Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

THE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $45,000 IN GRANTS
The Venice Yacht Club is making an impact in our community. In April, we made 22 grants totaling over $45,000 in the spring 2017 grant cycle. The total amount granted to organizations in our community since our inception is over $375,000. Thank you for your support.
The spring 2017 grantees include:

Pass-Throughs: A total of $8,000 to Venice Youth Boating Association from Venice Yacht Club member dues and $2,200 to Our Mother’s House from a VYC member-directed donation. Signature Project Grants: A total of $26,750 was granted to organizations focused on childhood hunger, literacy, and homelessness under our NEST signature project, including All Faiths Food Bank, SKY Family YMCA YReads Program, Library Foundation for Sarasota County Imagination Library Program, the Reading Recovery Program, Family Haven, Family Promise, the JFCS Building Strong Families Program, and Our Mothers House.

Other Grants: A total of $8,250 was granted to organizations who provide services within our five grant categories, including Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota County to provide memberships to at-risk children; Child Protection Center; Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County; Mental Health Community Centers; Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center; Sheriff’s Activity League; Venice Area Mobile Meals; Venice Theatre to support their summer education program; Venice Area Pregnancy Center to provide child car seats to at-risk families; the Venice Symphony to support their summer children’s program; and the Venice Youth Boating Association to provide sailing scholarships under a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota County.

Further details on the grants are available on our website: veniceyachtclub.com / click on the top menu - "Community" and "Charitable Foundation." The April Jazz under the Stars event was a great success with almost 150 people attending to enjoy good music, good food, good drink and good weather. Please mark your calendars for August 10 for our Blues night. It will surely be another wonderful evening of music that is not normally heard at our Club. For more information, please contact Foundation Vice Chair, Don Healy. Eleven VYC members volunteered at the Veterans Stand Down on April 22. All attending reported it was a very rewarding experience helping homeless and other challenged veterans receive the support they needed and deserved.

The Venice Yacht Club recently announced a $77,000 grant through the Community Contribution Tax Credit Program to Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota County for the construction of a home in North Port. This is the third home the Club has sponsored. The Foundation is coordinating the required 200 volunteer hours and publicity. Please watch for information on the volunteer days from Warren Major, the Foundation’s Volunteer coordinator.

Two additional events are coming up in which I am sure you will be interested in participating. Our annual Auction Benefit is on Saturday, October 14. We have already received many auction items, including a Holland America seven-day cruise for two, dinners for a crowd at Fins and at Bonefish Grill, a Sky Family Y annual membership, some fantastic jewelry and so much more. For more information, please contact the Foundation’s auction benefit coordinators, Bill and Joan Bowen.

And finally, a new event will be launched on November 12: A 12-mile Loop around Venice bike ride. This will be a fun ride with no hills and will be open to all levels of bikers. Enjoy a pancake feast following the ride. For more information, please contact the Foundation’s ride coordinator, Dave Slaman.

Thank you for your support of the VYCCF and look for us on Facebook at
facebook.com/VeniceYachtClubCharitableFoundation/

VYCCF Committee: Chair Michael Nemser, Vice Chair Don Healy, Treasurer John O'Donnell, Commodore Kerry Carper (Board Rep), Cindy Abbot, Lloyd Abbot, Joan Bowen, Bill Bowen, Kevin Collins, P/C Jim DeNiro, P/C Joe Dombrowski, P/C Merle Graser, P/C Dick Guba, Doris Guba, Barbara Isaacson, Virginia LaPlante, Warren Major, Paul Nasipak, Beth Piel and Dave Slaman

updated: June 2017 Currents