Bridgette Heller has joined the board of directors of Newman's Own Inc., the food and beverage company that was created by the late actor Paul Newman. Heller is the co-founder and CEO of the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation, a nonprofit focused on closing the achievement gap for underserved students in South St. Petersburg. She previously served as president of Nutricia, the specialized nutrition division of Danone and has led major businesses and business units at Merck Consumer Care, Johnson & Johnson, Chung's Gourmet Foods and Kraft Foods. Newman's Own Foundation continues Newman's commitment to use 100 percent of the royalties and profits that it receives from the sale of its food products for charitable purposes.
The St. Pete Catalyst is dedicated to helping residents get involved in the community through our Impact Connector. Want to donate supplies for kids returning to school? The Kind Mouse will drop a collection bin off at your house September 8 and pick it up on September 22. Interested in giving back? The Arts Conservatory for Teens is seeking volunteers in a variety of capacities. Are you an attorney or a law student? Gulfcoast Legal Services is looking for pro-bono volunteers to provide legal aid for vulnerable individuals across the Greater Tampa Bay area. If your organization is looking for volunteers, click here to submit your opportunity and we'll share it on our platform.
The Legal Services Corporation awarded Bay Area Legal Services a $286,426 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant. LSC’s Pro Bono Innovation Fund is intended to encourage and expand pro bono efforts and partnerships to serve more low-income clients, according to a news release from LSC, an independent nonprofit established by Congress to support civil legal aid for low-income Americans. Bay Area Legal Services will use the grant to support its Tampa Bay Disaster Relief Pro Bono Initiative. The project will increase access to pro bono disaster relief legal aid for 200 low-income disaster survivors residing in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties. It will work to engage 65 pro bono volunteers in disaster relief legal assistance by employing disaster-related legal training and improved technologies. The project’s goal is to deliver high-quality client legal services in the event of a disaster. Bay Area Legal Services is a nonprofit law firm providing free legal help to eligible low-income residents in the Tampa Bay area.
Registration is now open for Running with the Rays, a virtual 5K race, presented by United Concordia Dental. All proceeds benefit the Rays Baseball Foundation and Rowdies Soccer Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization and the official charity of the Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of those in need in the community, focusing primarily on education, youth development, wellness and social responsibility. The Running with the Rays virtual 5K allows fans to run, jog or walk the 3.1 miles at their own pace and at the location of their choice anytime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30, 2020. Participants have the option to upload their race time to the Running with the Rays 5K Results Platform and share photos on social media using #Rays5K. There's a standard registration, for $30, and includes a commemorative finishers’ medal, race bib and downloadable finishers’ certificate. For $50, premium registration includes all the items in the standard registration plus a voucher for two lower reserved tickets to a 2021 Rays regular season home game, subject to availability. For more information or to register, visit raysbaseball.com/5K.
Bank of America is partnering with three local nonprofits to provide personal protective equipment, specifically 100,000 masks, in the Tampa Bay area. The masks are intended for the most vulnerable populations, including low-to-moderate income families, at-risk schoolchildren and migrant farm workers, said Bill Goede, Tampa Bay market president for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). Metropolitan Ministries received 40,000 masks to be distributed in partnership with the Bullard Family Foundation’s Back to School Bash to more than 9,200 families. Feeding Tampa Bay received 40,000 masks to keep their frontline staff and volunteers safe as well as to be distributed to families hard hit by the pandemic. Another 20,000 masks were given to Beth El Farmworkers Ministry to be distributed throughout the Wimauma community as part of the Wimauma Together Collaborative. The donation is part of the bank's $1 billion, four-year commitment of support to help local communities address economic and racial inequality accelerated by a global pandemic.
The Helen Gordon Davis Centre for Women has opened a satellite office in St. Petersburg to help female entrepreneurs and small business owners with training, education and counseling as they navigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The goal is to make it convenient for women-owned small businesses in Pinellas County who want to apply for emergency loans and achieve greater economic security, said Ann Madsen, executive director of the Centre for Women. The organization operates the only SBA-designated Women’s Business Centre on the west coast of Florida and recently received a $420,000 grant from the Small Business Administration to extend services to business owners impacted by the coronavirus. One of the Centre's business advisors will be onsite The Poynter Institute on Tuesdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.. The building is currently not open to the public due to the pandemic so those interested should call the CARES line at 813-550-2022 to schedule an appointment or email cmedina@thecentre.org. The Women's Business Centre is one of six programs at The Centre for Women, a nonprofit based in Tampa.
A coalition of local organizations including the Pinellas County Urban League, the YMCA and the Pinellas County Department of Health will be holding free Covid-19 drive-through and walk-up testing at three sites during the month of August.
The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay connects people and resources to inspire charitable giving and create a meaningful, lasting impact on our region - and they've been doing it for 3 decades. Publisher Joe Hamilton welcomes both "the deep roots and innovative spirit of the CFTB as we strive to connect nonprofits to citizens to opportunities to make an impact." Explore the Catalyst Impact section to watch Impact Catalyst, check the Impact Connector and keep up with all the people working to make our community and world a better place.
Pinellas County is making $34 million in CARES act funding available to nonprofits and child care facilities impacted by Covid-19. Applications for the funding open on Friday, Aug. 7. The county has partnered with the Pinellas Community Foundation to distribute $29.7 million to nonprofit organization that provide community services in the areas of food, homelessness, behavioral health, and legal aid for housing. Eligible nonprofits can apply at www.pinellascf.org/CARES Separately, the county and the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County will provide $4.6 million to licensed child care organizations whose business was negatively impacted due to Covid-19. The Pinellas CARES Child Care Provider Grant will provide one-time grants of up to $10,000 to cover expenses such as employee wages, vendor bills, rent, and health and safety investments. The Early Learning Coalition will contact all eligible providers directly via email with application instructions, a news release said. Eligible providers that do not receive an email or need assistance applying can contact the ELC at 727-400-4436 or ceckrem@elcpinellas.org.
The St. Pete Catalyst is dedicated to helping residents get involved in the community through our Impact Connector. Interested in making sure our friends and neighbors have fresh food to eat? Consider volunteering at the St. Pete Free Fridge, where you can sign up to clean the fridge or bring food to donate. People interested in equine therapy can sign up to volunteer as guides and sidewalkers at Quantum Leap Farm. And Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services is always looking for volunteers in all capacities, including youth mentoring and helping out in the food pantry. Is your organization seeking volunteers? Click here to submit your opportunity.
St. Pete-based children's bookstore Cultured Books has introduced a new initiative to encourage kids to read. The initiative, called The Book Report Project, will allow children to pay for books by submitting a book report. Cultured Books plans to accept book reports as a permanent form of currency and in order to do so, the bookstore needs to show the impact the initiative has on elevating literacy rates. A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to raise money to hire a researcher to track the progress of the initiative. To donate and learn more about The Book Report Project, click here.
Boys & Girls Clubs in Tampa Bay are among the Boys & Girls Clubs statewide in line for funding from the Simply Healthcare Foundation. The foundation is directing more than $125,000 to the organizations to address needs related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding will support initiatives such as transportation, healthy eating and access to healthy food options, the Triple Play program and summer childcare services, a news release said. The Simply Healthcare Foundation is a philanthropic arm of the Anthem Foundation, which has committed more than $50 million to support Covid-19 relief efforts across the country.
