The nonprofit organizations benefiting from the activities surrounding next year’s Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade reach children of all ages.
On Tuesday afternoon, the parade committee kicked off its annual fundraising campaign by announcing the recipients. Cooper’s Cause Foundation, Imagine Drop-In Childcare and Junior Achievement will split the money raised as part of the 2011 event.
Last year, the parade and other fundraising activities pulled in $52,500 for five organizations.
“We try to reach as many children as we can with the money that we get that will actually make a difference,” said Roger Browning, from the parade committee.
For Imagine Drop-In Childcare, the money could provide several thousands of hours of child care, said Kelly Evans, the director of Trinity In-Home Care, which runs the child care program.
“We are elated,” Evans said. “The funds will get spread over so many different families and situations.”
Specifically, the money will provide care for children at risk, homeless families, parents with a serious illness, unemployed people during a job interview, as well as children who are at risk of abuse or neglect.
Since the center opened nine months ago, it has helped more than 80 families.
Junior Achievement will use the money to help pay for teaching materials so the program can expand to more classrooms. This year, Junior Achievement will connect with more than 4,000 students in 200 classrooms in Lawrence.
“And still more classrooms want Junior Achievement. Our limits are the funds to buy the materials,” said Jeff Novorr, the past chairman of the local organization.
Like other nonprofits, the past few years have been difficult for Junior Achievement’s fundraising efforts.
“This is a big deal for us,” Novorr said.
Cooper’s Cause provides financial assistance to families of pediatric heart patients in Lawrence. The nonprofit was founded by the family of Cooper Keefer, who was born with multiple heart defects and has had multiple open heart surgeries.
Cooper’s mom, Kristi Keefer, said the money will be used to help cover medical expenses not covered by health insurance.
“We are a small organization and fairly new. So this is going to go a long way to help,” Keefer said.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee raises money through its annual auction, 5K run, and T-shirt sales. The committee also has a trivia night, dart tournament, motorcycle rally, casino night, bowling event, spelling bee and Texas Hold’em poker tournament to bring in funds.
The first events, the spelling bee and poker tournament, will be held in November. For more information visit lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com.
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