Follow the money

With the end of the black tie season comes an end to the galas and gowns, revealing a wide-open calendar and a plan for some detox and maybe even a diet. 

Our area’s social scene has a lot of events for a community this size — our Black Tie reporter covered 236 events last season. But add in that they are compressed into six months, and let’s face it: It gets intense.

That’s a lot of champagne, flowers and ball gowns. But we all know these events are to do good. They are the reason we reach for our wallets and raise our paddles when “the ask” comes — raising millions of dollars for hundreds of area nonprofits.

That purpose came sharply into focus last week. At 5:30 p.m. May 16, about 50 people gathered at the Sarasota Community Foundation for the Florida Winefest & Auction’s 25th grant awarding ceremony. It displayed the perfect link between the galas and the good they do.

The night proceeded with little fanfare. It had none of the luxury or glam displayed in the seven events the organization held during four days in early April. This was not the business of raising money; it was the business of giving it away. With no pretense or showmanship, representatives from the 18 nonprofits receiving funds that night stood up, one by one, and told everyone in the room what they plan to do with the money.

It was powerful. I understand those who feel there is a certain superficiality associated with these events or the people who attend them, but none of that was in this room. 

Instead, everyone present heard how the Tiny Hands Foundation, after seeing kids toting around their stuff in plastic Publix bags, will hand out more than 1,500 backpacks stuffed with school supplies this fall. Or, how the same organization ensures every Sarasota Police cruiser has a teddy bear stashed safely in its trunk that officers can use to soothe a child. 

Or how the Laurel Civic Association is celebrating that kids who joined its programs as mere toddlers just graduated college. No doubt the hot meals and homework assistance the association provides were crucial to these young people’s success.

Or there’s the Foundation for Dreams, which provides the Dream Oaks Camp, where youths with special needs can experience all the joys of summer camp while their parents experience the joy of a few nights of respite from caregiving. 

On and on it went, for nearly an hour. In total, the Winefest awarded $187,300. Over its 28 years, it has donated more than $8.5 million to charities that help children — and this is just one small organization in Sarasota’s huge philanthropy scene. Winefest accomplishes all of this with two ladies, President Sandy Loevner and Jan Crudele, a board and a slew of volunteers (not to mention some generous winemakers and drinkers). 

In the context of Sarasota’s giving scene, that’s a nice sum for one organization. But there also are an astonishing number of nonprofits raising millions altogether each year and doing amazing work across our area.

Ron Trytek, with Tiny Hands, summed it up best: “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they make a difference,” he said. “No one in this room has that problem.”

I’ll toast to that. 

Kat Hughes is executive editor of the Longboat, Sarasota, Siesta Key and East County Observers.