BallenIsles Charities Foundation Board of Directors flanked by two Committee Chairs. Pictured from left: Rebecca Cohen, Chairperson – Grants Allocation Committee, Board of Directors: Fred Corrado, President and Founder, Linda Greenhouse, Director, David James, Director, Ben Kovalsky, Treasurer, Irwin Cohen, Secretary, and Linda Hornsby, Committees Chairperson. (photo credit- Jack Robbins Photography).
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The Palm Beach Post
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Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. May 3, 2012 –The newly formed BallenIsles Charities Foundation (BICF) which was established with a mission of “Helping to Make a Difference,” has presented financial grants totaling $130,000 to 15 deserving local area organizations serving the community.
“These awards represent 100 percent funding of each of the programs we undertook to support in our inaugural year. Simply put, every beneficiary received every dollar they asked for. As importantly, this also represents the power of the joint spirit of giving within our community which collectively can create a bigger impact to benefit local programs and organizations in the towns where we live, volunteer and use services,” said BallenIsles Charities Foundation Inc. President and Founder Fred Corrado.
The presentation on Wednesday, April 25, in the state-of-the-art Sports Complex at BallenIsles Country Club, marked BallenIsles Charities Foundation’s inaugural 2012 Financial Grant Awards. Designated beneficiaries of the BICF grant awards included the City of Palm Beach Gardens Police Department to fund the purchase of two state-of-the-art Mobile Rapid ID units to enhance community safety. That grant will also provide funds for a Fujifilm (IS Pro. third UV & IR) forensic camera and SirchStand photography stand that, together, make it possible to see evidence that is otherwise invisible.
All Hands poster (photo credit – Jack Robins Photography)
In addition, the financial grants awarded will help the Palm Beach Gardens Recreation Department host a Concert Series on the Plaza at Veterans Park. Allamanda Elementary School, in Palm Beach Gardens, will be able to purchase books for its classroom libraries project ‘Readers Make Successful Leaders,’ and iPads for exceptional needs students. Scripps Florida Education Outreach program received support to allow local high school students, teachers and college undergraduates to conduct summer research internships. Gratitude House’s ‘Mothers and Infants in Treatment Together’ received support for its services for pregnant and postpartum women and their infants while the financial grant to the Alzheimer’s Community Care ‘Family Nurse Consultant Services’ will allow the program to make home visits to help caregivers and individuals facing Alzheimer’s disease. Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School, in Palm Beach Gardens will be able to purchase iPads for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and bus rental for the school’s annual hearing impaired students’ picnic. The Renaissance Learning Center (Autism Project for Palm Beach County) will initiate a ‘Healthy Life Skills’ program designed to teach students about nutrition and healthy eating. The funding will also allow the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Foundation to purchase specially designed vests to protect the lives of the K-9 members of the force. Also receiving grants were the Hospice of Palm Beach County’s ‘Camp SeaStar,’ a support program for children and teens suffering from a death in the family; and the 2012 Math Science Institute of Palm Beach State College’s 8-week, academically rigorous, program for students with interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Funds were also awarded to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary’s Junior Naturalist Educational Program for children from nine to fourteen; Palm Beach Gardens High School’s Student College Tour which will allow students who otherwise cannot afford to take part, to be able to participate in touring universities they might like to attend, and to the West Palm Beach Waterfront Warriors for a program that allows Wounded Military Personnel and Families will be able to visit the Palm Beaches. The ARC of Palm Beach County’s Potentials Charter School’s Music Therapy Program (for children 3-10) received critical financial support to continue this therapeutic program.
BallenIsles Charities Foundation, Inc. was formally launched late last year when the more than 1500 families residing at BallenIsles joined together to give back as a bigger group. “As one of the city’s largest residential communities we have so much to be grateful for in our ongoing relationship with our local community. The launch of this Foundation formally underlined a commitment to give back to our local community and those civic and not-for-profit organizations in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach that make such a difference, not only to our own lives but to so many of our neighbors in the surrounding towns and villages,” Corrado noted.
The new Foundation will continue to render financial and in-kind support to area organizations providing civic and cultural programs, community and social services, hospital, health services and education programs. “It was heart warming and very gratifying to see how important the Foundation’s contribution was to each of the designated beneficiaries. Helping to make a difference represents the underlying principle of our grant making efforts and we take great pride that the collective efforts of our community, at every level, have made it possible, in the very short time of our formation, to fully fund these valuable projects,” he added.
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