Who they are

The Clara White Mission was founded in 1904 but dates back to the 1880s in Jacksonville when former slave Clara English White began feeding her hungry neighbors out of her home on Clay Street. Her daughter, Dr. Eartha M. M. White would become a renowned humanitarian and work to build the Clara White Mission into a centenarian foundation not only focused on housing and feeding the hungry and displaced but also providing vocational programs to put people to work.

Along the way, the White Harvest Farm was built into the foundation. At White Harvest Farm, the foundation is not only able to grow organic food to feed the nearly 1000 families they aid each week, but to also act as a community hub for education on self-sustainability, urban gardening, and urban beekeeping.

Involvement

Recently CARES activated a group of volunteers to go out to the White Harvest Farm for a day volunteering in the August sun as they reap the last of the summer harvest and prepare for fall. Together, the volunteers tackled several projects for the foundation including digging holes for irrigation, shoveling and loading mulch, and harvesting hibiscus buds for tea and jelly. We were able to harvest over 14 lbs of hibiscus buds and process them to be ready for use to feed the community.

How you can get involved

The White Mission Farm seeks volunteers every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. If you have not yet reached your VTO goal for the year, and are interested in making a meaningful impact on the community while working in the garden, you can enroll in the volunteer slots they have available at their website linked here. The Farm also has a weekly Farms Market on Saturdays to fund its efforts and offer affordable workshops to teach food sustainability skills to those who are interested.

Alive has been a partner of Brooks Rehab for several years. The depth and breadth of Brooks Rehabilitation’s community programs are unique from any other health program. They provide adaptive sports, Aphasia care in the Brain Injury Clubhouse, as well as state of the art therapeutic services. It isn’t just the state of the art equipment that makes an impact on our community, but also the care the Brooks staff give to their patients in and outside of working hours. Brooks employees donate nearly $150,000 of their own money annually to provide to individuals with differing abilities. They also donate much of their time.

Jess Parmenter and Hali Hagist, both Alive CARES members, saw this first hand on July 15th while volunteering at the 15th Annual Adaptive Surfing event. The adaptive surfing event has well over 100 volunteers, a majority of which are Brooks employees, assisting the mentally and physically challenged with an engaging surf experience. Some individuals may be recovering from a stroke, while others may be quadriplegics. No matter what each individual brings to the table, Brooks ensures each and every person is treated with dignity and given a chance to make a splash!

Brooks has 610 active participants in their Adaptive Sports and Recreation program the Jacksonville area. This program offers fitness and friendship to participants of all ages. Brooks has a wide range of adaptive sports it offers including:

• Archery

• Billiards

• Boccia

• Bowling

• Cycling

• Dance

• Fishing

• Golf

• Kayaking

• Mindfulness based Yoga

• Movie Nights

• Power Soccer

• Rowing

• Surfing

• Trap Shooting

• Water Skiing

• Wheelchair Basketball

• Wheelchair Rugby

This program would not be possible without volunteers like Hali and Jess who earned 5 additional hours towards Alive’s 300 hour goal! If you are interested in volunteering with the Brooks Rehab Adaptive Sports Program, please click the button below to explore upcoming events. CARES has also teamed up with Brooks for a School Supply Drive organised by the Brooks School Re-entry Program. You can see pictures from all volunteer events under the Team Pictures page!