February 15, 2022
Dear Friends, Neighbors, and Fellow Members,
We have just closed our second fiscal year of operations as a 501(c)3 approved charity and would like to report on our progress and plans going forward.
This past year we have paid for 16 semesters of tuition for 10 people totaling $31,000. We expect further growth this coming Spring and Fall and are looking at additional ways we can assist our valued staff at SGCC. The generosity of the members has been wonderful, and we receive many comments about how happy they are to donate to something so worthwhile, yet so close to home. Thank you!
Our staff is also very pleased. Management touts the scholarship option as an important recruiting and retention factor. The several graduates we have assisted have overflowed with appreciation. Please stop and ask one of our scholars about the program.
Our Mission
“The Sawgrass Foundation is dedicated to the support of SGCC staff and their families to include educational stipends, crisis relief assistance, and other charitable opportunities to help SGCC employees.”
2021 Scholars
We have 10 staff or immediate family presently enrolled. Several more are applying for the coming year.
Details of our programs, history, aspirations and ways to help are all available on our website, www.sawgrassfoundation.org.
Nolan Drake – Food & Beverage
Wade DeWitt – Food & Beverage
Will Livengood – Food & Beverage
Mitchell Miller – Kitchen
Kemal Hurem – Food & Beverage
Will Bomar – Fitness
Elliott Wright (son of Larry) – Golf
Sage Bologna – Admin
Max Marrs-Meyer – GCM
Kaila Wright (husband Jeff) – Fitness
Our Board
We are seven volunteers who have endeavored to build and operate this Foundation. Please ask any of us about the purpose, plans, and needs. We all believe in our mission and feel it is truly helping some of the wonderful staff who all do so much for us.
Tom Petersen – President
William Palmer – Vice President
Salina Harkleroad – Treasurer
Cathy Wichert – Scholarships
Ken Schulz – Website and Tech
Ann Galanis – Events
Becky Dykstra – New Initiatives
Advisors and past Board members:
John Brantley
Randy Nader
Ed Collins
Going Forward
In 2022, we plan to continue to expand our educational support and to grow our funds to be ready for the next crisis where our staff may need assistance. It could be another Pandemic, or a Hurricane, or some other widespread need. Please continue your support and let us know what you think. We are also looking into a few other opportunities to assist staff.
We encourage you all to continue your input of ideas, comments, questions, and support. You are the ones that make this all possible. Thank you.
In the appendix to this report you will find the financial report on how much we raised and how it has been used. Also in the appendix is a list of all our generous donors who have contributed during 2021. All of you should be receiving annual donation acknowledgement letters in the coming week.
There were 262 Unique Donors in 2021.
Approximately 170 people contributed more than once.
What a great group of people we have as staff AND as fellow members. Thanks again for your generosity. We pray that 2022 will be a great year for all of us.
Financial Overview
What Scholars are Saying About the Sawgrass Foundation
“Thank you to all the members of the Sawgrass Foundation for once again giving me the chance to go to college. I am so grateful to you all for doing this for me.”
“I feel very lucky that Sawgrass is my employer.”
“Thank you so much to the Sawgrass Foundation team and to all of our extremely generous members that donated to our cause. It has been such a pleasure to work with so many wonderful people here. There is a reason that so many of us stick around for years… because of each and every one of you all! We feel your love and support through our life’s ups and downs and I know I speak for more than just myself when I say how grateful and lucky we are to serve the Sawgrass cause.”
Donors up to $500
Andy Abate
Michael Adams
Clifford Allen
Eric Anderson
Joseph Arnett
David Atteberry
Daniel Avery
Andrew Bair
Bill Beasley
Josh Becksmith
Ruffin Beckwith
Gregory Beedy
Richard Beltson
Gretchen Binard
Blackbird Giving Fund
Thomas Bolling
Connie Brennan
Viviane and William Briggs
Steve Bristow
William Broekema
Christian Brooks
Richard Brown
Tom Browne
Alexander Byrd
Christopher Byrd
John Caden
Stanley Cairns
Dan Cavey
Frank Cervone
John Church
Richard Clark
Allan Cohen
Andrew Cohen
Daniel Costello
Anthony Cuva
Mark Dalziel
Don and Chi Daniels
Robert Davis
Glenn DeBrueys
Charles DePrycker
John Oliver DeVries
John and Elisabeth Dewitt
Terry Dixon
Derek Dobbs
Rick Domini
James Dowdee
Jasper B Easterlin
William M Jr Easterlin
LeRoy Edwards
John Ekdahl
Robert Fajans
Patricia Falke
Fabian Federico
Darrin Ferguson
William Finn
John Foulk
Stephen Frankiewicz
Norma Fraser
Vincent Gagliardi
John Gallishaw
Harlan Gardiner
Jack Gausnell
Richard Gazlay
Bruce Glassick
Dan Glod
Roland Gomez
Joyce Gray
Robert Grune
Mark Gummerman
Kevin Harried
James Hart
Martha Hayes
Terea Hebert
Al Hedlund
Brooks Henderson
Scott Hendrickson
Horton Hickerson
Todd Hickey
David Hightower
Mark Hill
Bondy and Tom Hodgkins
James Hoener
Robert Horine
David and Linda Houghton
Art and Susan Iannucci
Peter Irwin
David Jaeger
Michael Jay
Patricia Jeffery
Walter Jewett
Peter Jinks
Cynthia Johnson
Jay Jones
Vincent Kellaher
Michael Kelley
Lawrence Kelly
Richard Ketler
Susan Klein
Ellen (Lin) M. Knapp
Keegan Knarr
William Knipper
Mark Kontny
Ronald Krogh
Stephen Kupcha
Mary Lahey
David Laird
David Lea
Tracy Leinbach
Mark Lewis
Frank and Diane Owen Lickliter
Jerome Lindberg
Gary Lubin
Doug Lytle
Albie MacDonald
Linda Macneill
Barbara Maple
Gino Martire
John Mason
John Mauriello
Robert Maxwell
James May
William Maywood
Scott McCall
Matthew McLaughlin
William Meister
Chad Merkel
Fran Mirmina
Danny Montgomery
John Montgomery
Barbara Mulcahy
Pamela Murray
Robert Nickerson
Michael O’Malley
Rob Ohno
William Palmer
Robert Partenheimer
Chuck Petersen
Quang Pham
Irene Phelps
Scott Phillips
Joseph Pontecorvo
Luis Pontigo
Roger Quinlan
John Reed
Susan Reilly
Ingela and Bart Robinson
Richard Robyn
Peter Roehl
Cal Roth
Murray Ruffell
Ken Schulz
Rebecca Schumann
Lynne Scielzo
Richard Setian
Lee Smith
Lonnie Smith
David Steinhoff
Dennis and Vincenza Sullivan
Jack Sullivan
Mo Taaffe
David Talarico
Kimberley Taylor
Brad Tepper
Matt Terek
Meredith Thacker
Thomas Tomlin
Tina Townsend
Fred and Kathy Vanderbilt
James VanHorn
David Vigil
Kathleen Vigue
Dan Wadley
James Wadley
John Wagener
Jon Walker
Robert Watts
Robert Weatherly
Charles Weed
Jonathan Wentworth-Ping
Jennifer Werba
Burl White
Cathy Wichert
Joshua Winstead
Amanda Wright
Ben Wright
Brian Wright
HK Wu
Anthony Wuebben
Stephen Wyand
Paul Young
David Zuchowski
Donors at $500 and above
Thomas Aaro
James and Kathleen Adams
Mark and Isabelle Alexander
James W Babcock
Steve Booma
Bill Buckingham
Chris and Patty Burden
Celeste and Ken Burns
Jeffery and Maria Concannon
Michele Perrault Czarzasty
Glen and Liz DeBlock
Richard Dickinson
William Dowd
Joe and Susan Downes
Marie-Therese Duryea
William S. III Edge
Bill and Kristen Ely
Bob and Paula Fairley
Paul S Ferber
Peter and Ann Galanis
Karla S. Gillette
Terence Goodall
John Griffey
Tom and Salina Harkleroad
Shelia and Hank Hartman
Dale R Hawk
Walter D. Haynes
Barbara and Kevin Hill
Tucker Hogan
Chris and Jeff Hunt
Martin Janowiecki
Donald J. Kendrick
Charles and Nancy Killeen
Jack Kinsella
Mike and Patti Koizim
Mark Koutoufaris
Meyer Fund Longwell
Bob and Janice Machin
Bill and Barbara Maletz
Suzanne Maltz
Mark and Sly McCall
Dennis McCarthy
Wayne/Lee Dodson McCarty/Kurtz
William McPherson
Susan Merrill
John and Cat Militante
Byron Miller
John Murphy
Randy Nader
Bob Paladino
Tom and Lis Petersen
Diane and Richard Price
Will Reitsma
Stan Roman
Amanda Ryan
Henry and Alice Scanlon
Bruce Schwinger
Fred Seely
Helen Short
Fritz and Helen Skeen/Morse
David Smith
Michael Spector
Ora and Joe Vella
Paul Walker
Nancy and Duncan Wall
Hugh and Debbie Williams
Joel Williamson
Camilla Wodehouse
Dan and Donna Yadon
James Yoakum
Bob Zoeller