Good News Friday: Good Deeds - Oct. 23, 2015
All Faiths Food Bank was the beneficiary of a $134 donation from Ben Eller, a fourth-grader at Phillippi Shores Elementary, when he participated in a class project that tasked students to raise funds for the charity of their choice. Eller sold fresh-picked avocados from the curb at his parents’ and grandparents’ homes, and distributed flyers to neighbors to advertise the sale.
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate CARES charitable foundation donated more than $13,000 to five local charities that benefit women and children: Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center (SPARCC), Suncoast Make-A-Wish Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota County, SELAH Freedom and the Education Foundation of Sarasota.
The Sarasota Sportsmen’s Association (SSA) donated $5,000 to the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program to support the artificial reef program in Sarasota Bay. The SBEP and its partners established the local artificial reef program in 1996 to replenish hard-bottom habitat that was lost from dredge and fill operations in prior decades. One of the reef balls off the Venice Inlet has a special plaque acknowledging SSA as a major contributor to the region’s artificial reef program, having contributed $50,000 to support the program since 2003.
The Suncoast chapter of the American Advertising Federation has completed its 2015 public service initiative for the Mental Health Community Centers of Sarasota County. A team of local communications professionals helped the organization grow by donating 300 hours of time to create a multifaceted campaign with a new logo, tag, signage, collateral and business system. See the completed website at mhcci.com.
Florida Studio Theatre, the Sarasota Ballet and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, along with Sarasota County students, will benefit from $1.2 million in matching funds from The Patterson Foundation as part of the ongoing EdExploreSRQ Endowment match opportunity. The funds were raised through a two-to-one match by The Patterson Foundation for the generous contributions made in 2015 toward each of the organizations' EdExplore endowment funds.