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Golfers tee off to help kidsUnited for Families will host its Second Annual Teeing Off Fore Kids charity golf tournament May 30 at Panther Woods Country Club, in Fort Pierce.
Golfers will receive 18 holes of golf at a private club, use of a golf cart, lunch and a barbecue dinner, event polo shirt, golf towel and a sleeve of golf balls.
Awards, raffles, silent auction and a putting contest also will be offered.
The event is $125 per golfer, or $500 per foursome. Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m., and the tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. United for Families hopes to attract 100 golfers, and is particularly interested in promoting corporate teams.
The event is sponsored by Global Safety LLC, Sam’s Club, Hometown News, Hurricane Wings and Grill, Your Electronic Solutions and Citigroup Smith Barney -- the Sade Group.
Proceeds from the golf tournament will help fund the Road to Success program, which teaches independent living life skills to teenagers in the foster care system. The program, which helps prevent homelessness, unwanted and unplanned pregnancy, and social isolation, by preparing students for adulthood, boosting their self-esteem, and encouraging further education, recently has become the focus of United for Families outreach efforts.
For information, call Leslie Haviland-Smith at 398-2920 or register online at unitedforfamilies.org.
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More than 220 women line up on the red carpet for the April 24 Girls' Night Out event.
Last minute accomodations are made so guests can buy tickets at the door.
Road to Success participant, Ashley Ritchie, right, recently accepted a $1,000 award for earning her BS degree. Here, Ritchie pauses with Lisa Floria, her Road to Success specialist.
Tables laden with food await guests at the Girls' Night Out event.
Jayme Uteschill, of Pop Culture, serves complimentary wine during the event.
Tara Jempty, one of six Girls' Night Out models, poses in the director's chair.
Volunteer Coordinator Linda Smith, strikes a pose in clothing by CAbi Clothing.
Many staff members volunteered for the evening. From left, Ollie Harvey, Stacy Shearer, Andrea Poli, Tara Jempty and Cerena Wallace.
UFF models were, from left, Linda Smith, Sally Savage, Leslie Haviland-Smith, Katherine Fryer and Tara Jempty.
Tasha Chen, left, and Christina MacIntosh, front left, were the event coordinators. Here, they stand with the UFF models and Tara Norman, Mrs. South Florida, and Lynn Hayden, who sells the clothing line featured during the event.
CEO Christine Demetriades pins a ribbon to a tree during the March 27 Stop the Tears Ribbon Tying Ceremony.
Family Preservation Services Program Director Maria Leyva takes her turn at the tree during the ceremony.
Speaker Collette Carey gives her former case manager, Jill Poole, a hug.
UFF Board President Pat McCoy delivers the day's keynote speech to more than 100 people.
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United for Families News
- United for Families welcomes its new employees and congratulates those recently promoted: Suzanne Kulscar began work March 10 as a quality management specialist, and Leigh Ann Gilcher joined the Road to Success team as supervisor March 11. United for Families also welcomes Shelley Brown to the finance department, Jennifer Corkin to the Road to Success program, Margie Dotson to placement and Robert Wyder to quality management.
- The Treasure Coast turned Hollywood April 24 when a group of Martin County business owners rolled out the red carpet for Girls’ Night Out – Hollywood Style and raised more than $2,000 for children in local foster care.
More than 220 people, mostly women, attended the first-year event. Proceeds from ticket sales benefited United for Families.
The event – which was held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Indian Riverside Park, in Jensen Beach, and featured a full-size Marilyn Monroe statue, Hollywood sign, directors’ chairs and walk of fame – included complimentary wine, snacks and an evening of shopping.
Tasha Chen, owner of Cost Cutters and a co-coordinator of the event, said she and Christina McIntosh, independent advanced director of Pampered Chef, wanted to organize a benefit to help local children. They learned about United for Families at a local chamber of commerce event and decided to throw their support behind the organization.
The event wrapped up United for Families’ Stop the Tears campaign. The campaign, which began March 15 with a 5K race and included a solemn ribbon-tying ceremony March 27, commemorates national child abuse awareness and prevention month. Money raised through the campaign will go to programs that, among other things, provide mentors to foster parents and teaches independent living skills to foster teenagers.
- Spanish language lessons are available from United for Families' AARP volunteer Diana Salas. Call (772) 342-5138 for rates and scheduling. Ms. Salas also can be reached from noon to 5 p.m. daily in the development offices.
- United for Families is proud to announce the following grant awards: Brookdale Foundation, $10,000, for a kinship program in St. Lucie County; Children's Services Council of St. Lucie County, $20,000, for summer camp; and Children's Services Council of Martin County, $38,248, for caregiver support in Martin County.
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Caregiver News- The next Kinship Care meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 24 at the Martin County Service Center on Willoughby Boulevard. All kinship care providers in Martin County are encouraged to attend this meeting and suggest any needed changes to the program. Financial assistance also is available.
- Parenting classes for caregivers will resume this summer from 6-9 p.m. at United for Families headquarters, 10570 S. Federal Hwy., Port St. Lucie. Following are a list of upcoming class dates:
June 3, June 10, June 17, June 24 and July 1. Call Jill Poole at 398-2920 for more information. - United for Families invites all foster parents to its June series of foster parent appreciation activities. First, foster parents are invited to a dinner at 6:30 p.m. June 13 at Spring Hill Suites, in St. Lucie West. This adults-only event will feature the keynote speaker Corrie Player.
Second, all foster families are invited to attend a pool party from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 21 at the Gifford Aquatic Center, in Vero Beach. The event is being co-sponsored by Hibiscus Children's Center, which provides licensing and support services to foster parents through a United for Families contract. - If your child will attend camp this summer, please call Community Events Coordinator Lea Ely to make arrangements. Funding for camp this year is limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Call 398-2920 Ext. 297 for information.
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Community News
- Wings fans took home the taste of Hurricane Grill and Wings during the month of April during a month-long product promotion that netted $1,700 for children in local foster care and won first and second place awards for two St. Lucie County restaurants.
The promotion was part of a national sales contest among all 35 Hurricane stores. Proceeds from wing sauce sales at the St. Lucie West and Tradition stores were donated to United for Families, the not-for-profit agency that manages child-welfare services in St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Okeechobee counties.
Dave Nardi, operations manager for the stores, said he decided to help United for Families because he was impressed with the organization and what it stands for. His stores were the only two in the contest to donate proceeds to a local charity – something he said may have contributed to his success.
“My servers were pretty pumped about working for the kids,” Nardi said. “They liked that we got on board with United for Families.”
The results are impressive: “We sold 65 percent of total sauces of the entire company,” he said.
For their efforts, Nardis’ staff were awarded first and second place in the company contest. One of the stores – the Tradition site – was closed for three weeks due to a water main break. But that didn’t stop sales, he said. Even then, several of his servers came to the store to sell sauces outside to passersby.
Proceeds from the sauce sale will help fund a mentor program that decreases the number of times foster children move from home-to-home as well as programs that provide support to relative caregivers and teach independent-living skills to teenage foster children.
www.livewithflavor.com
- The Heart Gallery had its latest opening April 25, when it made its 2008 Martin County debut at Indian River Community College's Chastain Campus. About 100 people attended the event, which featured a gallery of photographs taken of children available for adoption. For more information about adopting a child, please visit the website below. http://www.chsfl.org/division.php?divID=2001053009454149
- An important child-welfare program that helps teenage foster children pursue college educations and prepares them for life outside the foster-care system got a reprieve last month when state legislators restored $4 million in funding that had previously been on the chopping block. Locally, money for the state's Independent Living Program funds United for Families' Road to Success program, which teaches the ABCs of adulthood to youth at risk of aging out of the foster-care system.
- Daniel Pettus, a participant in United for Families' Road to Success program is the latest member of the Shared Services Alliance of Okeechobee and the Treasure Coast. Daniel is a high-school wrestler and one of three children. He joined the Alliance during its April meeting. He said he joined the group to try to make foster care a better place for other children.
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