At the third Quarterly Breakfast of 2013, the Venturi Brighter Day Employee Fund awarded three grants. The recipients of the second quarter grants were the North Alabama Food Bank, Kids to Love, and the Court Appointed Juvenile Advocate of Madison County.
The North Alabama Food Bank supplies church pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, children’s programs, and much more. The Food Bank will use the money to support the Martin Luther King Elementary backpack program. They will be able to feed approximately 128 students for he school year.
The mission of the Kids to Love Foundation is to meet the needs of foster children while they wait for permanent homes. Since 2004, the Kids to Love Foundation has directly impacted the lives of more than 100,000 foster children. Each year, Kids to Love provides Christmas presents to foster children who might not have any other presents to open. Kids to Love used to grant money provided to purchase Christmas gifts for 50 foster children.
The Court Appointed Juvenile Advocate (CAJA) program of Madison County provides screened, well-trained court-appointed volunteer advocates to work on a one-to-one basis with abused and neglected children who enter the juvenile court system. The role of the CAJA volunteer is to conduct independent investigations regarding the child’s situation and to submit written reports to the court. CAJA volunteers work to see that these children do not become “lost in the cracks” of the legal and child welfare systems. The sole purpose of the CAJA volunteer is to ensure that the best interests of the child are advanced. CAJA will use the grant money to purchase a laser ink printer and lease a Xerox copier for 3 years.
2013 3rd Quarter grant recipients.