Service Club of Manatee County awards record amount in grants
Every year. the Service Club of Manatee County doles out grant money to various nonprofits that provide services for young people in need.
On Tuesday, at a ceremony at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, the club awarded a record amount -- $124,500 -- to 29 organizations.
Recipients range from arts groups such as ArtCenter Manatee and Manatee Players that use the funding to provide scholarships to children whose families don't have a lot of money; to Church of the Cross, which provides back-to-school support for 50 students at Moody Elementary; to Hope Family Services, which will use the money to buy food for children who reside at its shelter for victims of domestic abuse.
Three recipient organizations -- The Library Foundation, New Path Academy and United Community Center -- received money from the Service Club for the first time this year.
Grants ranged from $1,000 to The Boys and Girls Clubs for food and snacks for after-school programs, to $14,000 to Community Haven for scholarships and behavioral, physical, occupational, physical and speech therapists. Community Haven is a perennial recipient of the Service Club grants.
Meals on Wheels got a grant from the Service Club for just the second time. Its $4,500 will be used for its Fighting Summer Hunger program, which provides weekend
meals to disadvantaged area students. The youngsters get free meals from the school system during the week in the summer, delivered on school buses, and Meals and Wheels follows the school buses Friday and hands out bags with six meals to get individual students through the weekend.
"We handed out 500 bags a week last year," said Larry Winegar, vice president of development and planned giving for Meals on Wheels. "This year we want to give 760, so a 50 percent increase."
Grant recipients include:
Community Haven: $14,000
Elks FELT: $12,000
Healthy Teen Coalition: $11,100
Foundations for Dreams: $9,000
Turning Points (formerly One Stop Center for Homelessness): $6,465
Stillpoint House of Prayer: $6,000
Church of the Cross: $5,000
Just for Girls: $5,000
Meals on Wheels: $4,500
Big Brothers/Big Sister: $4,375
Florida Diabetes Camp: $4,000
Manatee Children's Services: $4,000
ArtCenter Manatee: $3,500
Care Net: $ 3,500
St. Joseph Food Pantry: $3,500
Hope Family Services: $3,000
The Library Foundation: $3,000
Pace Center for Girls: $2,500
United Community Center: $2,500
Young Life: $2,500
Manasota SOLVE: $2,159.92
Easter Seals: $2,100
Centerstone (formerly Manatee Glens): $2,000
Manatee Players: $2,000
New Path Academy: $2,000
South Florida Museum: $1,800
Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida: $1,200
Boys and Girls Club: $1,000
Guardian Angels: $700.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 11:28 PM with the headline "Service Club of Manatee County awards record amount in grants ."