Community Connections

As you reflect on your Thanksgiving holiday, I hope one of the blessings you can recall is spending time with family and friends making new memories that will linger throughout the season and into the New Year. At The Jim Moran Foundation, we are grateful for the countless volunteers, committed nonprofits and every man, woman and child who reach out to make a difference in someone else's life. Below are a few of those lives that have been forever touched through the compassion and goodness that come from taking care of one another.

May we each find reasons to be thankful and look for opportunities to share an extra measure of kindness as we celebrate this special time of year.

My warmest wishes,

Women's Circle in Palm Beach County provides education, career development and workshops in a welcoming and culturally diverse environment to low-income women.

Rita grew up in Haiti where she had little opportunity for schooling. When she came to the United States as a young woman, she gradually learned English. Three years ago, she started attending classes at Women's Circle to improve her literacy skills. Known as a dedicated and bright student, Rita also goes out of her way to help her classmates.

While she worked for many years at a church, she recently began researching other employment possibilities and created a resume with her tutor's assistance. They found a posting for a position in a school cafeteria near her home. Though the online job application was a new experience for her, she successfully completed it, was granted an interview and ultimately hired by the school district. Rita is very happy with her new career. Most of all, she loves seeing the smiling faces of the children each day.

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With a network of caring and dedicated volunteers, Hart Felt Ministries provides seniors in Duval and northern St. Johns counties with emergency assistance and services such as companionship, minor home repair, lawn maintenance, wheel chair ramps and grocery shopping to help them remain independent in their homes.

Ms. Betty is 83 and lives with her four-legged companion, Zander. Always an active woman, a debilitating spinal disease has forced her to slow down. She now sleeps in a recliner because she is unable to get out of bed on her own. When Gina, a Hart Felt Ministries volunteer, first visited with Ms. Betty over the summer, she noticed that her chair was badly worn and uncomfortable. Through the Hart Fund, launched in part by a 2015 grant from The Jim Moran Foundation, the organization was able to purchase a new recliner for her. It is wide enough for Zander to curl up next to her at night, and Ms. Betty says she hasn't slept this well in a very long time.

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