A grant to the Easter Seals Project Rainbow program provides free respite care to families with disabled and chronically ill children

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  SARASOTA, FLORIDA - July 23, 2007)  Project Rainbow, the children’s respite care program at Easter Seals Southwest Florida, was awarded $40,000 by the Leon Family Donor Advised Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Inc. in July. The donation is the largest private grant to be awarded to the program. Project Rainbow serves approximately 150 Sarasota and Manatee County families with disabled or chronically ill children by providing free, home-based or drop-off respite care.  The program also offers support to the families and monthly outings that enable the children to participate in normal childhood activities. The Leon Family grant will enable Project Rainbow to serve 20 additional families who were on the waiting list for respite care. “This grant signifies a tremendous amount of confidence the Community Foundation has placed in the high quality and community need of Project Rainbow and in Easter Seals,” said Roland Emerton, Vice President of Philanthropy for Easter Seals Southwest Florida. The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council in 1979 to help fulfill the wishes of their clients seeking to leave a charitable legacy of lasting impact. The Foundation currently manages assets of more than $160 million in almost 600 different charitable funds, using the interest earned on investment to award grants and scholarships totaling in excess of $6 million annually. “The Leon Family Fund grant to Project Rainbow demonstrates the heartwarming results that philanthropic individuals can enjoy through a donor advised fund at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County,” said President and CEO Stewart Stearns. “With this grant, a whole new world of possibilities opens up for the special families served by Easter Seals.”  For more information about Easter Seals Southwest Florida or Project Rainbow, call 355-7637. About Easter Seals  For more than 60 years, Easter Seals Southwest Florida has been providing services that help children, youth and adults with special needs gain greater independence.  Easter Seals provides children’s therapy services (developmental/early intervention, behavioral, occupational, physical and speech/language therapy), adult support services and children’s respite services that benefit individuals with special needs and their families each year in Sarasota and Manatee counties.  Visit www.swfl.easterseals.com.