Healthy Start Coalition Reaches Fundraising Milestone

July 28, 2021 – Sarasota

Even if all goes as planned, being a new parent is hard work. Along with the sleepless nights, countless diapers, and potty training, there are financial and emotional tolls. Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County recently met a fundraising challenge aimed to help new mothers, especially women of color and at-risk populations, be the best for their newborn.

In partnership with a matching grant from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, Healthy Start raised $286,732 from the community to establish the Dr. Washington Clark Hill Endowment Fund. The fund will allow Healthy Start to expand the current Save My Life Program, a free, culturally sensitive education and support program for women of color in Sarasota. The fund will also enhance Healthy Start’s services to Spanish-speaking mothers, increase resources for maternal and fetal well-being community opportunities, and support any other identified needs.

“I am amazed that even during these challenging times our giving community really stepped up to give to this wonderful cause,” says Shon Ewens, Executive Director of Healthy Start. “We are so thankful to Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation for this opportunity to raise funds that were matched to expand our programs and serve even more families.”

The fund was named in honor of Dr. Washington Hill, an obstetrician-gynecologist for 55 years – 30 of them in Sarasota as part of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System—and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at CenterPlace Health.

“The support of this community has made it possible for needy moms and babies to receive the valuable services they need—and for that we thank you,” says Hill.

Gifts were received from the Everett W. Erdoesy & Gretha M. Erdoesy Foundation; The Venice Endowment Fund, the Mary York Fund for Women’s Health, and the Women’s Fund at Gulf Coast Community Foundation; Kitty and John Cranor, Anonymous Family, Gulf Coast Community Foundation Anonymous, and the Louis & Gloria Flanzer Matching Gift Program.

Research clearly shows a healthy start in the early years can successfully impact every aspect of life, whether it is graduating from high school, attending college, owning a home, or achieving good physical and mental health.