GOOD DEEDS: After Ian, Praying Pelican Missions a blessing for storm victims
Recovery from Hurricane Ian is going strong along the Gulf Coast. Gulf Coast Community Foundation recently provided a $20,000 Hurricane Ian Recovery Initiative grant to Praying Pelican Missions to assist Sarasota, DeSoto, Charlotte and Lee County neighbors requiring assistance with home repair needs and basic humanitarian aid post-storm.
Praying Pelican Missions, an international organization, is on the front lines of response and relief efforts after disasters strike.
Volunteers fly into Sarasota every week to donate a week of hurricane cleanup service and will do so throughout the summer. They plan to work in the area full time.
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The Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation recently awarded Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties a $250,000 grant to support staffing across the organization.
The grant will also support efforts to improve the recruitment and retention of quality team members to ensure maximum impact and stability for the youths and families they serve.
A strained labor market coupled with pay and benefit constraints have presented challenges in recruiting quality staff for the critical youth mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties. There are currently hundreds of open positions for child care professionals in Sarasota County, along with a teacher shortage, which has increased the pressure to be competitive and resourceful in recruiting local talent and, in particular, youth development professionals.
With support from this grant from Barancik Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties will be able to continue its efforts to sufficiently staff all six club locations and programs.
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Stillpoint Mission of Bradenton recently received a $5,000 grant for its Children’s Diaper Program from the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch at its grant award ceremony.
Since 2011, Stillpoint Children’s Diaper Program has distributed diapers and wet wipes to needy mothers in Manatee County as part of its weekly outreach. In 2022, the program distributed over 281,000 diapers to mothers in the community.
Stillpoint Mission reaches out to the disadvantaged in our community to meet basic daily needs, including food, clothing, hygiene items, diapers and limited financial assistance for utilities.
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The Insurance Agents of Tampa Bay, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring, educating and networking with individuals in the industry, has established with a $30,000 gift an endowed scholarship at the Baldwin Risk Partners School of Risk Management and Insurance on the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus.
Andrew Aubery, president of the IATB board, said supporting the USF program, which is expanding thanks in large part to support from the industry, is essential to the future of the insurance industry as baby boomers and Generation Xers in the profession near retirement. Aside from USF, only one other public Florida university offers a full major in the discipline.
In addition, there are only 10 large risk management and insurance programs nationwide, each of which graduate about 50 people each year. With the industry facing a significant talent shortage in the coming years, the need to fill a variety of roles in risk management is tremendous.
Aubrey presented the gift to USF officials during the IATB’s Big ‘I’ Golf Tournament, a benefit for USF’s Risk Management and Insurance program, at Top Golf in Tampa. USF’s School of RMI is growing, thanks to a $5.26 million gift last year from Baldwin Risk Partners that will allow the program to expand its programs to USF’s campuses in Tampa and St. Petersburg.
The school also was renamed after the Tampa-based firm. Learn more about the Baldwin Risk Partners School of Risk Management and Insurance at https://www.usf.edu/business/schools/risk-management-insurance.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Foundation gives $20,000 Ian grant to Praying Pelican Missions
