More than 500 supporters of Scripps Mercy Hospital recently celebrated the 45th annual Mercy Ball at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina. The event raised more than $465,000 for cancer care at Scripps Mercy Hospital, which has campuses in San Diego and Chula Vista.
The event exceeded all expectations thanks to the generosity of donors and sponsors. Cancer survivors Dr. Kim Peck, Scripps Mercy Hospital, Bill Bacon, chairman of the Scripps Mercy Foundation board, and Derek Roberts, a caregiver, provided touching testimonials. Highlights included a three-song performance by 17-year-old Calysta “Caly” Bevier, a cancer survivor and 2016 “America’s Got Talent” semifinalist.
Scripps Mercy Hospital provides high-quality patient care for the communities of central and south San Diego County. It was founded in 1890 by Mother Mary Michael Cummings and the Sisters of Mercy.
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The Herbert & Judy Paige Family Foundation made a $10,000 gift to support the work of San Diego Humane Society and its PAWS San Diego program. The foundation has given PAWS $40,000 since 2013.
Brian Daugherty, senior vice president, chief philanthropy officer, San Diego Humane Society, said: “The mission of PAWS San Diego is to help people keep their pets when they (owners) fall into tough times, rather than being forced to relinquish their pets to a shelter.”
The Paiges were animal lovers and found it important to assure that the basic human needs of the elderly were served through their private philanthropic support.
Sunny Justice, executive director of The Paige foundation, said the PAWS San Diego program was a great fit for the foundation.
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The San Diego Workforce Partnership received a $1 million grant from The James Irvine Foundation to expand CONNECT2Careers, SDWP’s youth and young adult employment initiative. C2C addresses unemployment for 16-24-year-olds throughout San Diego County by aligning the career goals of young adults with businesses that are investing in our future workforce. This is the largest privately funded grant that the SDWP has received.
The two-year grant will accelerate C2C’s efforts to serve 12,000 youth and young adults during 2017 and 2018 through SDWP’s custom technology platform that matches young adults with jobs in high-growth sectors. C2C is open to all people ages 16-24 living in San Diego County, with an emphasis on serving opportunity youth — young adults (16-24) who are not in school or work. In 2016, C2C served more than 4,000 youth and young adults through a team of peer job coaches, work-readiness training, and job placement services.
The James Irvine Foundation grant will also support SDWP’s first annual “Flip the Script” youth summit that will focus on developing a community action plan to reconnect the estimated 53,000 opportunity youth to education and employment in San Diego County. It will be held April 13 at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation. Visit workforce.org/summit2017.
Send Kudos/Giving items to sglidden@sdbj.com.
