February 2011
Gabriel's House
Duncan, Oklahoma
Children in high-risk situations need a safe and nurturing after
school option. Bonnie Talley realized this was a problem in her
community and she did something about it. She started Gabriel’s House in
1998 and continues to volunteer as the program director so 36 of the
most at-risk children in Kindergarten through third grade in Duncan
Public Schools have quality after school care. Children receive a
nutritious snack, individualized homework and literacy assistance,
enrichment opportunities and character development lessons. Sarkeys
Foundation awarded a $10,010 grant for 15 new computers with age
appropriate educational software so Gabriel’s House can continue to
fulfill its mission of helping children succeed academically and
socially.
There are three houses located near Title I elementary schools. Each house has been purchased and is maintained by a local church including property and liability insurance as well as utilities. This way Gabriel’s House is able to use 100 percent of the funds they raise for programs and operational expenses. With a volunteer program director and an administrative director, Karla Buchanan, whose salary is paid by a donor each year, they are a lean organization with six part-time employees and no full-time employees.
Hundreds of volunteers help during the school year from local high school and middle school honor and service organizations, church youth groups and retired professionals. A handful of donors from the community make it possible for all 36 children to participate in dance lessons and martial arts programs. Gabriel’s House truly is a community treasure in Duncan addressing the nutritional, academic, social, character and enrichment gaps for children. Sarkeys Foundation is proud to play a small part in shaping the lives of these children, their families and the community of Duncan. For more information please visit http://gabriels-house.tripod.com/
August 2010
Meals on Wheels
Norman, OK
More than Just a Meal…Meals on Wheels of Norman means much more to their clients, than just a nutritious meal. Many times their friendly volunteer drivers are the only outside contact their clients will receive each day. The friendships that are created between the volunteers and clients are meaningful and valuable. As client needs are identified, Meals on Wheels steps into action. On a monthly basis, the organization sends out shelf-stable, non-perishable boxed meals for clients to keep in their pantry for the weekends. In 2010, Meals on Wheels received a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project to provide pet food to the client’s furry companions.
Meals on Wheels is truly a community agency that strives to provide security and dignity to an often-forgotten portion of the Norman community. It is their goal to help seniors live independently in their own home for as long as possible. They have maintained the same basic philosophy to improve nutrition by providing meal service to the ill, disabled, and senior residents within the Norman city limits. The organization strives to improve the mental health of isolated recipients by providing visitation and to improve the well being of senior citizens in coordination with existing services in the Norman area.
Meals on Wheels of Norman began serving the community January 21, 1972. Clients must live within the Norman City Limits and be ill, disabled or elderly. The price per meal is based on a sliding scale ranging from Free - $5.75 and is dependent upon the client's income. The clients range in age from 25 years to 100 years of age. If a client is under 60 years of age, a referral from the client's physician is required to begin receiving meals. Fifty percent of their clients can only afford to pay the minimum amount of 75 cents per meal or receive meals free of charge.
Grants from foundations and financial support from businesses and individuals help Meals on Wheels of Norman and other nonprofits meet the needs in communities all across Oklahoma. Find out what organizations provide meals in your community and volunteer to help with your time, talent and treasure.
For more information about Norman Meals on Wheels please click here. To find Meals on Wheels in your community please click here.
June 2010
Life Change Ballroom
Oklahoma City, OK
Life Change Academy provides a summer program for young people so they have a safe place to spend time away from the gang activity in their neighborhoods. A $9,250 grant from Sarkeys helps cover the costs of their program which includes ballroom dance lessons as well as life, social and coping skills. Between 25 and 30 elementary and middle school students will learn about etiquette, proper dress and hygiene, finances, careers and other life skills.
The Academy was founded in 2006 as mentoring program using the medium of ballroom dance for students in at-risk schools across Oklahoma City’s metro area. Through the allure of ballroom, their trained and professional dance instructors and volunteers have the opportunity to instill essential social and coping skills that many of these students may be missing as they grow into adolescence. While learning the cha-cha, they also learn mutual respect, confidence, goal setting, teamwork and the value of hard work. They are raising the expectations of these children.
The mission statement their students repeat every time they are together resonates the desire “to do more, be more and have more, so they can give more.” In addition to the summer program, they offer an in-school program where male and female dance instructors go into the classroom twice a week and work with up to 40 students.
To learn more about LifeChange Ballroom please visit www.lifechangeballroom.com
February 2010
Thunderbird Clubhouse
Norman, OK
The mission of Norman’s Thunderbird Clubhouse is to build a community that offers respect and opportunities to adults living with and recovering from mental illness. With a $250,000 grant from Sarkeys in April of 2006, they were able to construct a new building where their members could work each day to achieve social, financial, vocational, and independent living goals.
Thunderbird Clubhouse was founded in l991 to help in the recovery process of adults living with mental illness. Participants are called members because the focus is on the person’s strengths not their illness. The Clubhouse is a place where people who have mental illness can come and rebuild their lives through pre-vocational training, paid employment, housing opportunities and great social/recreational experiences. Membership is for life so members have all the time they need to secure their new life in the community.
Thunderbird Clubhouse members are guaranteed...
- A place to come
- A right to meaningful work
- A right to meaningful relationships
- A right to a place to return
For more information about Thunderbird Clubhouse visit: http://www.thunderbirdclubhouse.org/
January 2010
Iron Gate
Tulsa, OK
Sarkeys Foundation awarded a grant in April of 2009 to a soup kitchen and food pantry in the Tulsa area. The mission of Iron Gate is simple but vital – to provide food in a friendly environment every day to the hungry and homeless in Tulsa without discrimination. Due to the present economic climate, the face of hunger and homelessness has changed. Guests range from newborn babies to 90-year-old seniors, and often include those households with working adults, veterans and those who receive foodstamp services.
Staff and volunteers work tirelessly to make certain the disenfranchised of our nation are forgotten and overlooked. Unfortunately, Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of people suffering from food insecurity and hunger in the nation. Twenty-five percent of homeless persons are children and 22 percent are female domestic violence victims. Oklahoma's poverty rate, abundance of low-wage and low-skill jobs, and percentage of the underinsured and uninsured continue to contribute to the homeless and hungry population. The struggle is further compounded by the fact that America is facing an emergency food shortage.
Iron Gate provides 600 meals every day of the year, which equals 219,000 meals a year. They also provide 100 grocery bags of food a week, or 5,200 a year, to those they serve.
Their other services include:
- Social Service Agency referrals
- Tuberculosis screenings
- Hygiene kits
- Special holiday meals
- Socks, hats, gloves and blankets in cold weather
For more information about Iron Gate visit: http://www.irongatetulsa.org/
December 2009
WONDERtorium
Stillwater, OK
Discouraged about driving 100 miles to participate in children's educational and entertaining activities, two average Stillwater families began to ask, "Why don't we have something here?" Thus began a grassroots effort to quantify the need, educate the community and surrounding region, and then build a premier, state of the art, interactive science and discovery Museum. They were soon called Stillwater Children's Museum because the founder families live in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
From 2001 to 2006, the all-volunteer organization designed, built and presented educational displays at community and social events. In 2006, the Museum without Walls education program was formalized with the hiring of an executive director and the formation of a committee composed of educators. In three years of operation, this effort has reached more than 11,000 area children through five inquiry-based programs focused on science and literacy.
Museum without Walls programs fulfill Oklahoma PASS (Priority Academic Student Skills) objectives, can be easily integrated into a classroom teacher’s lesson plans, and are provided to schools and child care facilities at no charge. The museum staff pursues funding for the continuation of this program on an on-going basis through grant proposals and private donations.
With the enthusiastic response to Museum without Walls programming and the realization that the community lacked affordable, family-friendly and youth-oriented educational and recreational activities, the museum staff, the Board of Directors and committees recognized the need to establish a permanent facility. Late in 2007, these same groups worked to define and refine their vision recognizing the abundance of academic resources in Stillwater, and the potential of utilizing these resources in a facility design.
A $59,624 two-year grant from Sarkeys Foundation awarded in 2008 allowed the Museum to hire a programs director. The grant provided salary funds for this position, allowing the executive director to devote more time to the capital campaign to build a permanent facility.
The Board of Directors engaged an exhibit design company to create renderings of the future exhibits and learning environments housed in a permanent facility. They are working in the "silent phase" of their capital campaign to raise half of the projected, final construction and exhibit estimates of $6 million.
Oklahoma WONDERtorium’s vision of a successful and impactful operation means hosting groups of children every day that eagerly explore and interact with the exhibits and activities encountered during their visit. Bursts of energy, noise, chatter and laughter will be a welcome condition and partial evidence that the programming of the museum is having a positive effect on the lives of visiting children. They will continue, and expand, their Museum without Walls program so they can impact the lives of children who may not have the ability to travel to Stillwater.
For more about WONDERtorium visit: http://www.okwondertorium.org/