Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Fellow members...

It’s the lazy days of summer, but your Foundation is hard at work. Since my previous column, we received six more grant requests. After careful consideration, the Foundation Committee has authorized a grant to the Rotary Futures Program. Rotary Futures is holding their annual fundraiser on August 13 this year at the Venice Yacht Club. The event is a “Comedy Night” with Les McCurdy and Ken Sons. The Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation is a sponsor of the event.

Rotary Futures was created in 2002 with a mission to educate, inspire and motivate students to access post-secondary education and training. They are located at Venice High School and since 2002 have serviced over 42,000 student visits. Rotary Futures developed the first local scholarship database which currently contains 910 scholarships to assist our children and their families to access higher education and training opportunities.

The program is certainly making a big impact on our community. The Venice High School class of 2010 garnered a total of $6,344,617 in scholarships---an amazing accomplishment. We are fortunate to be a part of this wonderful local initiative.

We continue to be true to our mission to support local charities in the areas of children’s health, education and welfare, active troops and veterans and the environment. Unfortunately, the need far exceeds our ability to help. As we move through our “slow season,” donations have diminished so many worthwhile local initiatives cannot be funded. If you have not, as yet, joined us in this good work, please consider doing so now.

Again, it’s very easy to donate and become part of this rewarding initiative. The Foundation has a dedicated mailbox at the Club. Just write a check and put Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation on the envelope and send it to the Club or give it to the receptionist and it will find its way to us. To make contributing even more convenient, we have arranged for secure credit card donations through the Gulf Coast Foundation website. Go to www.gulfcoastcf.org, click on the Give Now icon on the top right side of the screen and then select Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation from the drop down list. It’s that easy.

Due to the space constraints of this double issue of the Currents, our donor list could not be included As always, a sincere thank you to those who have contributed to our mission and who understand….We never stand taller than when we stoop down to help those who have fallen.

Anthony R Zumbano, Chairman Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Charting a course to a better community…