American Association of Caregiving Youth; The Guadalupe Center;
HANDY; and Women of Tomorrow recognized for commitment to increasing
success in high school and beyond
Miami Dolphins star players, cheerleaders and front office staff
honor students at surprise award presentations
Company Website:
http://www.sunlife.com/us
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- (Business Wire)
The U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF)
and the Miami Dolphins today announced South Florida’s Sun Life Rising
Star Awards program winners, awarding a total of $220,000 in grants and
scholarships to four local youth-oriented community organizations
including American Association of Caregiving Youth, The
Guadalupe Center, HANDY and The Women of Tomorrow Mentor &
Scholarship Program as well as exemplary students nominated by each
nonprofit: Sephora Dubreuze, Boca Raton Community High School; Candace
Perez, Immokalee High School; Kimi Farrington, Pompano Beach
High School; and Ashira Vantrees, Cooper City High School. The
Sun Life Rising Star Awards program is the educational cornerstone
program of the Miami Dolphins Foundation.
The Sun Life Rising Star Awards program addresses low high school
graduation rates in large urban school districts by providing financial
resources and education to students and nonprofit organizations and
promotes financial literacy as a means to achieve life-long financial
wellness and stability. Each winning organization receives a $50,000
grant and selects an exemplary student they work with to receive a
$5,000 college scholarship. Since the program’s inception, Sun Life has
granted nearly $3 million to 54 students and 47 nonprofit organizations
across the country. This year, Sun Life expanded the program to seven
cities from five in 2011, and will award grants and scholarships to
students and nonprofits in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston,
Philadelphia, Phoenix and South Florida.
Sun Life Voluntary Practice Leader Kim Heald joined Miami Dolphins star
players Davone Bess and Mike Pouncey, Dolphins cheerleaders and front
office executives including CEO Mike Dee, as well as prominent local
community members including Corporate Benefit Advisors, LLC CEO Heather
Leck to surprise winning students with $5,000 scholarships at separate
award presentations across South Florida. Bess, Pouncey and Leck also
served on this year’s judging panel. Bess has played a significant role
in the program since its inception, addressing students at the inaugural
Sun Life Rising Star National Summit at Sun Life Stadium, serving as a
mentor to Rising Star student La Gary Roberson and helping select the
program scholarship recipients in each of the last three years. This
year’s Sun Life Rising Star Awards winning organizations and students
will be recognized at a special pre-game on-field ceremony and
celebration at the Miami Dolphins vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game at Sun
Life Stadium on December 16.
“We are making an investment in our youth, our education system and the
workforce of tomorrow through our Sun Life Rising Star Awards program,”
said Sun Life Financial U.S. President Wes Thompson. “It’s both a
privilege and our pleasure to reward these incredible students who have
persevered in the face of adversity and stayed committed to furthering
their education. We believe they need only opportunity and support to
realize their full potential.”
In addition to monetary support, the Sun Life Rising Star Awards program
will provide winning organizations with educational curriculum and
resources to increase financial literacy among students. Sun Life
recently partnered with dfree®, a movement developed by Dr. DeForest B.
Soaries Jr. to galvanize the public to overcome the culture of debt and
attain financial self-sufficiency. As part of the partnership, Sun Life
and dfree® will provide Sun Life Rising Star Awards students and
organizations with the Breaking Free Workbook, which includes
interactive activities and evaluation tools to encourage debt-free
living using the program’s core principles and financial strategies.
Soaries will also address winning organizations and students at a series
of educational seminars in select Sun Life Rising Star cities this fall.
“It is an honor to once again join Sun Life for the third year to
recognize these incredible students and community organizations for
their tireless efforts and commitment to bettering the lives of
under-served youth in South Florida,” said Miami Dolphins Chief
Executive Officer Mike Dee.
A 10-person judging panel comprised of South Florida’s foremost
athletes, education and community leaders, philanthropists, financial
advisors, city officials and local activists selected the Sun Life
Rising Star Awards winners based on the following criteria:
-
Nonprofit’s commitment to developing and promoting skills that
directly translate to educational engagement and matriculation rates
for secondary school youth under the age of 21
-
Nonprofit’s demonstrated partnership with a secondary or
post-secondary educational institution
-
Nonprofit’s documented ability to respond to the needs of specific
groups of youth in a manner yielding measurable results
-
Student nominee’s plan to pursue post-secondary education, leadership
qualities, commitment to his or her community, and a 750-word essay on
how financial education contributes to future success
The 2012 South Florida Sun Life Rising Stars:
Boca Raton/Palm Beach County
American Association of Caregiving Youth(AACY) –the
national resource for the support of children who care for family
members who are ill, injured, elderly or disabled by increasing
awareness about youth caregiving; fostering the replication of the
Caregiving Youth Project; providing support services for
student-caregivers and their families; and, establishing the Caregiving
Youth Institute. The ultimate goal is for all caregiving youth to be
able to complete their education and become healthy, productive adults;
no child in the US should need to drop out of school because of family
caregiving responsibilities.
Student Recipient: Sephora Dubreuze, Boca Raton Community HS
In
addition to her family caregiving responsibilities, Sephora is active in
her local community: she has built homes for Habitat for Humanity,
helped the elderly and disabled at Avanti Nursing Home, constructed
event sets for the City of Boca Raton’s Parks and Recreation Dept.,
volunteered with Surfers for Autism helping autistic children, and
volunteered for In the Pines by working with children from migrant
families. She maintains a 3.7 GPA and hopes to study culinary arts and
business.
Fort Lauderdale/Broward County
HANDY –HANDY’s mission is to embrace, educate, and
empower vulnerable youth to become engaged, productive adults. HANDY has
met the needs of almost 50,000 Broward County children and youth in
foster and relative/non-relative care under protective supervision.
Student Recipient: Kimi Farrington, Pompano Beach HS
Kimi
volunteered at her local Boys and Girls Club during her freshman and
sophomore years of high school, where she taught younger girls about
positive self esteem and being a role model, and worked with disabled
children at her local YMCA helping with the afterschool program. She
also worked in a nursing home as a server in their cafeteria and has
continued to visit the residents during non-working hours. She maintains
a 4.3 GPA from Pompano Beach HS and a 4.0 cumulative GPA at Broward
College, where she is dual enrolled. Kimi dreams of being a Supreme
Court Justice.
Immokalee/Collier County
The Guadalupe Center –What started as a soup kitchen to
feed impoverished families in Immokalee, Florida, has grown into a
strong nonprofit dedicated to breaking the poverty cycle through
educational, social and other support programs and resources for
families.
Student Recipient: Candace Perez, Immokalee HS
Candace
worked with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a non-profit
organization fighting for farm workers’ rights, and helped to improve
work conditions for 30,000 farm workers. She attended a college prep
program at Penn State this summer, and will be the first in her family
to graduate from high school and attend college.
Miami/Miami-Dade County
The Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program –The
Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program inspires, motivates and
empowers young women to live up to their full potential through a unique
mentoring program which pairs its network of over 300 highly
accomplished professional women with small groups of at-risk public high
schools girls for monthly school-based mentoring sessions. The program
exposes at-risk girls to opportunities otherwise unavailable to them;
teaches vital personal and professional skills necessary for life
success; helps them set and achieve goals; increases their self-esteem,
and helps to reduce and prevent engaging in risky behaviors. Women of
Tomorrow now operates in 42 Florida and 7 Metro Detroit cities, serving
over 2,500 at-risk young women annually in 126 public high schools, and
has awarded over $3 million in scholarships.
Student Recipient: Ashira Vantrees, Cooper City HS
Ashira
received a Girl Scout Gold Award for her efforts collecting donations
and preparing care packages for 136 homeless individuals in the
community. She also prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a
local homeless shelter and helped put together additional care packages
and letters for U.S. troops serving overseas. She maintains a 4.13 GPA
and has taken all honors classes in English, science and history in all
three years of high school and plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in
disaster management and humanitarian relief, stemming from her passion
for giving back to those in need.
In addition to Bess, Pouncey and Leck,the judging panel
included: Champion Services Group President and CEO James Champion;
Consortium of Florida Education Foundations President Mary Chance;
local philanthropist Ada Cole; Florida College System Foundation
President Judy Green; Sun Sentinel “Society Scene”
Publisher Stacy Ostrau; Sapoznik Insurance & Associates Founder,
President and CEO Rachel Sapoznik; and City of Miami Protocol
Officer Dr. Wallis Tinnie. For more information on the Sun Life
Rising Star Awards, please visit www.sunliferisingstar.com.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services
organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth
accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate
customers. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today
have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United
States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan,
Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. In the United States and elsewhere,
insurance products are offered by members of the Sun Life Financial
group that are insurance companies. Sun Life Financial Inc., the holding
company for the Sun Life Financial group of companies, is a public
company. It is not an insurance company and does not offer insurance
products for sale in the United States or elsewhere, and does not
guarantee the obligations of its insurance company subsidiaries. In the
United States, Sun Life Financial provides a range of products and
services to employers and their employees, including group and voluntary
life, disability, dental and stop-loss insurance products. These
products are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada in all
states except New York. In New York, these products are issued by Sun
Life Insurance and Annuity Company of New York. Product offerings may
not be available in all states and may vary depending on state laws and
regulations. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com/us.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and
Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.
SLPC 24494 (9/12) exp. 9/17
Contacts:
elevate
Keith Gainsboro, 857-234-1481
kgainsboro@elevatecom.com
Source: Sun Life Financial Inc.
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