Recent donations from area individuals and local family foundation add $550,000 to capital campaign effort
As the Safe Children Coalition continues its campaign to fund and build a new Youth Shelter for homeless teens in Florida’s Circuit 12 (Sarasota, DeSoto and Manatee counties), “its efforts have been boosted by recent gifts totaling $550,000 from area individuals and couples,” as well as a local family foundation, the Coalition has announced.
Partnering “to support the crucial effort” were Keith Monda and Veronica Brady ($100,000), Pete and Joanne Powers ($150,000), Scott Moore ($100,000), Maggie and Mark Sharff ($100,000) and the Steinwachs Family Foundation ($100,000), a news release says.
Numerous connections exist between the donors and the cause,” the release points out. “Monda and Brady have been steadfast supporters of the Youth Shelter effort since before the fundraising campaign launched,” the release continues. They and Pete and Joanne Powers co-hosted a donor gathering last January “to engage more supporters in the cause,” the release notes. Further, the release adds, “Longtime child advocate Scott Moore learned about the project after attending the aforementioned event.”
Mark Sharff is a Guardian ad Litem, it points out, and the Steinwachses “are friends of Bob and Joan Geyer, who announced a $500,000 Gift Match Challenge (in collaboration with Gulf Coast Community Foundation) in support of the Youth Shelter Campaign early last year.”
“Our Youth Shelter Campaign has truly been a grassroots effort, from the initial community advisory committee comprising our board and numerous foundation leaders to help us get organized, through the quiet phase of the campaign, to the public launch this past December, said Coalition Vice President Jacqueline House said in the release.
“There are so many who have contributed their time, expertise and resources to help this dream come to fruition,” House added. “We are immensely grateful for the individuals who are giving so generously to inch us closer and closer to the finish line, so that we can better serve and protect the at-risk youth in our community,” she pointed out.
“The Youth Shelter is the only facility designated for homeless teens for Sarasota and DeSoto counties; it serves youth from Manatee County as well,” the release explains. “Many of the teens served enter the shelter because of a mental health crisis and/or a parent’s inability to cope with a youth’s behavioral issues. In recent years, the SCC Youth Shelter has been at or near the top in facility utilization out of the 16 shelters in the Florida network, exceeding contracted bed days,” the release adds
The new Youth Shelter will be located on 2 acres on Sawyer Road, in north Sarasota, the release says. The nearly 9,000-square-foot building will offer safe temporary emergency housing for youths ages 10 to 17, “providing nearly 3,000 safe shelter bed-nights a year and serving up to 200 youth annually for many years to come,” the release adds.
The Youth Shelter campaign has raised approximately 80% of the amount that Coalition leaders expect the facility to cost, the release notes. Late this month, the Coalition planned “a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the impending construction on the new shelter,” the release says.
For more about the Safe Children Coalition, or to inquire about how one can support the Youth Shelter campaign, visit sccyouthshelter.org or contact Jacqueline House at jhouse@sccfl.org or 941-371-4799, Ext. 1127.