Genelle Grant, Karen Benson, Christina Harris Schwinn, Nina Paight, Marta Matias, Jane de Lisser, Aline Flynn & Tina Parker
FORT MYERS, Fla. (Oct. 26, 2015) – The Women’s Legacy Fund hosted its fall luncheon on Thursday, Oct.22 at Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club.
Yajaida Vasquez, ARNP, served as the keynote speaker and shared her journey from experiencing homelessness to opening a healthcare clinic that serves women and families in Southwest Florida. A Community Foundation scholarship recipient, Vasquez is a first generation college graduate and community change-maker.
The luncheon also featured the 2015 WLF grant check presentation and an Angels Tribute.
The WLF presented $22,675.92 to Dr. Genelle Grant of the Happehatchee Center, which will be used for Happehatchee Center’s Working to Improve with Self Employment (WISE) Women program, a program that focuses on women in the San Carlos Park neighborhood of South Fort Myers and the Covered Wagon Trailer Park in Estero. Instructors from Happehatchee and the GRACE Project, as well as invited teachers and planned field trips, will provide programs on personal health, self-exams for cancer detection, infectious diseases information, agencies that provide screening, cake making and decorating (including field trips to bakeries and supply stores), sewing and clothing alteration skills (including visits to tailors), reproductive health, family planning; yoga, meditation, visualization and acupressure for self-healing; financial literacy, budgets, income/expense planning for self-employment, use of public transportation, nutrition and food shopping, and more.
Three angel tributes were also announced. Gloria Whitesman, Honey Costa and posthumously Jean and John Hawker are the Legacy Fund’s newest angels. The Angel honorary designation is for mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, grandchildren, friends, loved ones and community leaders, either living or deceased, who have had a special impact on the lives of those around them. WLF members can make the special women in their lives a WLF Angel with a minimum contribution of $1,000 in their name.
A fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, the Women’s Legacy Fund is a group of women who foster the immersion of women in philanthropy and develop the region’s next philanthropic leaders. In eight years of existence, the WLF has been able to provide $100,000 in grants to benefit people and communities in Southwest Florida. Currently, the Fund has nearly $400,000 in endowment that will continue to help fund local issues now and in the future.
Contributors to the WLF give a minimum of $250 each year ($100 for women younger than 25). The first half of contributions is pooled for the purpose of immediate annual grants, while the second half is pooled into the WLF’s endowment fund, which provides additional grants to be made both now and in years to come. Prima Donors are local women who have contributed $10,000 or more to the WLF endowment and are committed to making an impact in their community through charitable giving.
As leaders, conveners, grant makers and concierges of philanthropy, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation is a foundation built on community leadership with an inspired history of fostering regional change for the common good in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. The Community Foundation, founded in 1976, connects donors and their philanthropic aspirations with evolving community needs. With assets of more than $93 million, the Community Foundation has provided more than $61.2 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. Last year, it granted more than $2.9 million to nonprofit organizations supporting education, animal welfare, arts, healthcare and human services. It also granted $782,000 in nonprofit grants including more than $551,000 in regional community impact grants and additional $450,000 in scholarship grants.
For more information about the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, call 239-274-5900 or visit www.floridacommunity.com.
Sarah Owen, Yajaida & Ambar Vasquez & Jackie Pino
Robbie Roepstorff & Lynn Schneider
Kathryn Kelly & Debra Mathinos
Honey & Lucy Costa
Gloria Whitesman & Ava Rader
Elaine Hawkins & Melissa Cofta
Dawn Marie Driscoll, Julie Ben-Susan & Rusty Brown
Barbara Bacon & Diana Willis
Carolyn Conant & Lucy Costa
Chris Rahmings & Marie Ackford
Barbara Yeomans
