A new program, MBF Teen Safety Matters™, was recently launched by the Monique Burr Foundation for Children to prevent child abuse and bullying among teen-agers.
Community First Cares Foundation and Schell-Sweet Community Resource Center Team Up to Feed and Assist Northwest Jacksonville’s Most Vulnerable
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Nov. 8, 2022 – The Community First Cares Foundation, the philanthropic arm Community First Credit Union, is partnering with the Schell-Sweet Community Resource Center to fund a robust year-long program to reach and help our area’s most vulnerable residents. The project’s most visible and impactful event is a year-long food giveaway on the second Saturday of every month. The event is held at the center at 1697 Kings Road on the campus of Edward Waters University.
Food giveaways in 2022 are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12 and Saturday, Dec. 10 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
The giveaway is funded by a grant from the Community First Cares Foundation and is supported by Aetna and Feeding Northeast Florida. Credit union volunteers participate in the outreach to our community along with EWU volunteers. In addition, the project includes financial wellbeing initiatives along with the existing programs within the center. The September food event provided nutrition assistance to more than 160 families.
The Schell-Sweet Community Resource Center provides free assistance to everyone in the community in five areas to promote healthy lifestyles. These include health and fitness, social opportunities, learning and education, faith as well as primary health care. The center, founded in 1995 in partnership with Edward Waters and the City of Jacksonville, began as a resource for seniors but has expanded to serve all ages and families on the Northwest side.
“We are proud to partner with the Schell-Sweet center on this much-needed community project,” said Missy Peters, executive director of the Community First Cares Foundation. “Our partnership will help so many – especially now, when the need is so great.”
Edward Waters University is distinctively the state of Florida’s first independent institution of higher learning as well as Florida’s first institution established for the education of African-Americans. With a distinguished higher education lineage spanning over 150 years, EWU is primed to continue its Emerging Eminence as a premier urban, private, Christian, historically black, liberal arts university offering high quality degrees and preparing students holistically to advance in a global society through the provision of intellectually stimulating academic programs of study. The University offers a close-knit, collegial, intellectual community that draws students and scholars from around the world. For more information, visit www.ewc.edu.
The Community First Cares Foundation, founded by Community First Credit Union, is a non-profit community foundation that grants funds to improve the quality of life in North Florida. The foundation supports activities to improve financial literacy, enhance the quality of our educational system, upgrade the health and welfare of our community and help underserved citizens. The Community First Cares Foundation makes contributions to nonprofit organizations that serve the communities on the First Coast. For more information, visit www.CommunityFirstCares.org or call 904-371-8090.
Poverty is a silent epidemic in our schools, and many issues with attendance and academics are directly related to students not having clean clothes, shoes that fit, or the supplies they need to be successful in school. Students want to feel good about themselves when they come to school, and we want to help them have everything they need to learn. We could not have opened our first on-site classroom-sized Giving Closet without this funding and volunteer support.
Jennifer Smith, DCPS teacher and Founder of The Giving Closet Project.