West Bay Community FoundationAt a Grant Presentation held on June 9, 2015, the newly formed West Bay Community Charitable Foundation awarded $44,894.00 in grants to 10 local non-profit agencies with very specific requests ranging from emergency backpacks for children being removed from neglect and/or abuse to a music program for underserved students in Immokalee. West Bay Community members nominated charities and those charities were invited to submit requests and required documents to begin the granting process.

Literacy Council Gulf Coast is proud to have been one of the ten charities that were represented at the event held the evening of June 9.

“We are grateful to our community for supporting the successful charitable golf tournament and silent auction held in February,” explained Anne Haley, President. “Working together as a community gives us the opportunity to really make a difference in the lives of so many others. We are proud to have given a grant to provide emergency rent for residents of Estero and San Carlos Park and Leap Pads for kids that are getting ready for their first year of school, bikes for women in recovery and support for after school tutoring, just to name a few. It feels so good to give!”

The West Bay Community Charitable Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to strengthening our community by actively fundraising and awarding grants for the benefit of those in need.

Jerry Beaubien, Grant Committee Chair added, “In our first year of existence we are pleased to award grants to 10 non-profit agencies that work to strengthen our community and raise the quality of life for many residents in Lee and Collier counties. We are confident our grants will make a difference. We carefully vetted all the nonprofits and based our decisions on strong guidelines that we have established. It is a privilege to be able to help all these hardworking and life-changing nonprofits.”

Literacy Council Gulf Coast, Inc., the largest nonprofit literacy agency in the United States, is proud of the support that West Bay has made to teach literacy through their generosity in awarding a grant.