Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Greetings! As you readers may know, the Currents is created a month ahead of the month you receive it. With this in mind, let me share my vision of our 5th Annual Ride for a Better Community: It was a beautiful, sunny day and the temperature was just right! We have raised $53,000 as of this writing, and currently have 196 riders registered. As our goal was to raise $55,000 and register 200 riders, I have no doubt that we far exceeded both of these goals! VPD Chief Charles Thorpe was the Honorary Ride Leader, and a delicious breakfast was served by members of the VHS Marine Corps ROTC; it was enjoyed by all after riding and celebrating megafunds raised. Thank you to all of our VYCCF committee members and other volunteers who made this day go as smoothly as possible. And by now, you may go to our website and view our actual numbers. I know we outdid ourselves - again!!

We are also pleased to announce that VYC is sponsoring its 8th Habitat for Humanity house through the CCTCP (Community Contributions Tax Credit Program) in 2022. The program calls for Club members to donate 200 hours of volunteer time towards building the house. Between mid-February and mid-July, we encourage many of you who can spare a few hours a week to volunteer at the house, and help us meet the goal of 200 hours of work. For example, if 50 of our members could volunteer just four hours one time, we would meet our goal easily and perhaps supersede it! A weekly construction schedule will be emailed outlining work activities happening on a particular day; if you have questions or interest in volunteering, please contact Sylvia Hollister at Sylviahollister@gmail.com, or on her cell phone at 617-974-6700.

In other exciting news, the Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation, founded in 2010 as a Donor Advised Fund, has begun the process to become a nonprofit corporation and 501(c)(3) entity. The rationale is that changes in tax laws have impacted the way Gulf Coast Community Foundation may accept members’ donations to the VYCCF. IRA account holders may no longer make Qualified Charitable Distributions to a Donor Advised Fund, thereby eliminating that source of funding to us, and these contributions are estimated to be 35–50% of our future donations, which is considerable!

The VYC Board of Directors and Gulf Coast Community Foundation fully support the decision, and we look forward to continuing as a successful enterprise with our main mission being giving back to our local community. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Sylvia Hollister, our new VYCCF Chair, who spearheaded this transition and presentation to the board in late January. Thank you, Sylvia!

With sincere appreciation,
Noni Lavelle

Please follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VeniceYachctClubCharitableFoundation/

updated: March 2022 Currents