Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Philanthropy is More than Donating Money
Our community has many needs. The Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation support of the local charities is very meaningful. Last year we granted $90,000 and since November 2010, we have granted over $330,000.

Our community charities need more than money. They need volunteers to help run their programs. In many ways, volunteer efforts are as meaningful to the operations of charities as cash donations.

Consider Family Promise. This organization, one of our 2017 Signature Project grantees, relies on over 1,000 community volunteers. They break down, move and set up all the furniture and materials required to house the families each week. They also transport the families, and staff the Day Center. Family Promise could not carry on without their volunteers.

Or consider All Faiths Food Bank, another of our Signature Project grantees. This summer, they expect to feed 35,000 students who receive free or subsidized meals in school, but receive no meals at school during summer recess. These students will receive about 2.5 million meals from All Faiths Food Bank. That is about 3.1 million pounds of food. Volunteers check expiration dates and package integrity, sort, and pack the food. Our group of 16 VYC members packed 2,000 pounds of food in one morning in March. You can see, many volunteers are needed to support the hungry in our community.

The VYCCF is organizing VYC members to volunteer to help those in need in our community. Warren Major leads this effort. Warren has scheduled another All Faiths Food Bank volunteer day for May 18. This is a fun and rewarding way to spend a morning. Please contact Warren to register to volunteer and receive a beautiful VYC Volunteer t-shirt for your effort.

The VYC has agreed to sponsor its third Habitat for Humanity house. Our Foundation has agreed to organize the 200 volunteer hours that are required to support our sponsorship. Please watch for announcements of our Habitat volunteer days.

We hope you enjoyed our very successful Jazz Under the Stars event in April. We will be sponsoring a Blues night on Thursday, August 10. This sponsored event brings wonderful Blues to the Club and only a small $10.00 voluntary donation is requested. Chef Josh is preparing a special menu and Tiki John promises some “Blues” drinks. Please mark your calendar for August 10.

Grant applications for our spring grant cycle were due by April 1. During the month of April, the VYCCF Committee visited some of the grant requesting organizations that were not already visited this year. We expect to have over $83,000 in grant requests. With the support of our VYC members through donations to the VYCCF and attendance at our events, we hope to provide grants to many of these organizations.

Please visit our webpage, found under community on the VYC website, to check out what is new with the VYCCF. Also, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/VeniceYachtClubCharitableFoundation/ for the latest news.

As always, thank you for supporting the VYCCF as we chart a course to a better community.

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 Don Guba, Doris Guba, Barbara Isaacson, Virginia LaPlante, Warren Major, Paul Nesipak, Beth Piel, and Dave Slaman

updated: May 2017 Currents