PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release                                                Contact: Jane Maestro

March 20, 2007                                                           Director of Communications

                                                                                    E-mail: jmaestro@cfpbmc.org

                                                                                    Phone: (561) 659-6800

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ISSUES CHALLENGE FOR A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT

WEST PALM BEACH – The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties recently launched a campaign to benefit environmental projects in the two-county region.  The Foundation’s Environmental Endowment Fund is currently funded at $1 million and the campaign’s goal is to increase it to a total of $3 million over the next two years.  The Community Foundation will match dollar for dollar every gift made up to $1 million.

A dinner with the theme Think Globally. Act Locally took place on March 21, 2007 with special guest speaker Cynthia Moss, founder of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants in Kenya, and an exhibition of photographs by local nature photographers Claudine Laabs and John J. Lopinot. Dinner Co-chairmen were Kenneth S. Beall and David G. Ober.

The Community Foundation’s Environmental Endowment Fund has made grants to local environmental and educational projects including Florida Oceanographic Society, Pine Jog Environmental Education Center at Florida Atlantic University, and 1,000 Friends of Florida, and other local organizations.  The Foundation produced the documentary Indian River Lagoon: Gateway to Saving the Everglades that was viewed on PBS, and also created its companion curriculum used in schools.  The documentary informed the public of the importance of the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project. 

Last year the Community Foundation completed a landmark public opinion survey and found that preserving the environment is a priority concern to the majority of residents in Palm Beach and Martin counties.  The Board and Environmental Subcommittee of the Foundation decided to increase the Fund with the challenge campaign based in part on the survey results.  To download a copy of the survey results, Problems in Paradise: The People of Palm Beach and Martin Counties Speak Up, visit www.yourcommunityfoundation.org

Established in 1972, the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties supports a wide variety of causes and organizations dedicated to making life better for individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities throughout Palm Beach and Martin counties.  Governing all efforts of the Community Foundation is a commitment to the belief that true community requires the inclusion of all.  For more information regarding the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties call (561) 659-6800.

PHOTOS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DINNER 

Committee Chair Kenneth S. Beall, Cynthia Moss                           Peter Summers, Bailey and Caroline B. Sory















David Callaway, Peter Summers, Kenneth Beall
                 Elizabeth Dowdle, Richard Weinstein














Mr. and Mrs. Michael Horvitz, Cynthia Moss                                   Kirby Kooluris, Caludine Laabs, Linda Raybin












  Marion Gay, Board and committee member Royall Victor, III 


                      Board member Kenn Karakul, Jim Held