RS&H Elevate Fund Supports 18 Charities Throughout 2022
Every year, the RS&H Elevate Fund supports our associates in aiding the communities we work and live in by encouraging and funding volunteer and charitable activities that align with our values. Through Elevate, RS&H provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on helping people and the environment, supporting children and youth programs and enhancing education.
Over the course of the past year, RS&H’s Elevate Fund has distributed grants totaling nearly $100,000 to 18 nonprofit organizations in the communities we serve.
A committee of RS&H associates reviews the organizations – all nominated by associates – and distributes funding. Since the fund’s inception, the requests for Elevate grants have grown in number and widened in the variety and footprint of organizations.
The Elevate Fund is just one part of RS&H’s culture of care, which starts with valuing our associates and extends to partners, clients and communities. Since launching Elevate in 2018, RS&H has donated nearly $500,000 to charity groups and nonprofit organizations.
“The recognition of RS&H to do something like Elevate is amazing,” said Elevate Fund Committee Chair Sean Kortovich. “It’s an incentive for us because we are giving back to organizations our people are passionate about, promoting a culture of giving back and helping other people even when you may not know them.”
The organizations receiving Elevate funding this year include:
Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers and Scientists
CABPES encourages and supports minority youth in their pursuit and attainment of a career in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Our donation benefits afterschool programs for nearly 250 students to develop more STEM skills.
Feeding the Gulf Coast – Backpack Program
Helping chronically hungry children is the mission of Feeding the Gulf Coast. The group’s backpack program ensures children have nutritious and easy-to-prepare food for home on weekends and during school vacations. This donation helped to provide food for 100 children at two elementary schools
Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO)
GTBAO bridges the education gap by increasing engineering awareness for K-12 students in underserved communities, offering networking and professional opportunities for current students and alumni, and preserving black history at Georgia Tech. RS&H’s donation will support an upcoming event and ongoing mentoring opportunities.
Girl Scouts of Gateway Council
Girl Scouts of Gateway Council is committed to building girls of courage, confidence and character through skills development, leadership training and adventure. The funds donated will go toward exposing girls to STEM career opportunities with hopes to build a future pipeline of female STEM professionals in North Florida. Students will also have the chance to connect with subject matter experts and engage in hands-on experiments and projects.
Grace Ministry of Helping Hands
Grace Ministry of Helping Hands of Jacksonville provides a pathway for women to escape various addictions and sex trafficking so they can begin rebuilding their lives. The Elevate grant will provide safe, sober living facilities and financial support for the residents.
Jacksonville Arboretum and Botanical Gardens
The arboretum and gardens serve the Jacksonville community by cultivating a unique environment for recreation, education and inspiration. Elevate funding will go toward repairs to a wooden bridge that leads to a beautiful waterfall in the area. The construction of this bridge will be completed through the coordination of the Home Builders Institute, a program that provides skills and experiences for veterans to pursue and secure meaningful careers in the construction industry.
MATHCOUNTS
MATHCOUNTS provides middle school students with programs and tools to build confidence and a positive approach toward math and problem solving. This Elevate donation will go to MATHCOUNTS competitions across the country.
CASA of DuPage County
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) recruits, trains and supports volunteers to be a voice for abused, neglected, dependent and vulnerable children in the DuPage County court system in Illinois. Elevate funding benefits CASA’s Guardianship Assistance Program, which aims to help address the needs of those intending to assume legal guardianship of a child in probate court. Our support helps fund professional staff needed to supervise volunteers on these causes to ensure that each child’s best interests are upheld.
Cathedral Arts Project
The Cathedral Arts Project aims to empower every child’s creative spirit, elevate art educators in their field and advocate for access and equity in arts education. With help from the Elevate Fund, the Cathedral Arts Project was able to gain support for its art learning programs to help introduce children to the joys of artistic discovery while providing them with a safe and supportive environment.
Communities in Schools of Jacksonville
Communities in Schools (CIS) of Jacksonville was created to surround students with a community of support empowering them to stay in school and live successful lives. Currently, CIS serves more than 7,000 students in 40 Duval County Public Schools. RS&H provided funds for CIS’s Robotics Program, an exciting opportunity given to students in CIS to take on real-world engineering challenges.
Communities Refugee & Immigration Services (CRIS)
CRIS helps refugees and immigrants reach safety and stability, sustain self-sufficiency and achieve successful integration into the central Ohio community. Elevate is supporting the creation of an art club, culminating in a two-month gallery show at Wild Goose Creative in Franklinton, Ohio. Young refugees and immigrants learn about art, mediums and potential careers within the field while being provided with services including food insecurity resources, employment opportunities for adults and mental support for each student and artist.
Dallas-Fort Worth National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)
NOMA supports diversity by cultivating and fostering growth among minority architects, interns and related disciplines in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. Through its “Project Pipeline” summer camp program for middle schoolers, students can engage in the design process through drawing, model building, diagramming, researching and site visits to create a fully realized project that addresses an issue in the DFW area.
Ecclesia Community Development Corporation (ECDC)
ECDC empowers, develops and elevates young people and adults through training them to reach their highest potential and enhance their quality of life emotionally, educationally, physically and spiritually. ECDC’s Let’s Eat program is dedicated to food distribution to the homeless and needy families in the Detroit area. RS&H is helping ECDC reach its goal of serving 100 people in need per month.
Hunt with Heart
Hunt with Heart is an organization created to empower and enhance the lives of young people battling severe, life-altering or life-threatening illnesses. Outdoor activities help to provide relief to these children and their immediate families who enjoy the outdoors as well as providing an educational experience related to outdoor safety, appreciation of nature and the importance of protecting our national environment through conservation and wildlife management. Elevate is aiding the purchase of equipment necessary for providing this program for larger groups of young individuals with congenital heart defects.
Magdalena House
The Magdalena House in San Antonio, Texas, offers transitional housing and wraparound services to mothers and their children who are experiencing violence. Through utilizing a dual-generation approach, Magdalena House provides safe shelter, basic needs, educational programming and therapeutic services for survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking, young mothers aging out of foster care and mothers who are working on reunification plans with Child Protective Services. Elevate Funding will contribute to the Magdalena House Community Building.
Meals for the Elderly
Meals for the Elderly is a private, non-profit, charitable organization that is devoted to serving the homebound elderly of the San Angelo, Texas, area with a hot and nutritious meal each weekday. In addition to the normal weekday meal, a sack lunch is also provided on the Friday of each week to assist the recipients in getting through the weekend. Funding from RS&H will help Meals for the Elderly to continue with weekday meal delivery as well as sack lunches.
The Park People
The Park People work to preserve, enhance and advocate for parks, recreation resources, open space and urban forests located in Denver, Colorado. They work to make Denver a greener city by planting trees in low-income neighborhoods engaging the community and recruiting volunteers from the affected neighborhoods. The Elevate Fund will contribute to the Mile High Tree Champions program which partners with corporate sponsors to plant trees in a community of need.
Special Olympics Florida, Inc.
Special Olympics Florida provides year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-themed sports to people with intellectual disabilities. This allows them to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills, and friendships with their families, other Special Olympic athletes and the community. RS&H will contribute to funding Camp Shriver, a place designed to provide people with intellectual disabilities the experience of a camp in an environment that includes opportunities to be around athletes with and without these disabilities.
At the center of the Elevate Fund’s investments is RS&H’s mission to support impactful community organizations – moving the needle in ways big and small. As the opportunities to do so expand, be sure to stay updated on our community involvement news.