Florida State University Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer Charlie Ward will join former NFL great and current NFL football operations executive vice president Troy Vincent to headline the 2017 Bradenton Christian School Gala at the school's Wichers Auditorium, 3304 43rd St. W., Bradenton, at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27. Ward will be the featured speaker for the evening. Tickets are $150.

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County recently received $60,000 in leveraged grants made possible through a partnership between Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. The funds will be used to expand Booker High School's College & Career Center, a program developed to provide students and their parents with free services to assist with planning for education beyond high school.

The Trust for Public Land recently received a $50,000 grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to help extend the Legacy Trail into downtown Sarasota. The funds will be used to support appraisals, boundary surveys, environmental assessments and other project expenses needed to advance the proposed acquisition of approximately 8 miles of rail corridor for the project.

Wells Fargo recently awarded the Community Entrepreneur Opportunity Program with a $5,000 grant to develop businesses in north Sarasota. The funds will help support the CEO Program, which offers a multi-week course that introduces entrepreneurs to business basics and helps them determine the viability of their business or business idea. The course is offered twice a year to residents of Sarasota and Manatee counties, with emphasis on the north Sarasota and Newtown area.

At the request of the staff at Fergeson, Skipper, Shaw, Keyser, Baron & Tirabassi, P.A., the Sarasota law firm will forego having an employee holiday party this year and instead has made donations to help Haiti after the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew. A donation of $3,750 was made to the American Red Cross and a $1,250 donation was made to the Humane Society International.

A team of Sarasota residents last month embarked on a six-day trip to Haiti to provide food staples to almost 700 households in three villages in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Seven men traveled to Haiti’s Grand Cayemittes Island, a remote area only accessible by boat. Armed with $15,000 raised by the Sarasota Baptist Church, the group visited the villages of Au Bord De Letan, Pointe Sable and Anse Du Nord. More than 15,000 residents in the area had not received any assistance since the Oct. 4 hurricane.

Goodwill Manasota is partnering with local businesses to host Goodwill's traveling Giving Tree, which encourages staff and clients to make a positive and lasting impact on the lives of those in need. Paper ornaments adorn the life-sized Giving Tree with gift options, offering a number of ways to support Goodwill’s mission. The Giving Tree will travel to numerous locations in order to give as many community members the opportunity to make donations.

The immediate past mayor of North Port, Jacqueline Moore, recently partnered with Goodwill Manasota to launch a new campaign called Kindness Community. The effort is designed to make a positive impact by encouraging acts of kindness. A social media campaign launched the first week of December, with 100 community supporters sharing their acts of kindness and challenging family, friends, businesses and others to join the movement.