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The Red Coats — former tournament chairs of The Players Championship — toured the K9s For Warriors facility as part of Giving Back Month.
The Red Coats, joined by professional golfer Jeff Klauk, surprised the warriors in the program with gifts, including laptops. K9s for Warriors is a beneficiary of the tour’s Birdies for the Brave initiative.
The tournament also made a $10,000 donation to K9s For Warriors during the First Coast News K9s For Warriors telethon.
The program provides service canines to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other trauma as a result of military service. The goal is to help warriors return to civilian life with dignity and independence.
Since 2012, K9s For Warriors has named a service canine after that year’s Players champion. The canine lineage includes “Kuch,” named after 2012 champion Matt Kucher; “Tiger,” for 2001 and 2013 champion Tiger Woods; and “Kaymer,” after 2014 champion Martin Kaymer.
Part of the $10,000 donation will support training a service canine to be named after 2015 tournament champion Rickie Fowler. The chosen canine will be showcased during the 2016 Players Championship and will meet its namesake during a presentation at the event.
Collecting holiday food for veterans
The Clara White Mission has joined forces with Five Star Veterans Center and Feeding Northeast Florida for the Veterans Holiday Food Drive through Dec. 11.
Food donations will be used to create holiday gift baskets for area veterans. It’s estimated about 60,000 of the 322,000 people served each year by Feeding Northeast Florida are veterans and their families, said Clara White President and CEO Ju’Coby Pittman.
Food and financial contributions will be accepted by the mission or gifts may be designated to any of the partnering agencies for the food drive.
Food drop-off locations are Clara White Mission at 613 W. Ashley St.; Five Star Veterans Center, 40 Acme St.; Feeding Northeast Florida, 1116 Edgewood Ave. N.; and all Regions Bank and VyStar Credit Union locations in Northeast Florida.
Food items requested are canned and boxed foods, vegetables, fruit, rice, canned meats, holiday foods and grocery gift cards.
Donated food will be sorted and assembled in gift baskets at the food bank. To volunteer at the distribution center, call (904) 830-4379.
Patterson wins inaugural arts award
The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida gave its first Ann McDonald Baker Art Ventures Award to Terrance Patterson, founder and artistic director of the Ritz Chamber Players.
The award, which includes a $10,000 unrestricted grant, recognizes an artist whose work brings distinction to Northeast Florida.
It is named for the late Ann McDonald Baker, whose leadership helped create the Community Foundation’s Art Ventures Fund, the Arts Assembly (now the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville) and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, among others.
Patterson is a clarinetist who has performed all over the world. In 2002, he created the Ritz Chamber Players, the nation’s only concert series featuring an all African-American chamber music group.
A selection committee comprising a member of the Baker family, a trustee of the Community Foundation, a representative from the advisory panel and the foundation president chose the winner.
$50,000 from flowers for smiles
Photographer Susan Michal recently revealed 40 of her images at the Flowers In Transition exhibition at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts in Orange Park.
Michal is working on her first book, “Flowers in Transition,” which will feature more than 150 of her images.
Forty books were pre-sold at the gallery exhibit, which raised more than $4,000 for Operation Smile, a benefitting charity of the Professional Photographers of America. Michal will donate $50,000 from the sale of the books.
The exhibit runs through Jan. 9. Images may be viewed at susanmichalfineart.com.
3 to be honored as ‘Children’s Champions’
Episcopal Children’s Services, serving more than 50,000 children and their families in seven counties in Northeast Florida, has announced the winners of its Children’s Champion Awards for 2016:
They are Michael Aubin, president of Wolfson Children’s Hospital; Gary Chartrand, executive chairman of Acosta Sales & Marketing; and Helen Lane, community volunteer and philanthropist.
The awards will be presented at the Golden Gala on Feb. 23 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center as part of the organization’s 50th anniversary.
The awards were created in 2006 to recognize individuals and organizations who work to help elevate children’s welfare to the highest priority in the community.
Previous recipients include former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, Delores Barr Weaver, The Jessie Ball duPont Fund and Wells Fargo.
Using the latest research and best practices to help families ensure their children enter school ready to learn, the teachers and staff at Episcopal Children’s Services work with at-risk children from birth to age five and their families to build an educational foundation.
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