Editorial | We are the village
A pair of major scholarship initiatives came to fruition this week with a third presentation of awards scheduled for Wednesday.
The Chamber of Commerce of Cape Coral Education Committee held its 34th annual Excellence in Education Awards gala at Broadway Palm Monday, honoring an educator and teacher from each local school, as well as awarding eight $500 Student of Excellence scholarships and ten $1,000 scholarships, including the Cynthia Gallagher Memorial Junior Leadership award.
The Cape Coral Kiwanis Foundation Scholarship Program presented its awards to two dozen students Tuesday. The service organization has been awarding scholarships in recognition of outstanding community leadership since 1982.
Next Wednesday, for the 44th year, the Cape Coral Mayor’s Scholarship Fund will recognize students for outstanding achievement, awarding 21 $1,500 scholarships for college and technical schools as well as a first-time $4,000 achievement bequest.
These organizations are not alone.
Numerous others — from the Garden Club of Cape Coral and the Rotary Club of Cape Coral Goldcoast to the Cape Coral Police Department’s Do the Right Thing Program awards and the Haitian-American Community Coalition of Southwest Florida’s presentations and more — our community invests in our youths.
Organizational volunteer and fundraising efforts like these make this possible.
So does the Cape’s business community, which lends a hand through sponsorships and cash.
We’re all familiar with the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
Indeed it does if by “raise” we mean help rise to their full potential as involved members of our shared society.
Here in Cape Coral, we — the volunteers, the organizations and the businesses that support community projects such as annual scholarship awards — are the village.
We thank everyone involved for their efforts and we are humbly grateful for the opportunity to take part.
For those who can, donations to your program of choice for next year’s efforts are now welcome.
Breeze editorial