WAHHI’s fundraising events allowed us to award $40,500 in grants to our community non-profit organizations this year! Listed below are the grant recipients and their plans to use these funds to support our neighbors. By supporting WAHHI programs throughout the year, WAHHI members help foster a strong sense of community and connection to our neighbors who are served by these local nonprofit organizations. Together we can make a difference!
Congratulations to our 2024 Charitable Fund Grant Recipients.
Hopeful Horizons – their mission is to protect, treat and prevent by providing safety, hope and healing to survivors of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault and to lead in ending abuse through primary prevention and education. WAHHI presented a charitable grant to Kristin Dubrowski, Chief Executive Officer of Hopeful Horizons. The grant will fund its outreach effort to reach vulnerable members of our community.
Update 8/14/2024 – WAHHI provided Hopeful Horizons funds to assist them in creating QR codes for their educational materials distributed throughout the community. These codes will replace the tear-off sheets which had been used previously. Twenty new posters were made with QR codes and placed in many locations, such as the Bluffton and Hilton Head library branches, Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Emergency Room, Lowcountry Medical Group, UCSB Bluffton, Technical College of the Lowcountry and Hilton Head Christian Academy. Also, all new members of the Bluffton Regional Chamber were given posters to display in their worksites. Hopeful Horizons will be printing another run of posters for another push on Hilton Head in conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers – “Supporting Women and Children of the Lowcountry” Program. This initiative, designed to aid families facing economic hardships and fear, reflects the commitment to providing essential assistance and protections in the Lowcountry. Lowcountry Legal Volunteers (LCLV) has over 24 years of dedicated service to this community. It is a volunteer-based organization, backed by retired legal professionals, and has offered the equivalent of millions of dollars in free legal counsel to low-income individuals.
Update 8/14/2024 – Lowcountry Legal Volunteers has several upcoming clinics planned on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton to help single mothers obtain child support, as well as protective restraining orders, to both provide for and to secure safety for themselves and their children. Without WAHHI’s support, these outreach clinics would not be possible. WAHHI members are welcome to contact Lowcountry Legal Volunteers if they would like to attend any clinics and help greet potential clients or assist in taking applications. The organization needs volunteers who speak Spanish and English. To volunteer WAHHI members can go online to https://lowcountrylegalvolunteers.org/about/volunteer-opportunities/ to apply.
Memory Matters – this grant will assist the nonprofit with meal support for the Memory Care Adult Day Respite Program. The overarching goal of the Memory Matters’ grant is to assist with funding for daily nutritious meals for participants with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias during the Memory Care Adult Day Respite Program. The WAHHI grant will provide approximately 667 meals (or two months) of nutritious meals that incorporate a Mediterranean diet that promotes healthier living for the participants. The meal program not only helps participants experience a renewed sense of purpose while engaging in a social day program; the grant also provides a brief respite for the memory caregiver.
Arts Center of Coastal Carolina – received a grant in support of its program “Very Special Adaptive Arts Program for Youth with Special Needs.”
VSA Program 2023-2024 Adaptive Arts Photo and Video Collage
WAHHI FINAL REPORT GRANT AWARD 2023-2024 VSA PROGRAM
Bluffton Self Help – this grant will help fund BSH’s School Snack Program.
Update 8/14/2024 – WAHHI has supported our ongoing efforts and we have provided 13,261 school snacks across eleven schools since February. As you know, hungry children are more likely to have negative mental and behavioral outcomes, and food security is critical for their success. We took a pause in June and July and are now gearing up to help kick off the new academic year in August. Bluffton Self Help is looking forward to continuing to grow our distribution thanks to the women of WAHHI!
Update 8/28/2024 Dear Friend of Bluffton Self Help, Thank you for your generous support of our mission and for making a lasting impact on the lives of Lowcountry neighbors. Your in-kind donation will go a long way toward helping neighbors reach personal success. For over 35 years Bluffton Self Help has supported neighbors in crisis. With 60% of Beaufort County residents and 75% of Jasper County residents not earning a livable wage, it is no longer enough to simply meet our neighbors in crisis – we must take the next step with them, on their long-term path to success. With the help of community collaborations, strategic partnerships and generous people like you, together, we will pave a path from surviving to thriving for all. On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, families, and children of Bluffton Self Help, we extend our thanks and gratitude for your support of our mission. If you have questions or would like to tour one of our centers you help make possible, I invite you to give us a call. With gratitude, Courtney Hampson | Chief Executive Officer | Bluffton Self Help
The Children’s Center – this grant will fund 5 families for a full year of tuition assistance for their infant children. This means a weekly discount to these families which can make the difference between returning to work and dropping out of the workforce for the parents, usually mothers. WAHHI’s support allows the Children’s Center to continue to provide opportunities to give infants bright beginnings and a lifetime love of learning.
Click here for the Final Report from the Children’s Center – 7/21/2024
The Boys & Girls Club of the Lowcountry, in Bluffton – this grant will be applied to membership fees relief, which will allow more children to benefit from the amazing after-school programming and summer camps offered by this organization.
Update 8/14/2024 – WAHHI supported our FEE RELIEF program (scholarships) which ensures that all our members have access to our after-school activities. The WAHHI funds have supported 16 families, allowing the youth to demonstrate our three priority outcomes: academic success (graduate from high school); good character and citizenship; and healthy lifestyles. Our formula for impact is to expose our children to an outcome-driven experience which includes five key elements (safety, fun, opportunities/expectations, recognitions and supportive relationships), high-yield activities, targeted programs and regular attendance. This is the key to making our ambitious vision of great futures for all young people a reality.
Foundation for Educational Excellence – “Building a Teacher’s Toolkit.” This grant can fund eight elementary and middle school teachers to set up their classrooms with special supplies that go beyond regular school supplies—and are often funded by teachers themselves.
Volunteers in Medicine – This grant was awarded to VIM for their education program for women with diabetes. The goal is to identify those women with early signs of diabetes macular edema. Women account for 70% of the patients with diabetes seen and treated at VIM.