Vote for Your Top 2 Choices: Choose a Name Charity! Please submit your votes to Neil Hewitt
This week we heard about charities nominated by Tracey Bruce, Neil Hewitt, Robin Moss, Darci Neuzil, Cindy Palmer and Tom Walter
Tracey Bruce, Communities In School
Communities In Schools Dallas Region, Inc. was founded in 1985 to address the growing number of high school dropouts in Dallas and surrounding areas. As experts in collaboration and in providing comprehensive case-managed services, CISDR’s professional staff brings community resources into schools to work in the interest of at-risk children in a coordinated, caring and cost-effective way. Currently, CISDR operates in 74 schools in 10 school districts including Carrollton and Farmers Branch ISDs.
CISDR’s programs have a direct impact on more than 47,000 students annually. Nearly 80% of the students served by CISDR are economically disadvantaged and at-risk of academic failure according to the Texas Education Agency.
Students are referred to the program by teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, friends or are self-referred. CISDR case managers work with each child to develop a holistic plan to prepare students for successful lives. This means that CISDR not only works with students to address academic concerns, but also with parents, teachers and administrators who are involved with these students each day. By using this holistic wrap-around approach, distractions and disruptions in the student’s life outside of the school environment are addressed, allowing the student to focus on his/her schoolwork.
Robin Moss, The Mary Kay Foundation
The Mission of the Mary Kay Foundation is two fold: to eliminate cancers affecting women by supporting top medical scientists who are searching for a cure for breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers; as well as to ending the epidemic of domestic violence by providing grants to women's shelters and supporting community outreach programs. Since the Foundation began in 1996, it has granted $25 million dollars to organizations fighting cancer and violence against women.
The Mary Kay Foundation is in a unique position to allow our race to grow by helping to provide unparalleled publicity to the Resolution Run. They could also provide unlimited volunteers and runners. We could easily double the size of the run, with the Mary Kay Foundation as our Name Charity. If we want to really grow the run, this is a way to do so.
Robin Moss, WayCoolAngels
WayCoolAngels is focused on Missions, Education and Children. We create high level, high impact events that bring peace and forgiveness in the Lord. We provide mentoring and scholarships to talented students in need. We create bridges between Christians and Messianic Jews in peace, in love, in the Messiah.
Two current projects that would be positively impacted by the Rotary Club:
1. We are mentoring a student coming from a bad environment and broken home, with no plans for college or a future, who has turned his life around as a result of targeted care and mentorship. This type of charity makes a huge difference in one child's life, his family and those who meet him, and all those he will positively affect after he graduates and becomes a productive member of society.
2. We are developing a online mentoring management system that can be used by higher education and others which will enable mentors to measure the effectiveness they are having on the mentees over time. The Rotary Club would have a significant impact and fame for assisting us with the completion and launch of this revolutionary system. This system is based on several years of experience and teaching in the executive coaching arena and an extensive background in leading edge technologies.
Darci Neuzil, The Metrocrest Medical Foundation
The Metrocrest Medical Foundation (MMF) is a charitable organization supporting the health related needs of people in Addison, Carrollton, Coppell and Farmers Branch who are uninsured or underinsured. Funds raised are distributed to the following programs:
- Lifeline for medical emergency assistance for the elderly
- D-Tag tattoo removal for area youth leaving gangs
- Prescription assistance for area residence unable to afford their prescription medications
- $11 mammograms
The MMF is located in Farmers Branch but Addison is included in their service area. The organization has a strong group of volunteers and can assist with fundraising. Any money raised would be used to fund one or more of their programs listed above.
Cindy Palmer, Parenting Alone
The vision of Parenting Alone is to walk hand in hand with single parents and their kids to bring help, healing and hope, and to impact and encourage current and future generations towards healthy, vibrant families. Approximately 50% of all children are now being raised in single parent homes. 48% of single moms live below the poverty level once a breakup is complete. Parenting Alone is a 501c3 charitable nonprofit resource and relationship center established in 2008 with over 100 volunteers. Free professional counseling, financial crisis coaching, budgeting, grief recovery, legal and career counseling and support groups are just some of the many free services offered to single parents. Building healthy home seminars and family fun activities are also available for all ages. Free childcare and a simple meal are provided during all workshops. Parenting Alone also serves as a resource center to help single parents identify where their critical needs can be met with our partners. (example: Metrocrest Services) Parenting Alone is serving approximately 300 in the Addison, Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Coppell area. We hope to open additional Parenting Alone Center’s in the metroplex in the next few years. Our growth has been steady over the past 12 months, and with recent channel 8 coverage and coverage in the Carrollton Leader newspaper, we anticipate our growth to continue.
Funding is needed to support the many workshops and counseling/coaching services provided to single parents. Not only do we offer many different workshops, but we also provide age appropriate activities, play therapy and curriculum for kids as well.
Tom Walter, Special Olympics Texas
The Mission:
The mission of Special Olympics Texas is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, (Mental Retardation), giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
Competitions:
Special Olympics Texas offers 21 sports from Aquatics, to Kayaking, Powerlifting, to Volley ball. They hold more then 240 competitions annually on the area, regional and state levels. Each Participant receives a medal or ribbon following his/ her event.
Volunteers:
Volunteers are the lifeline of the Special Olympics Program. More than 40,000 volunteers in Texas currently dedicate their time to Special Olympics.
The Need is Great:
Special Needs Kids need confidence in themselves and an ability to excel in other areas besides scholastics; their need is great because they simply don’t read or do math or do other things like their normal friends and siblings. “Building Them Up” is paramount to their success as human beings. Special Olympics gives them the confidence and creates the friendships they need to meet life on life’s terms.
Tom Walter, Wednesday's Child
How can Wednesday’s Child support the Rotary Resolution Run 2010 ?
Wednesday’s Child is a special program edition for a local news station. Each Wednesday they air a new child for adoption. The Director feels he can get the news channel to talk up the Rotary Resolution Run on the air and drive people to our website.
They can and will provide us with 50 volunteers on Race Day.
They have a list of 7,000 volunteers and will let us cross market our event to their volunteer base. They also have a email list of 3,000 volunteers we can blast to about the run.
They have 600 contacts supporting Wednesday’s Child on Face Book that we can blast information to about the race.
The Director is very involved personally with Triathlon events in Texas and will provide introductions to the 200+ Professional Coaches involved in the Running circuit and triathlons circuit which will provide us with great exposure to the right target market. The Director will include a write up on their website.
Wednesdays Child has no competing events in January and will focus on the run.
The Need is Great:
Abuse and neglect wreak havoc on a child’s ability to develop into a healthy adult. Deemed the most at risk children in America by the US Health and Human Services Department, foster children desperately need our support.
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