Naples Children & Education Foundation

 

 

Naples--Catholic Charities of Collier County received a grant award of $98,280 from the Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF), funded by the Naples Winter Wine Festival, to serve abused, neglected and behaviorally impaired children.

 

The special grant allows Catholic Charities to expand a program that was originally funded by NCEF to provide mental health treatment services for young children ages three- to eight-years-old. Last year the NCEF grant provided therapeutic intervention to 80 children. Additionally, this year’s new grant includes funding for a part-time therapist to provide sexual abuse treatment for children ages three to 18 at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collier County.

 

“This new therapy program for sexually abused children is critical to the prevention of developmental impairment of the children who are victims of sexual abuse,” said Robert Saunders, District Director of Catholic Charities of Collier County. “We are encouraged and excited about this major grant from NCEF.”

 

The need for children’s specialized services in Collier County is quite evident, especially within the Hispanic population and those families with incomes below the poverty level.

 

This priority population of abused, neglected and behaviorally challenged children will continue to be served by a bilingual clinical psychologist with offices at the Catholic Charities Counseling Center on Santa Barbara Blvd. in Golden Gate. Children at the CHS/FSU Pediatric Clinic in Immokalee will be treated at that location on a weekly basis.

 

Photo: Naples Winter Wine Festival Co-Chair Tom Galloway (left to right), Catholic Charities of Collier County Director Robert Saunders, Catholic Charities Clinical Psychologist Marta Gallego Adkins, Naples Winter Wine Festival Co-Chair Connie Galloway, and Naples Children and Education Foundation Grant Committee Chair Ann Bain at the check presentation ceremony on March 12.