GOOD DEEDS: Halfacre sponsors First Step event, bank gives $25,000 to feed little tummies
Halfacre Construction Co., a Lakewood Ranch-based commercial construction company, recently sponsored Lightshare Behavioral Wellness and Recovery’s Caring Hearts events with a $2,500 sponsorship.
The annual event, held in February, encourages the community to come together and support those most in need, and celebrates the victory of infants born drug-free.
First Step’s Mothers and Infants Program empowers and treats pregnant and postpartum mothers who are facing substance abuse addiction. (Lightshare Behavioral Wellness and Recovery dba First Step of Sarasota.)
The sold-out event kicked off with a welcome message from Patrick Robinson, board chair of Lightshare Behavioral Wellness and Recovery and Sarasota’s deputy city manager, and Shawny Robey, president and chief executive officer. The event continued with guest speakers and a client success story and concluded with an awards ceremony.
Jack Cox, president of Halfacre, currently serves as secretary on the board of directors of Lightshare.
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Making An Impact. Inc., a local nonprofit and leading curator of basic needs community resource information in Sarasota and Manatee counties, recently received several grants supporting its Community Connections Resource Guide.
The grants, totaling $10,858, support providing information on basic need services at public libraries serving Parrish, underserved residents in Newtown and needy Manatee County families with school-aged children whose primary or preferred communication language is Spanish.
The grants come from various sources, including the Conrad & Ruth Ann Szymanski Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation, the Dallas and Elizabeth Dort Charitable Legacy Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, the New Genesis Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation and The Parrish Foundation.
These grantors were impressed by Making An Impact’s commitment to the community and its innovative approach to addressing the informational gap in finding local essential services.
Now in its third year, the organization, based in Lakewood Ranch, has nearly 5,000 printed basic needs Community Connections Resource Guides in circulation, and thousands view the information online.
Last year, in response to Hurricane Ian, MAI created a printed and online Disaster Recovery Guide used by area residents, emergency management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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Feeding Empty Little Tummies (F.E.L.T.) recently received a $25,000 grant from Bank of America as part of the bank’s nearly $19 million donation to hunger relief organizations nationwide from its employee booster campaign.
The funds will provide food to Manatee County’s homeless and food insecure students. F.E.L.T. provides nutritious meals to homeless students through a dedicated board, volunteers and community leaders who serve 59 schools and over 1,500 homeless and food-insecure children.
The grant will allow F.E.L.T. to provide meals to all the students it serves for two weekends.
Bank of America has a longstanding commitment to address hunger relief and strengthen local communities, and F.E.L.T. has been a partner of the bank for over five years.
Through its second employee booster campaign, the bank donated $50 for each employee who registered a new coronavirus vaccine, coronavirus booster, or flu shot to further address hunger relief in local communities it serves.
HCA Florida Englewood Hospital recently received a special donation from Englewood Moose Lodge 1933.
Each year, members of the lodge donate more than 600 plush Tommy the Moose dolls to the hospital. The dolls provide children and other patients with comfort during times of stress, uncertainty or anxiety.
Tommy Moose is an international figure for the Moose Lodge, according to Englewood Moose Lodge representative John Bienkowski.