Baptist Hospital’s child and adolescent wing to be named in honor of Joel and Wendy Smith
The Baptist Health Care Foundation will name the child and adolescent wing in the Behavioral Health Unit at the new Baptist Hospital campus in honor of Joel and Wendy Smith’s recent transformational gift.
For the Smiths, helping children is their life’s greatest passion. When they learned that Baptist was building a new state-of-the-art building, they knew they wanted to learn more and give back in a meaningful way that will help children in need.
The Smiths want to continue to shed light on the behavioral health crisis locally and nationally. They hope their gift inspires others to learn more about how they can get involved to create lasting change and impact for the community for years to come.
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Visit ebaptisthealthcare.org for details.
Santa Rosa County holds tree giveaway to celebrate planting season
The Florida Forest Service will be giving away a variety of tree species to celebrate the tree planting season. In cooperation with the Bagdad Waterfronts Florida Partnership, the Florida Forest Service will provide free red maple, river birch, mayhaw, and highbush blueberry trees in one-gallon containers, with a two-tree-per-person/family limit.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon (or until the trees are gone) Feb. 17 at Bagdad Mill Site Park, 6953 Main Street, Bagdad. Santa Rosa County UF/IFAS Extension Master Gardeners will distribute information on the species. This program also will include a tree planting demonstration with several trees being planted at the park.
Call 850-626-3028 or email Ashlee.White@FDACS.gov for details.
Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast award Member Give Back winning nonprofit
The mission of Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast includes community support and the spirit of charitable giving. With that spirit in mind, they will be presenting a check to this year’s Member Give Back Program winning nonprofit, Family Promise of Escambia County.
The nominations were opened in November and members submitted 22 local non-profits. When the votes were tallied, one organization stood out while four more tied for second place.
This year’s winner was Family Promise of Escambia County, an affiliate of Family Promise, a national organization that works to empower homeless and low-income families in their journey toward housing stability and sustainable independence. They connect community organizations to provide holistic services and resources to lift families up and out of poverty.
The four nonprofits who tied for second place in the 2022 Member Give Back vote were Gulf Coast Kid's House, STEM Story Corporation, The Mylo Foundation, and Transitioning Through Trauma to Triumph Inc.
Visit familypromiseofescambia.org, email familypromiseEC@gmail.com or call 850-433-0014 for details.
Navy Federal partners with Operation HOPE to boost financial literacy
Navy Federal Credit Union joined the Financial Literacy for All (FL4A) initiative through Operation HOPE, a national endeavor to embed financial literacy into American culture. The goal of FL4A is to enable millions of youth and working adults to achieve greater financial success for themselves, their families and the community.
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Financial health is a cornerstone of Navy Federal’s mission of serving and enriching lives within the military community, and a key component of Navy Federal’s Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy is financial wellness. As an organization that has provided a lifetime of guidance and support built on trust and shared values, Navy Federal deploys subject matter experts where financial education is needed most, which ranges from digital platforms to basic training sites for servicemembers.
Navy Federal launched its Making Cents financial wellness resources for members in 2016, which include a podcast and online tools for budgeting, investing, credit and loans. Their ongoing Financial Advice Friday series promotes financial education on their social channels, while branches actively present content that targets fraud prevention and saving strategies locally. Navy Federal also targets financial education for youth with an in-house curriculum for finance management and career readiness through its School Partnerships Program.
According to the National Financial Educators Council, financial illiteracy costs Americans an estimated $145 billion each year. FL4A is a first-of-its-kind coalition to mitigate this cost with support from members like Navy Federal.
Visit navyfederal.org for details.
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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Baptist’s child and adolescent wing to be named in honor of Smiths
