January 2012 Satch Grant

The three organizations chosen to receive our $500 SatchGrant this quarter are:

*The Center for Independent Living for their group job shadowing event in order for their students with disabilities to take tours of the Hippodrome State Theatre and The Florida Museum of Natural History so that they can gain experience with jobs in the arts and communication field.

*The Sequential Artists Workshop to furnish their workshop so that they can provide a space to educate students in the art of visual storytelling, support creative investigation, exploration and excellence in cartooning and to promote literacy in sequential art.

*The Center for Breastfeeding and Newborns for their workshop series at their Eastside Family Practice Clinic on Waldo road in order for them to provide attendance incentive to African American women that attend their clinic.

Thank you all for your applications.  We love the opportunity to be a part of such great organizations working for positive change in our community.  The organizations listed above will receive awards next week.  And as always, we encourage those organizations that did not receive an award to apply for our upcoming quarterly grant due on March 31, 2012.

October 2011 Satch Grant

The three grants chosen to receive our $500 Satch Grant this quarter were:

*Counseling and Education Associates for supplies for tobacco use prevention and cessation programs offered to individuals, groups, elementary and middle schools and classes in substance abuse treatment centers. 

*Operation Catnip in order to pay for sugeries for as many as 10 - 15 animals which will prevent the birth of up to 30 litters of kittens and/or puppies or potentially 2-300 additional animals over a years time.

*Joseph Williams Elementary to take their regular education third graders to see A Christmas Carol at the Hippodrome.

If you've been awarded a grant, checks will be mailed next week.  Please follow up by providing us with pictures of your progress towards your goal so that I can post them to this blog.

We were very pleased with all grant proposals and wish we could help more.  If you didn't receive a grant, please consider resubmitting for the next round of grants due on December 31, 2011.  And please stay in touch and let us know if we can help you achieve your goals in any other way.

July 2011 SatchGrant

Out of the 9 grants received this time, the three of us that review them each had good reason to approve almost all of them.  It's so hard to decide when our community is filled with awesome organizations working for it's most vulnerable members.  Once again it came down to which request was for a tangible effort and whether or not the money would go towards directly helping someone in need.  Ultimately we decided on awarding  our three grants to:

*Child Advocacy Center for microphone equipment necessary to conduct recorded Forensic Interviews used in child abuse investigations. 
*Peaceful Paths for gas cards to assist their clients in getting to mandatory appointments so they can more easily complete tasks to receive housing, child care and job referrals.
*The Children's Table in order to reach their goal of purchasing a refrigerator truck to enable them to accept donations of frozen meats, dairy products and other perishable food to distribute to agencies such as; The Upper Room, Interface, DCF, Meridian Behavioral Services, Jesus Christian Center, Dome of Resources, Honor Center for wounded veterans and Gainesville Veteran Medical Center.

If you've been awarded a grant, checks will be mailed next week.  Please follow up by providing us with pictures of your progress towards your goal so that I can post them to this blog.

We were very pleased with all grant proposals and wish we could help more.  If you didn't receive a grant, please consider resubmitting for the next round of grants due on September 30, 2011.  And please stay in touch and let us know if we can help you achieve your goals in any other way.

SNAP Program

In June 2010, Satchel's Pizza began participating in a SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) pilot program developed by the local Gainesville-Alachua County Hunger Abatement Plan in order to provide assistance in feeding a hot meal to local homeless residents.  The program is the first of it's kind in our region (it has been implemented in California, Arizona, Michigan, Hawaii and New York) that is geared toward providing that authorized homeless individuals are able to purchase a nutritious hot meal at approved local restaurants using a food stamp card.  We are very excited and proud to be a part of this innovative program coordinated by DCF's Community Partner Liaison Cheryl Twombly and John Skelly of Alachua County's Poverty Reduction Program.

In October 2010, Satchel's Pizza was invited to attend the annual Breakfast on the Plaza/Homeless Services Fair in order to accept an award for participating in this program.  We are grateful for the award and for the opportunity be a part of an effort to grant homeless individuals their just due.  The picture is of me being presented a 2010 Community Service Award for Outstanding Business. 

April 2011 SatchGrant

We received just five grant applications this quarter.  I'd really love for there to be more submissions.  Though that would make our job more difficult, it's good for us to be exposed to the need in our community.  And that has become the guideline for who we decide to award our grants.  Is the request need based?  Will it benefit the most vulnerable members of our community?  Please consider this not only when writing grant proposal's, but also when submitting them.  Help us understand your organization's specific need.  If you are able to do that successfully, you'll more than likely receive a grant from us.

This quarter we decided to award our three grants to the Displaced Homemaker Program, Buddy Runs Inc. and a teacher at W.W. Irby Elementary School.  The Displaced Homemaker Program offers a multi-faceted and comprehensive program of empowerment and employability skills to help eligible displaced homemakers enter the job market.  Their grant request focused on filling the gap in their clients computer skills.  With our grant, they plan to purchase USB drives as a tool in the computer education process so that clients have easy access to their resume, reference list, practice cover letter, list of local employer Internet sites, job listings and their computer lessons for practice and review.  Buddy Runs Inc. is a non-profit organization that was created to give those that are physically disabled an opportunity to have an experience in which they can participate in runs by being pushed in specially designed wheelchairs.  Their grant request was for cardboard boxes necessary to ship these wheelchairs to races being held in Florida and nationally.  And Ms. Lehtola at W.W. Irby Elementary requested a grant in order to set up a grade level appropriate literacy center at her school.  She will use the grant to purchase monthly books and CD's from Scholastic books to help improve her student's reading skills.

Congratulations to those who received grants this quarter.  Please send information and/or pictures of the program we're funding to satchelsdonation@gmail.com so that I can post it to this blog.  And, as always, we'd like to encourage those who didn't receive grants to reapply for the current cycle with the June 30, 2011 deadline.

Alachua County Victim Services & Rape Crisis Center

EHS Respect Your Date Contest

The Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center spent a week in Alachua County public high schools raising awareness about sexual and interpersonal violence in teen relationships this spring by offering The Fifth Annual 'Respect Your Date Contest'.  They asked for a few gift certificates to give away to students who participated in the contest.  Thanks for bringing this important information to young people in our community.

Eplilepsy Foundation of Florida

Walk group with banner

The Epilepsy Foundation of Florida held a Walk For Epilepsy last year on April 25, 2010 at Kanapaha.  Satchel's offered a gift certificate to be offered as a prize for walkers and Julie Matheney, their assistant case manager, sent me a couple of photos to post.  Great job and thanks for all you do!