The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command Awarded $2.5 Million Bezos Day Grant
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Shalla Ashworth, Director of Development
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Shalla.ashworth@uss.salvationarmy.org
The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command Awarded $2.5 Million Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant to Help Fort Myers Families Find Safe Shelter, Housing and Stability
Fund grants $117.55 million to 38 nonprofits across the U.S. making measurable progress on reducing family homelessness
FORT MYERS, Fla. – (Nov. 21, 2023): The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command, which has provided assistance to those in need in our community since 1951, today announced that it has received a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund—the largest gift in the organization’s history. This is the sixth round of annual Day 1 Families Fund grants, which recognize leading organizations doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness secure housing and achieve stability.
“There are too many families living in hotels and cars,” said Major Ethan Frizzell of the Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command. “The Day 1 Families Fund grant is catalytic to changing the paths to rehousing and hope. Indeed, it is a pathway of hope.”
This one-time, uniquely flexible grant will support The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command in serving as a critical lifeline to children and adults in families experiencing homelessness, who represent more than a quarter of the homeless population nationally. The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command plans to use its Day 1 Families Fund grant to launch “2 Gen Families First,” a comprehensive approach to strengthening the family, encouraging full-child development and enhancing employability of parents.
The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command was selected as a Day 1 Families Fund grant recipient by a group of national advisors who are leading advocates and experts on homelessness and service provision. National advisors brought expertise on housing justice, advancing racial equity and helping programs employ resources effectively to assist families out of homelessness.
Over the past six years, the Day 1 Families Fund has provided 208 grants totaling more than $630 million to organizations around the country working on the frontlines to identify unsheltered families, help families regain housing and connect families experiencing homelessness to vital services. A selection of more than half of the Day 1 Families Fund grantees who received funding between 2018 through 2021 report that, to date, they have used their grants to divert more than 28,000 families from experiencing homelessness, connect more than 30,000 unsheltered families with safe shelter and help more than 75,000 families access the services they need.
This year, the Fund issued a total of $117.55 million in grants to 38 organizations. The Day 1 Families Fund has now granted this award to organizations in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. New states this year include Arkansas, Vermont and Wyoming. The full list of awardees is available at bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund.
Launched in 2018, the Bezos Day One Fund made a $2 billion commitment to focus on making meaningful and lasting impacts in two areas: funding existing nonprofits that help families experiencing homelessness, and creating a network of new, nonprofit tier-one preschools in low-income communities. The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness—including those who are unsheltered or staying in shelters—regain safe, stable housing and achieve well-being. The vision statement comes from the inspiring Mary’s Place in Seattle: no child sleeps outside. For more information, visit www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.
About The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command
For over 70 years, The Salvation Army, Fort Myers Area Command has served Lee, Hendry & Glades Counties by offering help, hope, and home to thousands of vulnerable men, woman, and children. Basic needs assistance (food, shelter, clothing, and personal goods), mental health and substance abuse counseling, life skills classes, employment and housing support, intensive case management and special holiday assistance programs are some of the services we offer to victims of natural disaster, those living in poverty, those afflicted with mental illness and addictions and individuals and families experiencing homelessness. With our Edison Ave Center of Hope serving as the base of our operations, we are able to extend our presence to Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Lehigh Acres, LaBelle and Clewiston, providing many of the services mentioned above to those communities.
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