NCH receives $5.7 million gift for women and children to receive care
The Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation has awarded NCH Healthcare System a transformative gift of $5.7 million. This gift was offered to NCH specifically because of common initiatives between the Foundation and the NCH Healthcare System with the goal of keeping families closer to home by enhancing access to critical and specialized care for all women and children. The Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation have been instrumental in addressing challenges in our community by bringing organizations together to address common issues.
“We wanted to choose a healthcare partner who is committed to providing quality care to everyone in Collier County including underserved families,” said Julia Van Domelen, director of the Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation. “NCH’s commitment to making specialized care available right here at home so families can remain together during a complicated health issue, is precisely why we choose them to be the recipient of this gift.”
The funds provided from this gift will support the recruitment and hiring of high-priority staff positions to enhance patient care. NCH will have the opportunity to train operating room teams, emergency department healthcare workers, and inpatient staff to care for patients with a level of confidence that is obtained through simulation training.
The funds will also help raise the quality of care for NCH’s tiniest patients by elevating its current neonatal program to a level III NICU. These resources will also be used for expanding the fetal maternal medicine program and provide care that will aid soon-to-be-mothers with high-risk pregnancies. Further expansion of pediatric surgery and anesthesiology is also part of the plan, as well as growth in pediatric imaging.
Additionally, a portion of the gift will help Pediatric ED patients by creating more comfortable environments for children and teens with emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges.
Matching gift challenge a million-dollar success for The Immokalee Foundation
A $500,000 matching gift challenge by Naples philanthropists Don Fites and his wife, Joyce Hagen, to support The Immokalee Foundation has been met. The $1 million raised commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Heavy Equipment Service Technician program at Immokalee Technical College, which helps to ensure another decade of success for The Immokalee Foundation’s students who enroll in the specialized program.
Fites, the retired chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc., played an instrumental role in guiding the HEST program’s creation in 2010. HEST graduates learn how to service heavy-duty, high-performance vehicles specially designed for executing earthwork operations and other large construction tasks that are essential in Southwest Florida.
Launched in January, the $500,000 matching gift challenge reached its goal in just three months and supports a program that Fites is passionate about.
Since the HEST program’s inception, more than two dozen companies have hired over 100 of its graduates. Through this match, Fites and Hagen invited the community to help the next 100 young men and women seeking the specialized technical training that leads to a well-paying career. Caterpillar Foundation, Kelly Tractor Foundation, Everglades Farm Equipment and many others have supported this initiative.
Neighborhood Health Clinic turns signature fundraiser into a “No Show” benefit
Since its modest beginning in 2004, the Gourmet Vintner Dinner benefitting the Neighborhood Health Clinic has grown in size and scope to become the perennial event for the Clinic, generating the lion’s share of annual operating funds, donated by loyal and generous supporters.
Due to the pandemic, the Clinic made a difficult, but necessary choice to forego the actual event this year, replacing it with the “No Show” Gourmet Vintner Dinner instead. Thanks to an outstanding response from its loyal supporters, the Clinic reached within a 1% of our goal of $1 million to fund services and care for patients for another year. The continuing success of its Gourmet Vintner Dinner is directly due to the diligent and generous support of Pat and Vince Foglia, sponsors of the dinner, friends and major donors to the Clinic, as well as community support from its commercial sponsors: William Raveis Real Estate, Key Private Bank, Millennium Physician Group, Naples Community Hospital Healthcare System, Women’s Republican Club of Naples Federated, Gulfshore Insurance, DeAngelis Diamond, Physicians Regional Healthcare System and attorney Brian Dickerson.
Pet Supermarket “Lending A Paw” to support local rescues
Pet Supermarket, a pet supply store with a wide variety of pet foods, toys and treats for all pet types, will be “lending a paw” to animal shelters and rescues across the country this May. Through May 23, Pet Supermarket’s “Lend A Paw” fundraiser and adoption awareness campaign offers numerous opportunities for customers to support animal shelters and rescues in their communities including an adoption event on Saturday, May 22, at all Pet Supermarket locations.
Throughout the campaign, customers will be able to support their local shelters and rescues by purchasing a $5 limited-edition bandana (with 100% of the proceeds donated to local shelters); donating unused canned and dry food in stores; making a monetary donation of any amount at checkout; and adopting a pet on-site at their local Pet Supermarket on May 22.
Pet Supermarket customers will also be able to receive a free dog wash and 25% off their first grooming service with proof of adoption of their pets. Interested customers can visit petsupermarket.com/grooming-tails and petsupermarket.com/dog-wash to find the nearest select grooming locations.
In previous years, Pet Supermarket’s community-based fundraising efforts during Pet Appreciation Month, now the “Lend A Paw” campaign, helped to donate more than $164,000 to local animal rescues and shelters. For more information about Pet Supermarket, visit www.petsupermarket.com. ¦
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