PD Cares: Supporting Environmental Stewardship & Our Youth

As we begin 2023, Palmetto Dunes Cares wants to thank all our neighbors and friends for your support. What a wonderful year 2022 has been for Palmetto Dunes Cares! The summer Turtle Trots hosted 3097 participants and raised $27,390 and the PD Cares auction raised over $18,000. We greatly appreciate your generosity and participation!

Palmetto Dunes Cares is a charitable organization developed by Palmetto Dunes homeowners whose purpose is to provide support to local worthy causes and people in need through our grant program. Since its inception in 2018, PD Cares, has awarded $155,000 to local non-profits in the greater Hilton Head area; epitomizing our motto; giving back while building community.

This year, Chair Bill Caywood’s vision is to build on PD Cares’ great reputation and success by sharpening the mission of PD Cares to one that focuses on supporting our local youth and enhancing the natural environment in the greater Hilton Head Island area. Additionally, as Caywood states “we will also focus on increasing community engagement, broadening our fundraising and increasing our impact. The first step to meaningfully engaging our neighbors is to explain what we are doing. With our focus on Youth and the Environment, we have an easy-to-understand and compelling story to tell – and it resonates with people. So, we are reworking our communications processes and really focusing on telling the Palmetto Dunes Cares story through the channels that people like to use – publications, social media and other creative methods.”

Thus, PD Cares is deep in the throes of creating new initiatives and programs that focus on building an environmental stewardship community within Palmetto Dunes that actively supports and engages our local youth & all who live, visit, and work in Palmetto Dunes.

“One big goal,” affirmed Caywood, “is to make our grants and our programs more personal.” Thus, part of PD Cares’ initiatives includes the inauguration of an educational scholarship fund to support a local Hilton Head Island rising high school senior.

As Caywood continued, “Starting in 2023 we will help a young person from Hilton Head Island attend a South Carolina public university or technical school. We are accepting applications through the fall and winter, and we will meet the candidates and make a selection in the spring. It’s exciting to know that our community will have that much of a direct impact on an individual’s life! We are also working to increase our impact through our grantmaking. Organizations that work in our two core focus areas of youth and the environment can apply for grants from Palmetto Dunes Cares. Our Grants Committee reviews each request during the first quarter of the year. To have the greatest impact, we generally do not make grants simply to sustain an organization’s operations. Instead, we are seeking significant and innovative projects, including those with a multi-year focus, so that our grants fund the most meaningful work.”

Another component of PD Cares’ new initiatives is the extension of our Eco-Educational and Eco-Activity offerings beyond the Turtle Talks and Turtle Trots. Our goal is that this work will build community and camaraderie among our full-time residents, investment property owners, visitors, and commercial businesses to protect and preserve the island’s natural habitat. Watch for further announcements about these new offerings!

We at PD Cares understand the significance of the environment to our community, and the value of the youth in our community. As Caywood provides, “We believe that through our work, and through engaging the community and our visitors, we can have a significant, direct impact on the quality of our natural environment. I don’t know anyone who lives, works, plays or invests in Palmetto Dunes that doesn’t value the natural environment. Caywood goes on to assert that, “Communities thrive when young people have great opportunities. We believe that Palmetto Dunes Cares can make a meaningful impact in the lives of young people who live, work, and play here. Supporting youth in our community is a natural way to sustain and increase the quality of life that we all enjoy.

As Caywood concludes, “Palmetto Dunes Cares has differentiated itself by focusing on the environment and youth, and through that focus, we believe that Palmetto Dunes can lead by example across Hilton Head Island.”

The PD Cares Advisory Committee is proud of our community and the work we do. We welcome all ideas and volunteers. Thank you for your faith in our work and your continued generosity! For more information go to PalmettoDunesCares.org.

HOW DO I GIVE to PD CARES?

Make a donation:

CHECK
All check donations must be addressed to the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. Donations can be submitted two ways.
Mailed to CFL,4 Northridge Dr, Suite A, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
Dropped off at the PDPOA administration office: 16 Queens Folly Rd.

ONLINE
Via the CFL website:
cflowcountry.civicore.com/PalmettoDunesCares