Jelly Team students Ava Banks and Claire Giraud bring in their donations as part of Out-of-Door Academy's annual Peanut Butter and Jelly Food Drive Competition.

 

All Faiths Food Bank is the beneficiary of the 2015 Peanut Butter and Jelly Competition held by students at the Out-of-Door Academy on Siesta Key. The The food drive is part of the school’s participation in All Faiths Food Bank’s Campaign Against Summer Hunger and one of many annual Spirit Day activities of games and competition at its Lakewood Ranch campus. Last year, the Blue Team (jelly) beat the White Team (peanut butter) by a close five jars. This year the odds were that jelly would remain the winning team, but in a shocking upset, the peanut butter team surpassed jelly in a very close race. More than 1,000 jars were collected for All Faiths Food Bank.

 

---

 

The Manatee Community Foundation granted $4,000 to Family Partnership Center for Musical Motion Programs in both English and Spanish. These funds will be used to provide Musical Motion Classes at a new site for local parents of children to age 5. Musical Motion sessions focus on creative activities, music and books to build preschoolers’ literacy and social skills and enhance brain development.

 

---

 

Re/Max Alliance Group recently received the Re/Max Community Service Award for its local civic, charitable, business and industry involvement in 2014. The Group and its agents have been active in supporting Children's Miracle Network (CMN), Goodwill Manasota, several local schools and other charitable organizations. Re/Max donated more than $8 million to CMN nationally in 2014, including more than $100,000 from local agents.

 

---

 

Coldwell Banker teamed with adopt-a-pet.com to help 20,000 adoptable dogs find homes in 2015. The agency’s Homes for Dogs Project saw success with its first “adopt-a-thon” last weekend, and plans to host more events throughout the year. More information about this initiative is available here.

 

---

 

In an effort to continue toward its goal of zero waste, Goodwill Manasota has entered into a partnership with Publix Super Markets. The partnership, which began in the last quarter of 2014, has already resulted in 24 pick-ups of approximately 19,000 pounds of materials. The donated items are predominantly recyclable materials, including seasonal and salable items as well as shelving and container systems. Goodwill also partners with companies including ReQuip Stores, Junk King, Pioneer Recycling, Suncoast Metals and Symphony Salvage in order to ensure that organizational revenues are maximized and that items sent to landfills are reduced as severely as possible.