{"id":11575,"date":"2014-10-29T15:29:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T19:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=11575"},"modified":"2014-10-29T15:29:54","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T19:29:54","slug":"southwest-florida-community-foundations-womens-legacy-fund-presents-grant-at-fall-luncheon-three-new-wlf-angels-honored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2014\/10\/29\/southwest-florida-community-foundations-womens-legacy-fund-presents-grant-at-fall-luncheon-three-new-wlf-angels-honored\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Florida Community Foundation\u2019s Women\u2019s Legacy Fund presents grant at fall luncheon; Three new WLF \u2018Angels\u2019 honored"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kathy Shimp, Sarah Owen and Susan Acuna<\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Oct. 29, 2014) \u2013The Women\u2019s Legacy Fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation<\/a> presented $30,000 to the Literacy Council Gulf Coast to support its Helping Women Thrive Through Literacy program during its annual fall luncheon held on Thursday, Oct. 23 at Miromar Lakes Beach & Gulf Club in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

Literacy was selected by the Fund\u2019s contributors to be this year\u2019s area of focus, as the\u00a0grant will help local women improve literacy skills, focusing on reading, writing, speaking and understanding English. It will also assist women in improving their financial literacy knowledge by offering topics in basic financial literacy incorporated into typical classes, expand GED preparedness classes to help women advance to higher educational levels thus increasing their economic empowerment and independence, and offer regular informative sessions educating women on domestic violence and human trafficking issues to help break the cycle of abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiteracy is the stepping stone to pave the way to education, better jobs and independence,\u201d said Kathy Shimp, vice-chair of the grants committee for the Women\u2019s Legacy Fund. \u201cWithout literacy, women face even more barriers; that\u2019s why we wanted to support this important program offered here for women in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The luncheon also included\u00a0Liza McFadden, president and CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, as the program\u2019s keynote speaker and the honoring of three new \u2018Angels,\u2019 including Connie McCormick honored by Betteann Sherman and Winnie Ballinger, Shirley Losch honored by Melanie Holaway and a group of Shirley\u2019s friends posthumously, and NBC-2 Anchor Kellie Burns honored by John and Ellen Sheppard, Amy Gravina and Carolyn Rogers.<\/p>\n

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. The contribution is endowed in the WLF so that it lives on in perpetuity, and the residual interest is used by the WLF annually to fund initiatives.<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s Legacy Fund is a group of women who foster the immersion of women in philanthropy and develop the region\u2019s next philanthropic leaders.\u00a0In just five years of existence, the WLF has been able to provide $90,000 in grants to benefit people and communities in Southwest Florida. Currently, the Fund has more than $423,682 in endowment that will continue to help fund local issues now and in the future.<\/p>\n

Contributors to the WLF give a minimum of $250 each year ($100 for women under 25 years of age). The first half of contributions is pooled for the purpose of immediate annual grants, while the second half is pooled into the WLF\u2019s endowment fund, which provides additional grants to be made both now and in years to come.\u00a0Prima Donors are local women who have\u00a0contributed $10,000 or more to the WLF endowment and are committed to making an\u00a0impact in their community through charitable\u00a0giving.<\/p>\n

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 is celebrating its 39th year of connecting donors and their philanthropic aspirations with evolving community needs. With assets of more than $80 million, the Community Foundation has provided more than $60 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. Last year, the Foundation granted more than $4 million to more than 100 different organizations supporting education, animal welfare, arts, healthcare and human services, including more than $400,000 in regional community impact grants and $450,000 in scholarship grants.<\/p>\n

For more information about the WLF or the Community Foundation, visit\u00a0www.floridacommunity.com<\/a>\u00a0or call 239-274-5900.<\/p>\n

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WLF ‘Angel’ Connie McCormick with family<\/p>\n

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Meg Geltner and Michel Doherty<\/p>\n

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Margaret Antonier and Elaine Hawkins<\/p>\n

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Lucy Costa and Lori Sampson-Wilson<\/p>\n

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Liza McFadden, Amy Gravine, Tina Matte and Kitty Green<\/p>\n

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Lasheba Travis, Christine Rahmings, Sarah Owen and Marie Ackord<\/p>\n

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Kim Williams, Tessa Lesage and Monique Ward<\/p>\n

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Judy Biddle and Marian Borneman<\/p>\n

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Jessica Stilwell Catti, Michel Doherty, Kellie Burns, Tina Parker and Meg Geltner<\/p>\n

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Gail Markham and Judge Michael McHugh<\/p>\n

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Ellen and John Sheppard with Kellie Burns, Carolyn Rogers and Amy Gravina<\/p>\n

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Bev Fuller and Gay Thompson<\/p>\n

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Arden and Jacke McCurdy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathy Shimp, Sarah Owen and Susan Acuna FORT MYERS, Fla. (Oct. 29, 2014) \u2013The Women\u2019s Legacy Fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation presented $30,000 to the Literacy Council Gulf…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[1871,3558,3559,3560,1458,1877,3561,3562,16,17,1046,1072,590,672,1881,19,3563,3564,21,2755,130,132,785,134,3277,1590],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}