General Motors LLC has partnered with Tarrant County College to provide job training using an $868,179 Skills Development Fund grant from the Texas Workforce Commission. This grant will be used to develop custom training for 549 new and current workers. Workers will be trained in hydraulics and pneumatics, welding, carpentry maintenance and project management. Those trained will include electricians, stationary engineers, toolmakers, millwrights and industrial engineers. In another partnership, TCC is one of 11 community and technical colleges nationwide selected by the Walmart Foundation to receive grant funding to support veteran vocational education. The Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University received the initial $1 million grant from Walmart Foundation’s $20 million five-year pledge. The program started on Memorial Day.The grants will seed, cultivate and provide technical assistance to college programs focused on workforce development that help find jobs for veterans and transitioning service members. Working in conjunction with partners including Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County and Central Texas College, TCC will serve at least 45 veterans during the project period, with more expected in the future. The support of area employers including Bell Helicopter, Four Seasons, Grover Corp. and Weir Oil and Gas will help to establish sustaining training programs and services beyond the grant-funded period.
COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPISTS HONORED In celebration of National Community Foundation Week Nov. 12-18 and National Philanthropy Day Nov. 15, the regional chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored local philanthropists and organizations making a difference in their communities. The Ella C. McFadden Charitable Trust, a fund stewarded by Fort Worth-based Community Foundation of North Texas, was chosen as Outstanding Philanthropic Organization. The trust, left by Helen (Ella) Charlotte McFadden upon her death in 1965, set aside $12.6 million to benefit 13 specific nonprofit organizations and is now valued at more than $29 million – and that is after giving $21.9 million in gifts over 28 years. Roby V. Key, associate vice chancellor for advancement at Texas Christian University, was named Outstanding Professional Fundraising Executive. Ryan Scott Prince, a student at Fort Worth Country Day, was named Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy. Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser was Will A. Courtney Jr., owner of Courtney & Courtney Properties, and community philanthropists Shirlee and Taylor Gandy were named Outstanding Philanthropists. VETERANS FACILITY GETS FACELIFT Forty Home Depot volunteers through the Home Depot Foundation painted, repaired and replaced appliances at the Patriot House/Veterans Services facility, a transitional living quarters for 32 homeless veterans within the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Fort Worth. The volunteers spent Nov. 13-14 renovating the facility. The Presbyterian Night Shelter is the largest free homeless shelter in the area, serving 4,150 men, women and children in 2012. The agency serves people in four facilities: Main Shelter, for single men and women; Lowdon-Schutts Building, for women and children; Safe Haven, for those with mental illness; and Patriot House/Veterans Services.
YMCA TURKEY TROT ON TRACK More than 14,000 runners/trotters from Fort Worth, Tarrant County and around the country will flock to Camp Bowie Boulevard Nov. 28 – Thanksgiving morning – for the 32nd annual Moritz Fort Worth YMCA Turkey Trot, which benefits the scholarship/youth program of the Westside YMCA. This year’s event, presented by Total Building Maintenance, features a 1K Gobbler Trot for kids and families beginning at 8 a.m., a 10K run starting at 8:15 a.m. and a 5K run at 8:30 a.m. All races will start in front of Frost Bank at 6115 Camp Bowie Blvd. and end at Sunset Street and Westridge Avenue. Course maps can be found at www.fwtrot.org. Registration is open at Luke’s Locker, 2600 W. Seventh St. in Fort Worth, or in Colleyville at 5505 Colleyville Blvd., Suite 120, until Nov. 27 or online at www.fwtrot.org until 8 a.m. Nov. 28. Entry fee is $26 until Nov. 26 plus $3 for required chip timing; $30 on Nov. 27, plus $3 to be chip timed; $35 plus $3 for chip timing on race day; and $10 for well-trained dogs. Entry fee for the Gobbler Trot is $20 per runner before Nov. 27 and $35 on race day.
GOODWILL GOLF TOURNEY BAGS $128,000 Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth Inc. raised $128,000 at its sixth annual Goodwill Classic, a Tournament of Excellence, on Nov. 4. More than 144 golfers participated alongside tournament co-chairmen Nolan and Ruth Ryan and Mike and Rosie Moncrief at Ridglea Country Club’s North Course. Since its inception in 2008, the tournament has raised more than $725,000 to help individuals with disabilities or other barriers to employment achieve independence through Goodwill’s job training and placement programs.
Send nonprofit news to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net
