Guardians for New Futures Childrens Advocacy Center
Exec. Dir. Caroline Vinyard cuts the ribbon as Dr. Madhu Sasidhar, Debbie Butler and State Sen. Gayle Harrell cheer her on!
Guardians for New Futures Children’s Advocacy Center, Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Celebration
Nearly 200 supporters of the new Children's Advocacy Center accepted the invitation to celebrate the grand opening of the “Circle of Care”, designed to improve recovery outcomes for abused children within the 19th Circuit. The vision for Guardians is to be the leading innovators in the fight to end child abuse.
The task of drawing the supporters to the facility, located at 8561 S. Commerce Centre Drive in Port St. Lucie, proved to be reasonably easy. Bringing together the various child-welfare agencies under the same roof took time and funding. Thanks to the unwavering determination of Guardians for New Futures President Debbie Butler, things began to come together. Quite incredibly the project was completed within just 16 months from the initial launch in January 2021 to completion in April 2022.
Many generous donors stepped forward, including Peter Jones, Richard & Lori Tambone, Cleveland Clinic, Andrew & Robin Hunt, Morgridge Family Foundation, BIMWERX, Native Bloom and more. And, thanks to the hard work of State Senator Gayle Harrell, who, together with State Representative Dana Trabulsy, helped secure an additional $1.3 million, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June 2021.
Addressing the crowd, Senator Harrell stated,
"We are a community-based system based on partnerships. This is so key to the vision that the state of Florida has for taking care of children."
The newly appointed President of Cleveland Clinic Martin Health’s Tradition Hospital, Dr. Madhu Sasidhar, also shared his thoughts,
"The Cleveland Clinic has a long history of partnering with like-minded organizations to improve the lives of the community we're serving. Partnerships are key. We're so much more effective when we partner and collaborate with others."
Karen McElveen with the Sebastian Exchange Club presented a check for $10,000 to Chief Executive Officer Caroline Vinyard to be allocated to a soon-to-come sensory healing garden. The garden’s design will help children by improving health outcomes. These gardens provide a place of refuge and promote healing in children, families, and the professionals working in the field. Any environment can promote healing, but gardens are particularly able to do so because humans are hard-wired to find nature engrossing and soothing. Additional funding is needed.
For more information, or to sign up for our 2nd Annual Golf Tournament, presented by Remnant Construction on May 21 at St. Lucie Trail Golf Course, please visit GFNF4Kids.org
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