Human Needs Award winners 2022

Liz Jaffe, Chair, Human Needs Awards Committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)

We continue to be amazed by the number of groups in our region working to better the lives of those less fortunate. Each year, Jewish Federation of Greater Naples grants the Human Needs Award to recognize organizations it feels are deserving of monetary awards as well as the recognition of the special jobs they are doing to make lives better for the population they serve.

The two winners this year are Cultivate Abundance and the STARability Foundation.

Cultivate Abundance ensures yearround access to nutritious, locally grown produce, promoting home and community gardening in Immokalee in Florida’s migrant worker neighborhoods. It also equips and mobilizes an alliance of Southwest Florida gardeners to harvest and share quality, surplus homegrown produce with their Immokalee neighbors, thereby feeding people while preventing the waste of food. This organization also works with appropriate social service agencies that serve local migrant workers.

The STARability Foundation (formerly known as STARability) works with people with disabilities, focusing on what they are able to do, rather than what limits them. The STARability Foundation now has a professional staff and more than 150 volunteers who work to give their participants a better quality of life. Enrollment has grown 100% in the past seven years and now serves close to 300 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Southwest Florida. The people helped by the STARability Foundation are provided with opportunities to live their best lives through innovative and creative programs that focus on education, teamwork and community involvement.

The selection of these organizations was made by the Human Needs Committee, under the umbrella of the Jewish Community Relations Council. The Human Needs Committee had the very difficult job of selecting only two organizations among the many worthy charitable organizations in our region. A partial sampling of past awardees includes the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, Baby Basics, Shelter for Abused Women & Children, Angels Undercover, Laces of Love, Shy Wolf Sanctuary and Safe Families.

There is so much more for you to learn about our two Human Needs Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at the Power of Community Celebration on March 29, 2022, where attendees will hear Cultivate Abundance and the STARability Foundation describe their achievements and future goals.

We thank the Human Needs Committee — Bill Kaye, Suzanne Cherney, Betty Schwartz, Alicia Feldman, Stacy Nicolau, Joel Pittleman, Reneé Bialek (Federation staff) and Judi Palay, then chair — for its work in selecting these worthwhile recipients.

In April, the Human Needs Committee will begin researching other 501(c)(3) organizations worthy of selection for the 2023 Human Needs Award. We welcome your input to identify nonprofit organizations in our community that are helping to practice tikum olam (helping to repair the world).

The Human Needs Award is part of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples. Thank you for your help.

CONGRATULATIONS!

The 2022 Human Needs Award Winners are: Cultivate Abundance and The STARability Foundation

Join us at the Power of Community Celebration, March 29, 2022, to hear Cultivate Abundance and the STARability Foundation describe their achievements and future goals.