Packet Thank You Letters for June 27 | Island Packet

To Bargain Box

On behalf of our students, staff and volunteers, I want to publicly thank The Bargain Box for its long-standing support of Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry.

With the Bargain Box's help, we have equipped thousands of Beaufort County adults with the reading, writing, speaking and math skills they need for success in the family, the workplace and the community. In 2010-2011 alone, we have enrolled more than 775 adults at 10 locations.

As Hilton Head Island's original thrift store, The Bargain Box has donated more than $10 million to local nonprofit organizations in more than 45 years.

In these challenging economic times, I am especially grateful to The Bargain Box and its patrons for their continuing help in advancing adult literacy in Beaufort County.

Nancy Williams, executive director

Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry

Bluffton

To Long Cove Club

The volunteers, staff and board of directors of Bluffton Self Help extend grateful appreciation to The Long Cove Club Community Endowment Fund for its grant award for 2011.

We will use the grant to purchase two industrial freezers in which to store perishable items. With these freezers, we will be able to accept and store more protein and dairy items, which are essential for nutritional health. Food is distributed at Bluffton Self Help at 10 a.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

The Long Cove fund was created in 2003 in collaboration with the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. The fund solicits tax-deductible donations from Long Cove members and awards grants in the name of the Long Cove community to deserving, local nonprofit agencies. Long Cove Club was the first residential community on Hilton Head to establish a charitable endowment fund. Grants are awarded according to needs in the areas of health, housing, hunger and education locally.

Thank you, Long Cove Club Community Endowment Fund, for helping us feed our neighbors.

Lili Coleman, executive director

Bluffton Self Help

Bluffton

For fundraiser help

The Family Promise board of trustees would like to thank Beaufort County congregations, merchants and individuals for their amazing support.

The second annual fundraiser dinner and auction May 19, "Bring Home the Children," was a great success thanks to the many people who attended the dinner and participated in the auction. All this was possible because of the incredible generosity of the merchants of Beaufort County who munificently donated items for the auction.

Their extraordinary support enables Family Promise to continue to help homeless children and their parents with safe, secure overnight housing, meals, medical care, child care, job search, transportation and social services that help the family to function as a unit and give them the tools to reach and achieve a brighter future of sustained independence.

We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their support. We believe that one homeless child is too many.

Carolyn Cherwon, president

Board of trustees

Family Promise of Beaufort County

Bluffton

To coaches

The Hilton Head Island Recreation Association's board of directors recognized and thanked five volunteer coaches at its May board meeting.

The coaches were Phil Smith, Jim Loniero and Kevin Kremer, who coached in the Youth Roller Hockey Program, along with Fred Myers and Cliff Bernard, who coached in the Winter Basketball Program. These coaches received recognition for their dedication and the hundreds of tireless volunteer hours they have given to the community.

The association's board president, Mike Manesiotis, said, "The association is fortunate to have such wonderful volunteer coaches in our hockey and basketball programs who are dedicated to helping children of our community."

If you would like to become a volunteer coach with the Island Recreation Association, call me at 843-681-7273 or email me at Bob.Rozek@islandreccenter.org.

Bob Rozek

Bluffton

To volunteers

Lowcountry Legal Volunteers (formerly Lowcountry Legal Aid) would like to extend a big thank you to all our sponsors and volunteers who have given so much for our three fundraisers this year.

The first event and most successful ever, our 4th Annual Celebration of Justice, was title sponsored by Refreshment Services of the Low Country, which also generously donates a portion of all area law firm sales to Lowcountry Legal Volunteers.

Other sponsors included McNair Law Firm, SCB&T, Merrill Lynch (The Stuckart Ruckno Group), Lifescapes Coaching, G2G Design Collective, Lowcountry Medical Care, Bluffton Communications, and Polaris Wealth Management & Consulting. Music was donated by Lavon Stevens. A special thank you is extended to all the great community businesses and individuals that donated items for our silent and live auctions.

Our second event this year was our first WOW (Women's Outreach to Women) event, title sponsored by Weniger Plastic Surgery. Special thanks to Heritage Fine Jewelers for donating a diamond that was part of our "Bubbles and Bling" fundraiser and Palmetto Bluff for its generous donation.

Our third event was our 10th Annual Attorney Chase held Memorial Day weekend at Coligny Beach, sponsored by Hargray; Nexsen Pruet; Alford, Wilkins & Coltrane; New River Urology; and On On Tri.

Lowcountry Legal Volunteers does not receive any state or federal funding, so without the support of our community it would not be able to continue its worthy mission.

Ryan Mikkelson, executive director

Lowcountry Legal Volunteers

Bluffton

For library support

The impact of the lack of funding due to the ongoing economic slowdown has been felt at all levels of government.

Our local Beaufort Country library system is no exception. It has lost a significant number of personnel, along with funding on the state and county levels.

The county library system does have a group of champions in the three Friends of the Library groups -- Bluffton, Hilton Head Island and Beaufort, which serves the Beaufort, Lobeco and St. Helena Island branches.

Friends of the Library funding supports reading programs and various enrichment programs tailored to each branch's need. Friends' funding is used to purchase shelf materials such as books, audio books, DVDs and CDs. The group's funding has provided for the purchase of equipment for various library branches. The extra effort put forth by the Friends of the Library was instrumental in providing funding for the Beaufort District Collection shelving.

The continued support by this dedicated group amounts to tens of thousands of dollars each year for the branch libraries.

The Friends' groups provide this much needed help through fundraising efforts, membership fees and public donations.

Now more than ever, we, as the Beaufort County Library Board of Trustees, wish to commend and thank these Friends of the Library groups for their past support and their continued generous support of the library system in this time of need.

Jean Wolff

Beaufort County Library

Board of Trustees

Sheldon