Palmetto Dunes Cares Awards 2021 Grants

What a difference a year can make. A year ago, our world changed and it deeply impacted our community. Assistance provided by our area’s non-profit organizations was needed more than ever. Yet, all fundraising efforts had to be put on hold and rethought. Challenge is what brings about opportunity! One thing that didn’t change was the generosity and compassion of the Palmetto Dunes community.

Palmetto Dunes Cares is honored to award $35,600 in grants to thirteen organizations – all having been directly impacted by COVID.

The 2021 Grant recipients include:

Backpack Buddies
Serving approximately 500 children, their goal is to eradicate childhood hunger on Hilton Head. Their food delivery program provides a nutritious breakfast, lunch, and snack for the weekend to children in need. Due to the pandemic, they have supplemented those deliveries with grocery store gift cards.

Bluffton Community Soup Kitchen
Since 2011, prepares, serves, and delivers meals to those in need in our community. Those needs have grown exponentially due to the pandemic, and they have responded with increased hot meal delivery and expanded the outdoor food pantry.

Family Promise
The Safe Shelter project provides food and shelter to homeless families with children. Normally, over 30 churches provide meals and a place to stay, but due to COVID, the families are housed in an extended stay hotel. Grocery store gift cards are provided as well. This model will likely continue through 2021.

Hilton Head Island Safe Harbour
Hilton Head Island Safe Harbour provides transportation to island residents who no longer can drive, but wish to live in their own home, especially as they age.

Hospice Care of the Lowcountry
Hospice Care of the Lowcountry works to give comfort, honor and dignity for end-of- life patients and their families through compassionate physical, emotional and spiritual care, regardless of their financial circumstances. This task has been made much more difficult because of the COVID environment.

Lowcountry Autism Foundation
Lowcountry Autism Foundation works to provide support to families with children suffering from autism. Their mission is to fill gaps in service and support by providing programming at no cost.

Lowcountry Legal Volunteers
Lowcountry Legal Volunteers provides free legal counsel, representation, and education to low-income residents with regard to their rights regarding fair housing, child care, child support, and custody issues.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Lowcountry
NAMI provides free mental health education, support and resources for individuals and families who are dealing with stress, anger, anxiety, and depression, and all those affected by mental health conditions, situations exacerbated by COVID.

NOC (Neighborhood Outreach Connection)
NOC works to help high-risk children from low-income households and neighborhoods perform at their respective grade levels in math, reading, and language arts. As a collaborative effort with Backpack Buddies, twice a week, children in the NOC tutoring program take-home bags of fresh produce.

Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head
Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head Island monitors Hilton Head Island beaches for sea turtle nesting and hatching activity annually, May through October, to promote the existence of these endangered species and to spread awareness of their struggle through public education and outreach.

Second Helpings
Second Helpings engages volunteers to rescue food from grocery stores and other outlets. They are the only agency in Beaufort, Jasper, and Hampton counties authorized to rescue food. They deliver it the same day, at no cost, to food pantries and other local nonprofit agencies to feed the hungry in the South Carolina Low Country.

The Children’s Center
The Children’s Centers’ mission is to provide affordable, high-quality early education and childcare services for working families throughout the Low Country. The Children’s Center strives to be the standard of excellence for child development and care while enabling parents to fully participate in the workforce. Their goal is to ensure that every child is ready to achieve success upon entering kindergarten.

The Literacy Center
The Literacy Center serves the community’s social and economic needs through empowering adults to become proficient in English. They help develop a literate workforce, educate students to qualify for the GED, become citizens and prepare individuals for community engagement. They work to break the intergenerational cycle of low literacy and poverty.

Since inception in 2018, Palmetto Dunes cares has awarded $92,070 to local non-profits. Funds raised by Palmetto Dunes Cares are awarded as grants through the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry (CFL) a 501(c)(3) organization managing over 300 local funds. If interested in learning more, volunteering, or to donate to Palmetto Dunes Cares go to palmettodunescares.org.