2019 was a big year for the Sunshine Foundation, and we’re excited to share everything we accomplished with you.
INAUGURAL SUNSHINE BRUNCHEON
This year we changed things up a bit and in lieu of our former "Sunshine at the Park" fundraiser, we hosted the first annual Sunshine Bruncheon at Jacaranda Country Club on April 6th. Guests were treated to an afternoon of food and drinks, silent auction prizes and a fashion show by Plantation’s Wish & Shoes boutique! The event raised over $36,000, and we’ve already begun putting that money toward mental health programs and helping those in need.
SAN FRANCISCO WELLNESS WEDNESDAY EVENT
In October, Dylan’s friend Ashley hosted a Mental Health and Wellness Wednesday event in San Francisco, CA. The evening featured stories from survivors, mindfulness practice, yoga for anxiety and depression, healing with plant medicine, a gratitude wall and more. We are so thankful to Ashley for bringing our foundation and cause over to the West Coast!
AMERICA’S VETDOG SUNNY PLACED WITH VETERAN MIKE
This year we sponsored the training of a service dog named Sunny; he graduated his training program in March and was placed with a wonderful veteran named Mike. I was lucky enough to meet Mike at the VetDogs training facility in Long Island where he and Sunny had been getting to know each other and training together for 2 weeks before Sunny went home with him to Kentucky. Mike suffers from CRPS, a chronic pain condition in his foot as a result of his service, and Sunny helps him to stand up, sit down and perform other activities. They make a perfect pair!
Mike and Sunny
Mike is a wonderful guy who did so much for our country, and Sunny has become his right hand man. We loved spending the day with them at Sunny’s graduation.
AFSP OUT OF THE DARKNESS WALK
This year we were a top sponsor for the AFSP Out of the Darkness Community Walk at Nova Southeastern University. We donated $5,000 to the organization as part of the event which aims to give people the courage to open up about their own struggle or loss and a platform to change our culture’s approach to mental health.
OTHER DONATIONS AND MENTAL HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS
In addition to these larger initiatives:
We sponsored the FISP Hugs for Hope 5K in May, giving $5,000 to be put toward additional mental health and suicide prevention programs including the HOPE Sunshine Clubs.
We purchased banners for the HOPE Sunshine Clubs to promote their organization at school functions.
We sponsored the FISP Boost Your Brain event, which featured health screenings, a keynote speaker from The Jason Foundation (a leader in addressing teen issues and suicide prevention), and dynamic conversations addressing health and wellness, stress management and family topics.
We donated $500 to the Hope Outreach Center to create 400 back to school backpacks for kids in need.
We sponsored the YMCA Veteran’s Day Breakfast for Veterans, contributing $1,000.
We contributed $1,000 to K9s for Warriors, another wonderful organization that provides service dogs to service members in need.
We donated $1,500 to the Broward County Humane Society.
We sponsored the Yoga 4 B Waves of Hope event for $2,000. Yoga 4 B is a non-profit located in Parkland and their mission is to implement mindful therapeutic yoga programs in the community. One of their tentpole programs is a healing retreat called Waves of Hope for parents grieving the loss of a child. Most of their fundraising goes toward sponsoring parents who could otherwise not afford it to go on a healing retreat.