grant
from Gulf Coast Community Foundation which will underwrite
the 2022-23 season and be recognized as a production sponsor
of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. They are also a series sponsor
of the Moonlight & Melodies Dinner Series and are sponsoring
the Curtain Raiser Dinner and Sarasota Opera’s annual
gala in April.
Gulf Coast Community Foundation
Works to Reduce Recidivism
Gulf Coast Community Foundation has awarded a $57,994 grant
from its Criminal Justice Reform Initiative to Community Assisted
and Supported Living, Inc. (CASL) for the “Transition Inmates
to Supported Housing Project.”
The Transitions program provides formerly incarcerated individuals
who have a mental health condition with safe, supportive
housing while they continue to overcome barriers upon
release from incarceration. Gulf Coast has awarded a total of
$214,000 to the Transitions program since its inception. The
average recidivism rate for formerly incarcerated individuals is
65%. The recidivism rate of those within the Transitions program
is greatly reduced to 20%.
Referrals for the Transitions program are referred by the
Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Re-entry Navigators. Providing
supports including housing and case management, and basic
needs like food and clothing, assists individuals who were recently
incarcerated to gain employment.
Sarasota Orchestra Receives Grant
Sarasota Orchestra has been awarded a $65,000 grant from
Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation for programming of
the 2022-2023 season.
The grant provides support for Sarasota Orchestra’s artistic
season, which began in October 2022 and runs through May
2023. In addition, Barancik Foundation support will help subsidize
the costs associated with Sarasota Orchestra's education
programs, which include the Youth Orchestra Program, Summer
Music Camp, and Young Artists Competition. This grant will also
enable the continuation of the family-friendly On the Road with
SO: Parks and Partners community concerts and keep them free
for the public.
To learn more, visit www.SarasotaOrchestra.org.
Gulf Coast Community Foundation
Helps Venice Urban Forest Blossom
Gulf Coast Community Foundation awarded Venice Area Beautification,
Inc. (VABI), a 30-year-old, volunteer based organization,
with a $100,000 grant to support Phase 3 of the Venice
Urban Forest.
Phase 3 is the final phase of the Urban Forest, along an industrial
corridor, and focuses on installation of additional irrigation
piping to irrigate all the new trees and understory plants. The
grant will cover the cost for native trees to be bought and planted,
including 400 slash pines, 200 red cedars, and 10 longleaf
pines. The Urban Forest is home to over 90 different species of
birds. The grant is especially timely after the Urban Forest suffered
damage from Hurricane Ian, losing approximately 125 trees.
The future of the Urban Forest includes using natural materials
to stabilize a maintenance pathway so the volunteers can
continue to maintain the property. Phase 1 of the Venice Urban
Forest is open to all from dawn to dusk. To learn more about the
Venice Urban Forest, visit VeniceUrbanForest.com.
PGT Innovations Donates
to Breast Cancer Non-Profits
PGT Innovations a manufacturer of windows, doors, and garage
doors, donated over $9,000 across four breast cancer
non-profits.
PGTI team members at the Venice location wearing
the breast cancer awareness t-shirts
Earlier this year, PGT Innovations designed breast cancer
awareness t-shirts for employees to purchase during October
to help raise awareness and money for the non-profits. PGT
Innovations team members across the company’s multiple
manufacturing plant and office locations purchased over 1,100
t-shirts, raising $8,155, which was donated between theBreast
Cancer Research Foundation, theBreast Cancer Alliance, and
theLarry Fitzgerald Foundation.
PGT Innovations also donated $1,500 to theAmerican Cancer
Society in support of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
walk event held in Sarasota in October; several PGTI team
members participated in the walk. For information, visitwww.
pgtinnovations.com.
Mote Marine Receives Grant
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium’s C-STEM Program has received
$10,000 from The Weichel Family Fund of the Manatee
Community Foundation. The grant will be used to fund the delivery
of monthly educational programming in Manatee County
throughout the academic year and supplemental programming
during the summer for around 1,300 Manatee County students.
The C-STEM Program has been providing hands-on STEM educational
experiences to a diverse population of students at
a developmentally critical time in their education. Working in
partnership with alternative schools and afters chool programs
throughout the Sarasota and Manatee counties, the program
helps to fill gaps in local educational programming by leveraging
Mote science and educators to engage participants in highly
interactive learning experiences.
Mote, a leader in marine STEM education for K-12 audiences, is
committed to providing grade-level STEM education experiences
that help to prepare underrepresented and underserved students
who may not have previously seen themselves in science.
All Faiths Food Bank Receives
Canned Goods
The Canned Good Coalition, developed by steel food manufacturers
and canned food companies, donated 80,480 pounds
of canned fruits, vegetables and beans to those affected by
Hurricane Ian. All Faiths Food Bank was the recipient of 51,000
cans of food.
An All Faiths Food Bank team member unloads pallets of
canned foods donated through the Canned Good Coalition
Canned Good Coalition members reached out to Publix Super
Markets and various food banks, such as All Faiths Food Bank
and the Harry Chapin Food Bank of South Florida, to provide
shelf-stable foods at a time when many Floridians were without
food and electricity.
For more about All Faiths, visit allfaithsfoodbank.org.
$
500,000 Gift to USF Funds
Tutoring, Mentorship Program
Ensuring young students can read, so they are free to accomplish
their dreams, is a goal of a literacy program based at the
University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus that
matches USF students with middle schoolers needing support
to boost their reading skills.
The USF students are tutoring and mentoring students at
Sarasota’s most economically disadvantaged middle school,
which is funded by a $500,000 gift from Henson and her husband,
Joe, Sarasota philanthropists.
Beyond helping to improve reading skills, the USF students are
embedding themselves into the children’s lives to provide them
with positive role models and new opportunities for success.
The literacy project, led by College of Education professors
Cheryl Ellerbrock and Lindsay Persohn in partnership with
Booker academic intervention specialists Holly Ard and Grace
Schaeffer, is a passion for the Hensons, funders of numerous
community-based projects, including others addressing school
shortfalls in reading proficiency.
The couple funded the Booker Middle School Literacy Initiative
through the Joe and Mary Kay Henson Foundation, a
Sarasota-based 12-year-old private fund dedicated to helping
children of poverty through early education programs and partnerships
with the school district.
Selby Gardens Receives $60,000
Arts Appreciation Grant
Gulf Coast Community Foundation has awarded Marie Selby Botanical
Gardens a $60,000 Arts Appreciation Grant. The grant is
funded in part by the Mildred and Garrett Eelman Charitable Fund.
The grant will provide support for two exhibitions in 2022-23
that are part of Selby Gardens’ rotating schedule of shows as
The Living Museum. The funding also enables Selby Gardens to
engage underserved families in the Sarasota region through its
My Garden program.
The Arts Appreciation Grant will help underwrite Selby Gardens’
2023 Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, Tiffany: The Pursuit
of Beauty in Nature. The show will highlight the creativity
and innovation of American artist and designer Louis Comfort
Tiffany by exploring his work and its inspiration in nature.
Gulf Coast also continues its sponsorship of another exhibition,
Seeing the Invisible, which is on view at the Historic Spanish
Point campus in Osprey. This contemporary-art exhibition
showcases 13 works by internationally renowned artists that
were created using augmented-reality technology. The show
continues through September 2023.
14 WEST COAST WOMAN JANUARY 2023