Page 4 - Martin Downs Bulletin - September '20

Page 4, Martin Downs

IN Your CoMMuNItY

Albert Wilson Foundation m a s k s and other

Makes Back-To-School valuable resources to
children and families
Donation To Foster Youth served by Communities
Connected for Kids
Heading To College (CCKids).They include
United Way of St. Lucie
Like so many students in the graduating class of 2020, County volunteers
Tonia and Roda missed a lot of their senior year due to who spent days in a
the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures. warehouse assembling
But Miami Dolphins wide receiver Albert Wilson wanted school supplies for
to give them something back from their last semester of children in foster care,
high school. Through his St. Lucie County-based Albert and local business
Wilson Foundation, he purchased travel trunks for the owner Wendy Zuniga.
young women and filled them with all the essentials – and Her family donated
a few fun things – they might need for the next chapter Each trunk contained about $1,000 worth of items, enough backpacks and pencils, paper and pocket folders
in their lives. including linens and towels, storage units and decorative to send 50 Martin County students back to school fully
items, printers and gift cards to local restaurants. supplied.
On Friday, foundation representatives met them at And longtime CCKids partner Sunshine Health didn’t
Communities Connected for Kids, the organization that miss its opportunity to help, shipping an order of supplies
oversees foster care and the local child-welfare system, to eager volunteers ready to assemble and distribute to
and helped them load their cars with the trunks – a children in need. “We were a little worried about the
sort of preview of move-in day when the two head to impact of COVID-19 on our back-to-school collections
college. A third graduate who could not attend the event this year,” said Christina Kaiser, CCKids community
also received a trunk. “I always think back to when I relations director. “But our partners in the community
was growing up and the things I wish I had, or certain found a way to get it done. They didn’t forget us.”
situations that made me uncomfortable,” said Wilson, who In fact, some new partners and volunteers have come
attended Port St. Lucie High School while also living in on board since the pandemic began last spring – groups
foster care. “When I went off to school I didn’t know what like the Culture Committee of the Keller Williams Realty
to take with me and didn’t have the means to do so.” Group in St. Lucie West, which collected and donated
The Albert Wilson Foundation, he said, looks for duffel bags and backpacks for children who have to move
opportunities and ways it can help set youth in foster care from one home to another. “Every child deserves to know
up for success. “That’s why the foundation was more than and feel love and know that someone cares about them,”
happy to donate trunks filled with school supplies to three said Hanoy Carinha, of Keller Williams Realty. “That’s
seniors graduating high school who came up through the why we hosted a duffel bag/backpack drive.”
foster-care system, Wilson said. “We hope those supplies The Culture Committee is a group of like-minded
will be a positive start and provide the basic needs for individuals with one goal in mind: Give where you live,
those students as they start college.” said Carinha, adding that she hopes the travel bags will
Roda is heading to Tallahassee this month to attend give some comfort to children during one of the most
Florida State University and Tonia will begin her college traumatic times of their lives.
adventure closer to home, at Indian River State College. Still other groups are pooling volunteers to make
Their names were altered for privacy. sure that children and families – as well as the case
Wilson, who graduated Port St. Lucie High School in managers who work with them – have enough masks to
2010, has been giving back to the local community since safely weather the pandemic. The Ocean Village Sewing
early in his NFL career when he played for the Kansas Circle has sewn more than 1,000 masks since they began
Live Your Dream Awards from page 1 City Chiefs. He hosts an annual football clinic for children the project last spring, donating nearly 400 of them to
in the community and regularly meets the needs of local CCKids. “We’ve given them out to foster families, to case
next round of local awards, which will be distributed in foster families through his foundation. managers and our clients,” Kaiser said. “And the group’s
March or April of 2021. He spent the majority of his childhood years in and most recent donation will allow us to add masks to the
The three award categories are: out of group care and foster homes before finally finding backpacks of school supplies we’ve received.”
• Live Your Dream Award: Must have primary financial stability in the 10th grade. Prior to his sophomore year
responsibility for herself and her dependents, be enrolled of high school, he spent time at the Hibiscus Children’s
in an undergraduate degree program or vocational skills Center, in Vero Beach, and at Boys Town in Oviedo. He
program and demonstrate financial need later found a home with Brian and Rose Bailey in Port
• Women in Transition: Must be 40 or older going to St. Lucie before eventually moving back to family and
school to change her career path and demonstrate financial heading to play ball for the Georgia State Panthers.
need to accomplish her goals
• Youth Service Award: A Sophomore to Senior in Summer Swelter Can’t Stop
high school who has made significant impact through
volunteering in areas of drug or crime prevention, social Service
or environmental issues. Emphasis is on outcomes that
positively impact women and girls. High temperatures, brutal humidity and the ongoing
Information and criteria for the awards can be COVID-19 pandemic are no match for the passion
found on the Soroptimist of Stuart website at www. and commitment of local volunteers. These volunteers
soroptimistofstuart.org. Awards are financed with are spending their summer collecting school supplies,
proceeds from the annual Women of Distinction Dinner. filling backpacks and getting duffel bags, care packages,
Monies awarded through Live Your Dream and Women
in Transition can be used to offset any costs associated
with efforts to advance education and can encompass
many areas, including vocational training.
Applications for the Live Your Dream Award are
currently being accepted. The deadline is Nov. 15.
Visit www.soroptimistofstuart.org for information
about how to submit an application or to contact the club.

Photos provided by Soroptimist International of Stuart.

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