West Palm Beach-based nonprofit Quantum Foundation celebrated its 15th annual Quantum in the Community Breakfast by announcing that it will commit $12.5 million to local grassroots organizations over the next 10 years.
That translates to $1.25 million in yearly funding for local nonprofits with an annual budget under $500,000 dollars, said Quantum Foundation Board Chair William Meyer, a longtime Palm Beach resident and real estate developer.
“We have 140 organizations we’re giving checks to this morning that might not make it if we weren’t able to give them this gift,” Meyer told the Daily News.
The foundation, formed in 1995 from $125 million in proceeds from the sale of JFK Medical Center in Atlantis, supports various local organizations addressing basic needs such as food, clothing, transportation, financial support and shelter.
Hosted at the Kravis Center, the Nov. 28 Quantum in the Community Breakfast is the foundation’s event meant to highlight and financial support the small grassroots organizations vying to make a difference in their local community, Meyer said.
But some of those organizations received their funding on Oct. 31 to combat the services lost during the government shutdown, Meyer said.
“We couldn’t wait until the government came back. We had to get the money out to support food insecure people,” he said. “So, all the organizations that were geared toward combatting hunger, we have them 50% of their funding before the breakfast.”
The breakfast also included testimony from previous grantees, including Clinics Can Help CEO Owen O’Neill, who told the audience that the foundation served as an invaluable early partner in their efforts to provide valuable medical equipment to those who cannot afford it.
“I’m here today because the Quantum Foundation gave us a Quantum in the Community grant back in 2008,” O’Neill said to the audience of 300. “Because we received that grant … it gave us greater credibility with other foundations, so we could organize, we could continue to grow.”
Since then, O’Neill said Clinics Can Help has aided 30,000 people, providing thousands of wheelchairs, hundreds of hospital beds, and a slew of other valuable medical equipment including nebulizers and CPAP machines.
Quantum Foundation President Eric Kelly told the audience the funding the organization’s funding would mean little without the dedicated organizations it has partnered with throughout Palm Beach County.
“You do more than provide services,” he said to the nonprofit representatives in attendance. “You restore dignity, you provide hope, you provide courage and you encourage.”
During the breakfast, the foundation also awarded the Federation of Families of Florida and its volunteer, Reverend Willie Lawrence, with this year’s Marie Thorpe Above & Beyond Award. The award is named after Marie Thorpe, a late Quantum Foundation staff member who dedicated more than 20 years of her life to the foundation, advancing its central tenet of community service.
Ronald Romear, board of trustees vice chair for the foundation, highlighted Lawrence’s over 60 years of service to the communities of Belle Glade, Riviera Beach and Wellington. His efforts have included aiding the homeless, working in community gardens, chaperoning after-school students and facilitating mental health groups.
“He consistently shows up with humility and heart,” Romear said. “Rev. Willie Lawrence truly goes above and beyond, an inspiring civil leader, whose legacy is defined by compassion, commitment and unwavering service to his community.”
Attendees to the Nov. 18 breakfast included West Palm Beach Mayor Keith A. James, WPB City Commission President Christina Lambert and state Rep. Jervonte Edmonds.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Quantum Foundation announces $12.5 million, 10-year plan to fund grassroots organizations
Reporting by Diego Diaz Lasa, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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