Sunshine Matters

VISIT FLORIDA staff recently presented a check in the amount of $2,347.50 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Big Bend, our 2014 Jeans Day Charity.  For a $2 weekly donation, staff members can wear jeans to work on Fridays.  One dollar funds our Christmas Connection adoptions each December and the other dollar goes to the charity organization chosen annually by the VISIT FLORIDA staff.  These efforts are coordinated by the VISIT FLORIDA Charity Committee, made up of staff volunteers.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Big Bend (BGCBB) is a non-profit organization that serves the needs of thousands of children and teenagers in the Big Bend area.  BGCBB provides a positive and safe environment and a compelling alternative to drugs, crime and gang involvement.  Children are never turned away because of past trouble with the law or because of a family’s inability to pay.  With over one thousand registered members in our region, they impact hundreds of children every day after school, all day on school holidays, and all day Monday through Friday during the summer.

Previous VISIT FLORIDA Jeans Day charities have included The Alzheimer’s Project, America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend, Leon County Animal Service Center and Refuge House.  Our 2015 Jeans Day Charity is Big Bend Hospice.

VISIT FLORIDA staff takes great pride in our Charity Committee efforts.  Just since June, we completed the Ice Bucket Challenge  for the ALS Association, donated $720 in proceeds from our Perfectly Pink Bake Sale to the Sharon Ewing Walker Breast Health Center at Tallahassee Memorial, raised $16,895 in our annual United Way Campaign and adopted three families through Christmas Connection.

Stay tuned!  We have so much more planned for 2015.