News

Susan Brockway, Dennis Hudson and Jane Mitchell have joined the board of an organization that manages a $154 million endowment and has been serving the region for more than four decades.
    Brockway is a CPA who worked at a national accounting firm and later as the financial controller for a real-estate developer. Hudson has headed Seacoast Bank since 1998 and serves on the board of the Florida Public Utilities Co. Mitchell built a startup business with her family and invented the first surgical bone drill; she also chaired the board of the Kravis Center for three years.
    “We are extremely pleased to welcome these three outstanding business leaders to our board,” said Bradley Hurlburt, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. “They represent the growing diversity of the Palm Beach and Martin county area and will help to guide and ensure the continued strength and growth of our vibrant community through philanthropy.”
The Community Foundation has also announced it will invest $450,000 into nonprofit endowments this fiscal year. Of that amount, 16 winners of the Forever Nonprofit Endowment Challenge will each receive $25,000 in matching funds to establish a permanent endowment with the Community Foundation.
The winners include: Armory Art Center, Boca Raton Museum of Art, CROS Ministries, Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, Delray Beach Public Library and the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
 The funds for this initiative come from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fund and the Marie Graber Martens Fund.

Boca Helping Hands debuts job-training center
    For nearly two decades, Boca Helping Hands has been known as a soup kitchen and pantry program. Last month, the nonprofit began a new chapter as a job-training center.
    A ribbon-cutting ceremony officially dedicated the Justin D. Webb Training Center at the Boca Raton facility, building a bridge to help clients cross from basic human needs to self-sufficiency.
The center is named in the memory of Justin Daniel Webb from Boca Raton, who spent his 38 years encouraging those around him to reach higher.
 The Webb family played a part in launching this center filled with opportunities for the community and the ability to carry on Justin Webb’s sense of optimism and resilience.
The center is the result of a gift from the Ruth and Hal Launders Charitable Trust, Harry and Marcia Hochman and the Goody Two Shoes Foundation.
The training center will offer classes in computer use, life skills and literacy, as well as health and wellness.

Grant will aid needy kids in Palm Beach County
    Place of Hope has received $5,000 from the Margaret & R. Parks Williams Charitable Foundation, a grant that will be used to support the nonprofit foster-care agency’s child-welfare programs for abandoned, abused and neglected youths on both the Leighan and David Rinker Campus in Boca Raton and the Paxson Campus in Palm Beach Gardens.
    Programs include Homes of Hope, a traditional foster-care program; Genesis and Seven Stars cottages, a pair of emergency-placement and assessment centers; and Joann’s Cottage, a maternity sanctuary for pregnant women and new mothers.
    “We strive to meet the needs of each child who comes into our care by uniquely serving them based on their individual gifts, abilities and experiences,” said Charles Bender, Place of Hope’s executive director.         “Place of Hope is extremely grateful for the support we receive from local foundations, such as the Margaret & R. Parks Williams Charitable Foundation, which enable us to provide the kind of nurturing environment children need to succeed and thrive.”

George Snow fund gets $200,000 from Quantum
    The Quantum Foundation has made a $200,000 grant to the George Snow Scholarship Fund to support higher education and scholar services to Palm Beach County high school seniors who are part of their schools’ medical programs and plan to attend college locally.
    The Health Professions Scholarship Initiative was launched in 2015 to help students from low-income families who are committed to careers in health care.
    “It is our goal that through this initiative, we will be able to improve and increase the number of qualified health care providers in the county, while at the same time providing a pathway out of poverty for many students,” said Tim Snow, the fund’s president.
    “This initiative has the potential to have a significant impact on everyone in Palm Beach County.”

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