by Alison Lueders, Great Green Editing
There’s a neat story behind the recent grant of $20,000 to the Sustany® Foundation. It’s a great example of “what goes around comes around” in the best sense of that phrase.
It starts with the Tampa Bay Lightning. At the beginning of the 2011-2012 season, Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and his wife, Penny, launched the Community Heroes initiative. The program awards $50,000 to a non-profit charity at each of the Lightning’s 41 regular season games. They plan to distribute $10 million to deserving grass roots community heroes throughout Tampa Bay over the next 5 years.
What’s this got to do with Sustany®? In mid-March, the Lightning award of $50,000 went to Dana Pounds, Executive Director of Nature’s Academy. Nature’s Academy is a non-profit environmental education company based in Bradenton. As it happens, Dana received early assistance from the Sustany® Foundation when founding Nature’s Academy back in 2009. It was an easy choice to donate $20,000 of her award back to Sustany® to support Sustany®’s programs going foward, (More to come on Dana Pounds and on Sustany®’s plans for the money in future posts!)
This is a great example of the kind of “virtuous circle” we’d like to see more of. Sustany®’s input years ago helped Nature’s Academy to launch. Nature’s Academy has touched hundreds of kids’ lives in Tampa Bay since, leading to well-deserved recognition from the Lightning Foundation. And now, due to the Lightning Foundation’s vision and generosity, both Sustany® and Nature’s Academy can think and act even bigger when it comes to educating people about the environment and sustainable practices.
Do you know a Community Hero in Tampa Bay? Nominations to the Lightning Foundation for this year are closed, but check out these eligibility criteria for future reference. I can think of lots of folks who fit the bill. Let’s shine a light on them!
Truth in advertising: I am not a hockey fan, but I may become one after this.