Wycliffe Charities Foundation Community Raises Money For Many Great Causes

The Wycliffe Charities Foundation has been a fixture for more than 20 years, putting one community’s philanthropic efforts to work for nonprofit organizations across the western communities and beyond.

“The people of Wycliffe are very generous. They sponsor a number of events that we hold during the year,” Wycliffe Charities Foundation President Gerry Ranzal said. “It’s all very exciting. If you go to the different charities we sponsor, and you talk to the people that they help, and the love and respect and gratitude that they convey to you, it is a wonderful feeling.”

Today, the Wycliffe Charities Foundation continues to honor the goals of supporting community nonprofits serving central Palm Beach County. The foundation has signature annual events it continues to hold in order to raise money for the long list of charities it donates to every year.

“That’s an ongoing thing all year, so even though the golf tournament is in March and the shredding is in April, and we have raffles in January, the tributes are collected all year,” Treasurer Harriet Ross said. “That’s how I started out on the board, just doing the tributes for about three or four years, and then I elevated to the treasury.”

This year, the charity broke its record for annual money raised — $158,500.

Sue Webber, past president of the organization, said the foundation has donated about $1.8 million over the past 20 years to the nonprofit organizations it supports.

“We embrace the charities, and they embrace us,” Vice President Gail Horowitz said.

The foundation’s annual golf tournament continues to be its largest event of the year. The tournament hosts approximately 300 people who support the foundation’s mission.

“It takes all of us,” Horowitz said. “It’s not one person. It’s not two people. It’s the whole community that does it, coming together and being able to pull it off… every year, and saying, ‘Are we going to be able to do it?’ ‘Can we do it?’ ‘Is it going to be ok?’ And, every year, it gets bigger and better.”

The Wycliffe Charities Foundation has the world “charity” in it, but it’s the word “foundation” that speaks more to its mission.

“We’re really not a charity. We are a foundation,” Webber said. “Again, making us unique, because it’s the community, and I have to say that the Wycliffe staff who work here are the most generous people. So, this is truly a whole community, the employees, the staff at the country club and the residents who live here [who make it happen]. It’s amazing how really generous and supportive they are.”

When the foundation is not fundraising through its major golf tournament, shredding and bike/walk events, it has an active tribute program that allows people to raise money individually for the foundation.

“People in Wycliffe typically will donate money in memory of or in honor of someone, or celebrating a birthday,” Horowitz said.

There is a strict foundation policy for a nonprofit to be considered eligible to receive donations from the Wycliffe Charities Foundation. All of the money raised is donated to local health-related, educational and children’s organizations in Palm Beach County, as written in the foundation’s mission statement.

“Every charity has to write a grant request. The board of governors then goes through all the grant requests, and we decide which charities to give to,” Webber said. “Usually, by the time the golf tournament is over, we’ve raised all the money for the year, and we need to decide how we are going to divide it. We’re very strict about what we do.”

Another way the charity makes money is participating in community events, and this year it won additional money through the Great Charity Challenge by placing eighth in the equestrian competition. That money helped the foundation break its annual donation record.

“We go out and visit the charities that we give money to, and they come here,” Horowtiz said. “They come and they participate in the bike/walks and the golf tournament. So, they become an integral part of who and what we are.”

This year, the foundation donated money to 25 charities. This was up from the 18 charities it usually makes donations to each year, due to the extra money.

The 2017 grant recipients were: Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, the Alpert Jewish Family and Children’s Service, the Caridad Center, the Center for Child Counseling, the Center for Trauma Counseling, the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Clinics Can Help, Faith-Hope-Love-Charity Inc., Families First of Palm Beach County, Grandma’s Place, Home Safe, Horses Healing Hearts, the Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation, the Kids Cancer Foundation, KidSafe, the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach Habilitation Center, the Palm Beach School for Autism, Paws 4 Liberty, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, the Quantum House, the Sari Center, Speak Up for Kids and the West Palm Beach Library Foundation.

The main operations of the foundation are between December and April, Ranzal said. After the shredding event in April, there are meetings and preparations for the next year.

“It was a wonderful year. I really enjoy raising money for these charities,” Ranzal said. “It’s always a challenge, and everything happens at the last minute, but we all work through it, and the people who are involved work hard and get everything done on time.”

To learn more about the Wycliffe Charities Foundation, visit www.wycliffecharities.com. To contact the foundation, call (561) 434-2918 or e-mail wycliffecharities@hotmail.com.