The Source Announced as one of Eleven Finalists – Indian River Impact 100

The Membership of Indian River Impact 100 held their annual “Meet the Finalists” reception on March 8 at The Heritage Center. The introduction of the 11 finalists attended and were warmly greeted by the membership before they each took a turn reviewing what their applications requested for the 2023 $100,000 award. The Source for the poor and the homeless in Vero Beach was among the finalists this year. Their application is for the expansion of the Mental Health program that is already operating as one of the services offered to the members of the organization and will be enhanced into the Dignity Wellness Program with the hopeful awarding of a grant.

Indian River County Impact 100 consists of women who collectively impact the lives of individuals and our community through transformational giving. The number of $100,000 grants they can award each year depends on the overall membership numbers, in addition to the number of qualified proposals received.

According to Liz Locke, Grant Chairperson for Impact 100, the organization received 24 proposals this year, and selected the 11 that will be voted on by members. The top five $100,000 winners will be announced at their Annual Meeting on Wednesday, April 12 at Oak Harbor Club.

Thanks to the $100,000 grant given to The Source in 2020, The Source was able to launch their newest program at the time to the community, The Dignity Food Truck, which met the focus of Impact’s Health and Wellness criteria; strengthening and enhancing segments of Indian River County by satisfying significant educational, social and physical needs. The Dignity Food Truck is a social enterprise that is geared to selling award-winning foods throughout the community as an extension of the organization’s Dining with Dignity program. It provides an additional training opportunity for homeless culinary students to get hands-on training with real customers as a last step in becoming certified, graduating from the program and having the ability to find employment. A second food truck has since been added and a third is expected to be operational by the end of this year. In an effort to be self-sustainable, all money derived from the Food Truck supports the programs and services of The Source.