Melissa Vargas, Miami Children’s Museum, with Jamael Stewart, Jeneen Garcia and Alicia Bower of Breakthrough Miami, with the one and only Billy the Marlin!

 The Marlins Foundation announced the 2013 Charity Partners during the pre-game ceremonies at Marlins Park on Saturday, April 27

The four organizations selected to receive a $25,000 gift from the Marlins Foundation are Miracle League of Miami-Dade, Breakthrough Miami, Miami Children’s Museum and Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Marlins Foundation Charity Partner Program was created to make a focused impact in philanthropy. Additional benefits include volunteers from Marlins Ayudan, recognition throughout the season at Marlins Park, and player involvement.

Jamael Stewart with Billy the Marlin at tonight’s announcement of the Marlin’s Charity Partner Empowerment grant winners

“During the Inaugural Year at Marlins Park, the Marlins Foundation gifted over $1.2 MM in philanthropy in South Florida. In addition, over 6,000 hours of volunteer service was done through Marlins Ayudan. To continue our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, and in recognition of the vital role non-profits play in South Florida, the Marlins Foundation has selected four impactful organizations to empower and designate as our official 2013 Charity Partners.” said Miami Marlins President, David Samson.

Marlins Foundation received 137 applications, which went through two application processes. To be considered as a 2013 Marlins Charity Partner, organizations must provide direct and unique programming for youth through educational, arts and baseball related programming, more specifically by providing unique experiences for kids in schools, parks and on the water.

The Marlins donations will go toward the building of Miami’s first Miracle League field as well as an elective course during Breakthrough Miami’s summer-institute called, “Life Lessons through Baseball”. The sponsorship with Miami Children’s Museum will provide “Sensory Saturdays,” where children with special-needs are invited with their families to enjoy the museum exhibits. The last $25,000 donation will provide free comprehensive diagnostic eye exams for children through the partnership with Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

 

We are very pleased to announce that Katherine Barahona has been selected as one of the 1,000 Gates Millennium Scholars for the GMS Class of 2013. We commend her on her strong leadership, community service and academic achievements that contributed to her selection as a Gates Millennium Scholar.  Her accomplishment is especially notable in context of the more than 54,000 students who applied, making this year’s the largest and most competitive group of candidates in the program’s history.  We are very excited for her to join the community of Gates Scholars and we are very pleased to confer this distinct honor that distinguishes her as a Leader for America’s Future^™. As a Gates Millennium Scholar, GMS funds are available for her to attend any U.S. located, accredited* college or university of her choice. 

If you’re on Facebook, go to the Marlins Facebook page and “Like” it. Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a button that says “Marlins Charity Partner Empowerment Fund.” Click on that tab to see the names of all the groups who are being considered for the grant.  Click the circle next to Breakthrough Miami and you’re done!  (You must “Like” the Marlins page in order to vote for us.)

To help out even more, share that Marlins page and tell other people how to vote for Breakthrough. Every vote that we get helps us get the grant.

Twitter followers can also help Breakthrough. Follow the Marlins (@Marlins) and tweet TO them – “.@Marlins – I support Breakthrough Miami for the #MarlinsCharityPartnerEmpowermentFund” – you can just copy and paste that text into a tweet! Ask your Twitter followers to do the same if possible.

Feel free to share this page via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social media networks you use. You can even view it on a phone, take a screenshot and post it to Instagram if you want to. If you use Instagram, be sure to tag the Marlins in the post! Just like on Twitter, the tag is @Marlins.

That’s it! It couldn’t be any simpler to help Breakthrough Miami in this competition.

Thank you for you support and help. We appreciate it!

Queen Latifah and Tony Bennett perform at the 2012 Blacks’ Annual Gala.

Each year, this annual fundraising gala draws more than 500 of Miami’s Who’s Who, a committed group of donors, philanthropists, business leaders and celebrities who come to party for a great cause. Top tier entertainment, exciting live and silent auctions, cocktails and gourmet cuisine contribute to an event that is often referred to as “over the top” in its ability to showcase Miami’s best to raise funds for those most in need.

The Blacks’ Annual Gala benefits the Consequences Charity, Teach for America, Breakthrough Miami, Big Dreams for Kids and other 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

Please reserve your space before the invitations go out by emailing Jason Clarke or calling him at 305.443-8980 or visiting the website gala ticket purchase page.

Limited space is available, so get tickets before they are gone!

Click Here to Download the College Tour Application

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT:

Kiskinis Communications, Inc.

John Kiskinis (305) 447-1224

Miami Bayside Foundation Extends

Educational Partnership to Breakthrough Miami

MIAMI, FL – The Miami Bayside Foundation recently announced a gift of $50,000 to Breakthrough Miami, an award-winning organization that provides a tuition-free, eight-year academic enrichment program serving motivated students from disadvantaged communities in 5th to 12th grade. The funds will be allocated over the course of five years, $10,000 per year, to programs located in the City of Miami and benefiting the organization’s City of Miami minority students.

Founded in 1986, the Miami Bayside Foundation seeks to stimulate economic development in the City of Miami and provide educational opportunities for minorities who live in the City of Miami. As part of its mission, the recent gift will provide talented students within the city the resources needed to pursue their academic goals.

Recently, the Foundation has made contributions benefiting students at local institutions of higher education such as Miami Dade College, Florida International University and Florida Memorial University. This gift is a first for the organization – as it focuses on college preparatory education.

“Education is one of the most important elements of our mission,” said Nathan Kurland, Chairman. “The foundation of any strong educational policy is to make improvements starting at the primary school level. We are very excited to announce that this gift will help those young students achieve their most ambitious life goals by ensuring the tools they need to move forward.”

Formerly known as Summerbridge Miami, Breakthrough Miami is the largest and most dynamic affiliate of San Francisco-based Breakthrough Collaborative, which has 33 sites nationwide. Today, Breakthrough Miami serves more than 1,000 students from across Miami-Dade County on sites located at five independent schools and one public charter school. Last year, 100 percent of the program’s senior class graduated and 98 percent went on to a competitive 2 or 4 year college or university.

“The generous gift and multi-year commitment to our program by Miami Bayside Foundation makes an important statement about investing in the future of our community,” said Alicia Rodriguez Bower, Executive Director of Breakthrough Miami. “We are truly grateful for their leadership and their support.”

For more information on the Miami Bayside Foundation, call (305) 379-7070, e-mail info@miamibaysidefoundation.org or visit www.miamibaysidefoundation.org.

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About Miami Bayside Foundation

The Miami Bayside Foundation, a City of Miami-based non-profit established in 1986, has created and administers a loan program for minority businesses, has established a scholarship fund for minorities studying entrepreneurship and business, and provides technical assistance to community and development organizations in the City of Miami. For more information on the Miami Bayside Foundation, visit www.miamibaysidefoundation.org.

Here are their results — in the form of graphs they made — from 64 exit poll surveys at precinct 538.

By Diana Viart, 5th grade

I asked people to fill out an exit. Some of them did but others were just rude and walked away. The precinct clerk said that we had to be 75 to 100ft away from the polls and wait until voters were done.  He said this was the law. So we decided to split into groups and ask the people as they were walking away from the polls.

I met a nice person who filled it out with no problem. Her name was Francis Domingo. Francis Domingo, a Dominican women, talked about why is so important to vote. We also talked about education and how she was not sure about education but she support’s kids. “Children do need education if they are going to make something of their life. They can be doctors lawyers, teachers,” she said.

Editor’s note: This passage was written by Breakthrough Miami scholar Diana Viart, a fifth grade student at Shenandoah Elementary School. 

After all of the late nights studying for my tests, and quizzes, Saturday could not have come fast enough! Before I knew it, the count down was finally over and I was driving down to Islamorada with Christine. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Captain Curt’s house, the weather was looking a little grim and the wind just began to pick up. Regardless of the weather, everyone remained optimistic! Captain Curt informed us that we would be going to a shallow site that was approximately 15-22 feet  in hopes that the water would be less choppy. Little did we know, we underestimated the power of the waves.

As we waited for our guests to arrive, we each predicted which species of shark we were going to encounter that day. Although there was a little discrepancy about what we were going to catch, we all agreed that this shark tagging expedition had good vibes. Fortunately, we were correct, and the student group was able to have a great educational and hands on experience. We went out with a group that is apart of a program called Breakthrough Miami. This program assists low income and disadvantaged students and their families that reside in the Dade County. The students of the Breakthrough Miami program are taught, supervised, and mentored by high school student volunteers from Palmer Trinity School (grades 6-12). We hosted 15 middle schools students, 3 high school mentors, and the program’s chaperones on Saturday’s trip. We were thrilled to be hosting this program because Leann Winn, one of the RJD trip leaders, is a teacher at Palmer Trinity School, and she raved about how wonderful and intelligent these students are.

When we arrived at the site, we found that working through the water’s choppiness was a bit of a challenge. The RJD interns deployed the first 10 drumlines because of the rough waters, but as we waited for the bait to soak, the students began to feel seasick. Captain Curt decided that after we pull up the first 2 sets of 10 drumlines that we were going to switch locations. The unsafe, choppy waters not only made the students sick, but it also prevented the students from part taking in the research. Although the seas were unforgiving, the first two sets of drumlines were actually very successful!

We caught a Nurse shark on the second line that we pulled up! This female shark was a decent size, totaling a length of 2.20 m (7.2 feet). Only two lines later we pulled up another female Nurse shark. She was a little longer and had more girth than the previous Nurse that we caught, totaling a length of 2.39 m (7.8 feet). We were on a roll, and even through the seasickness, the students began perk up at the sight of the sharks. To finish up the first set, we caught another big fish. As we reeled in the line, we realized that we did not catch another Nurse shark. We caught an adult Tiger shark! At this point, I literally jumped out of excitement because this was the first adult Tiger Shark that I have caught with the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program! This gorgeous female Tiger totaled at 1.82 m (5.97 feet). This specific shark was extremely rare because she was a recaptured shark that we caught the weekend before! It’s rare for the RJ Dunlap program encounters a recaptured shark, so we were thrilled to see this lovely lady again!