February 2021 FC LIFE

Inadvertently, in our last issue, the wonderful Frenchman’s Creek Charities article was given credit to Patti Raber but should have given credit to ROBYN ROSENBLATT .

This month I would like to inform you how our contributions help support programs that benefit underprivileged children in our surrounding communities.

The West Jupiter Community Center, also known as the Edna W. Runner Tutorial Center, provides after school, spring break and summer camp services to children in grades K-8. The organization’s objective is to provide educational support, increase grade point average and raise self-esteem. Our contributions usually go towards summer camp programs that are focused on reducing “summer slide." This year, due to Covid, our funds helped the Center provide fun, virtual lessons online. The money was used to pay teachers to create daily lesson plans and allow the staff to purchase materials needed for these activities. In

addition, we provide scholarships to help the children of the working poor participate in summer and school year programs. The goal of these scholarships is to enrich the children’s lives and to enable parents to have peace of mind knowing that their children are safe, having fun and developing intellectually during the summer and throughout the year. Another way our contributions help underprivileged children in our community is by supporting Grove Park Elementary School in Palm Beach Gardens. The school’s student body consists of 546 students, 94% of whom are from minority households and 89% are considered economically disadvantaged. In the past, we've funded specialized classroom non-fiction library books for children in grades K-5 and last summer, due to Covid, we helped them purchase two outdoor tables to keep the children safe when they learned out- side. Recently, the school began participating in the International Baccalaureate Program (IB), an extremely well respected initiative which aims to prepare children for life-long learning. IB requires the participating schools to offer a second language program. This year, we hope to provide the funds for a Spanish language curriculum. In addition, two conservation organizations in our area use our contributions to support programs for young people. These programs not only help foster the children’s interest in conservation, they also aid in develop- ment of other personal skills. In Jupiter, The Busch Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) has developed programs called Junior Naturalists to train children between 5 and 14 to learn about conservation, animal habits and how to live with animals. The children do age-appropriate projects where they write reports and do some public speaking. When they complete the course, they receive a certificate. BWS hopes the children will pass on the information they have learned to their peers and in doing so, will help educate the community.

In Juno Beach, the Loggerhead Marine Life Center (LMC) has developed a program which brings students from Title 1 Schools to LMC to learn about sea turtles and their ocean home. Furthermore, they have an ambassador’s program which brings this information to the schools for students that are unable to travel. Without our contributions these activities would not take place.

Robyn Rosenblatt

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