LWRWC Receives Community Spirit Award
On Wednesday, March 29 the Lakewood Ranch Women’s Club was presented with the Community Spirit Award during a luncheon held at the Bradenton Area Convention Center. There were over 500 people in attendance. The LWRWC was one of five awards given by the Manatee Community Foundation.
LWRWC was nominated by their four adopted charities, Hope Family Services, Solve Maternity Homes, Smart Riding Therapy and Children’s Guardian Fund (CGF).
In their nomination, the charities praised LWRWC for being “an ever-present force for good.” LWRWC recently celebrated 25 years of charitable giving and has donated more than $500,000 to their adopted charities, in addition to a plethora of in-kind donations, such as birthday bags and books for children at HOPE’s Domestic Violence Shelter, barn supplies for SMART, linens for SOLVE, and back-to-school backpacks filled with supplies for CGF. The LWRWC Blankets 4 Babies Committee donated almost 600 gorgeous handmade blankets and quilts for children in need and throughout the pandemic the Club donated hundreds of handmade masks.
Ann Sledz, 2023 LWRWC President and Monika Templeman, LWRWC Publicity Chair and 2017 Past President accepted the award on behalf of LWRWC.
After expressing gratitude on behalf of the 350 LWRWC members,
Ann said “our foremothers must be very proud of what LWRWC accomplished during its 25 years! To have been nominated by our four wonderful, adopted charities, only adds to our pride in receiving this award. We love that our charities consider us to be an Army of Angels and we will continue to work to benefit our community through good times and tough times. Nothing can keep us down”.
Monika said “supporting and partnering with our beloved charities is truly a labor of love. On behalf of all LWRWC past presidents, we thank the incredible team at MCF and our immense gratitude to Laurel Lynch and Char Young, retired and current CEO’s of HOPE, Peggy Kerwin, CEO of Solve, Rebecca Blitz, CEO of SMART, and Svetlana Ivashchenko, CEO of CGF. They referred to us as “an army of angels,” but they are our Archangels who do such amazing work, and we are determined to do all we can to continue to partner with them to help those in need in our wonderful community that we love.”