Wellington Community Foundation Marks One Year Helping Residents In Need

The Wellington Community Foundation is celebrating its first anniversary of helping those in need in the community.

“The board of directors is very dedicated,” Wellington Community Foundation Chairman Tom Wenham said. “It’s a privilege and an honor to serve on a foundation that looks after the people of the community that you live in.”

The foundation, once a little-used nonprofit entity controlled by the Village of Wellington, was re-imagined a year ago as an independent organization with a mission to support a wide array of community projects.

A former Wellington mayor, Wenham leads the board, which includes attorney Mickey Smith, community activist Maria Becker, Wellington Regional Medical Center CEO Robbin Lee, Town-Crier Publisher Barry Manning, former Palm Beach County Commissioner Ken Adams, local businesswomen Karen Cavanagh and Maggie Zeller, and retired WPTV news anchor Jim Sackett.

“I am so pleased with the cohesiveness of our board of directors,” Manning said. “We’ve been operating for one year, but it seems like the team has been together for decades. It is a pleasure working with them.”

The foundation team has been working to better the lives of those most in need in the community, in particular, seniors and children.

“What the foundation does not want to be is just a ‘check-writing’ agency,” Sackett said. “We, as a board, want to be hands-on, identify the needs, and actively work to see that those needs are met.”

The board members were personally recruited by Wenham to join the organization, including Adams, who has been integral to Wellington’s development since before the community even incorporated as a village.

“This organization really cares about Wellington. It cares about everyone in Wellington,” Adams said. “The board members live and breathe the Village of Wellington.”

Becker was honored to host the first fundraiser for the foundation at her home last June. The event, a stellar success, raised money to help provide students with backpacks and school supplies. “I can’t tell you how honored I am to serve on this board,” Becker said. “I was humbled that Tom had even considered me to serve on this worthy and noble endeavor.”

Over the summer, the foundation provided scholarships to send children to Wellington’s Parks & Recreation Department summer camp.

“I know what a difference it can make for a child to have a place to go to have fun, and what it means for a parent to know their child is in a safe and nurturing environment that they wouldn’t have had access to without help,” Becker said.

School supplies and more than 200 backpacks purchased with funds raised at the June fundraiser were distributed Aug. 6 at Wellington’s summer block party at Tiger Shark Cove Park.

“People don’t realize that there are many families in this community who are in need. Our foundation has been helping them,” Zeller said. “I loved handing out the backpacks at the back-to-school event… Seeing the looks of the children’s faces when they got to get a backpack to take home, filled with school supplies, was amazing.”

On Aug. 10, the foundation presented Back to Basics with a check that contributed toward supplying 400 school uniforms to local Wellington children.

“Things are hard enough for kids today. They should not have to worry about having clothes to wear to school,” said Smith, a resident of Wellington for more than 25 years.

The foundation met on Oct. 22 for its first quarterly Adopt-A-Street Clean Up Day in front of the Wellington branch library. The foundation adopted the east and west roadways along Forest Hill Blvd. from South Shore Blvd. to Stribling Way.

Then, on Nov. 11, the foundation produced an event called Red, White & Blue Jeans: A Nostalgic Salute to Our Veterans at the Wanderers Club. Veterans were honored at the special evening of dinner and dancing, which will return this year on Friday, Nov. 10 at the Wellington National Golf Club.

Red, White & Blue Jeans was a favorite for Lee. “I think a lot of people got exposure to the foundation that they wouldn’t have gotten in another way,” she said. “It had a patriotic theme. It was right around the time of the elections, and people needed to feel more connected to our country. I think it was fun for all of us to get to review the things we had already accomplished.”

The foundation has been active thus far in 2017, already hosting a Dusty Art Live painting and wine party put together by Cavanagh at the Wellington National Golf Club on Feb. 9.

“I never knew that there were such needy people, seniors and children, in the community,” Cavanagh said. “I really wanted to do something to help them, to help people. We’ve done a lot of really good things so far, and I’m really excited about it.”

The foundation, in partnership with Wellington Cares, is currently working on a new program to bring smiles to seniors called “Celebrating Our Seniors.”

In cooperation with Wellington Florist, the Mall at Wellington Green, Gabriel’s Café and Chick-fil-A, the Wellington Community Foundation will have a beautiful bouquet of flowers and gifts cards delivered with a special birthday card greeting to Wellington Cares participants on their birthday.

Wellington seniors are a vital part of our community, and remembering them on their special day is a way that the foundation has chosen to let them know how important they are. “I think this brings special recognition to our seniors who are alone in this community,” Zeller said.

Through the foundation’s “Our Schools” initiative, some elementary schools in Wellington are receiving grants totaling $8,150 to help further the education of local students.

To learn more about the foundation, or to donate, call (561) 333-9843 or visit www.wellingtoncommunityfoundation.org.