Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Nonprofits get $1.2 million
Upgrades to the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium plus meals for homebound seniors in LakeWorth are coming to Palm Beach County, thanks to new grants topping $1.2 million.
The state of Florida just awarded $500,000 to the science center in West Palm Beach to help upgrade its oldest building. The center will leverage that money to raise a total of $2 million for improvements including a modernized Hall of Discovery, new roof and planetarium upgrades at the building.
The push comes a year after the center, formerly known as the South Florida Science Museum, opened a 6,000-squarefoot expansion. Since then, attendance has doubled, helping spur the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches to name the science center its nonprofit of the year.
Meanwhile, the Quantum Foundation of West Palm Beach announced grants totaling $710,000 for health-related projects in the county. Those include $70,000 to help nonprofit Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches expand its hotmeal-a-day delivery system into Lake Worth to help homebound seniors there.
Meals on Wheels, through volunteers, delivered more than 13,000 meals inWest Palm Beach last year, and it plans to deliver 4,000 meals to seniors in LakeWorth annually, the foundation said.
Other new Quantum grants include $205,000 for Florida Atlantic University Community Health Center to provide culturally sensitive primary health care and other services; $150,000 for Legal-Aid Society to expand access to the justice system for underserved residents with medical issues; plus $125,000 for Center for Family Services to help families through counseling, education and homeless intervention.
Quantum also granted $100,000 to Place ofHope to help young people aging out of foster care and $60,000 for Alzheimer’s Community Care to help families living with neurocognitive disorders.
A private grant-making group, Quantum Foundation has assets of about $140 million. Since its inception in 1997, it has awarded more than $115 million in health-related grants in Palm Beach County.