Donation from Super-Lube

James Pitre, district manager for Super-Lube, presents a $300 check to Women’s Care Center of Bartow, Inc. Boardmember Virginia Condello of the Greater Bartow Chamber of Commerce to help with the organization’s Hotrods and Hogs Benefit Poker Run. The event is Saturday, Nov. 6, beginning at Kelley Buick GMC of Bartow, 255 W. Van Fleet Dr.

A Leaky Garage Roof...

On Saturday, August 28th a group from our partnering Lake Wales Care Center and Warner University came to the Center to work on the leaky garage roof.  There were about 30 incoming freshmen participating in the project. These wonderful folks used donated materials from Walter Graves/Graves Construction to replace faulty shingles that had caused a major leak in the garage. 

Mr. Dwayne Buchanan stopped by this past Saturday, September 11th to follow up on some of the unfinished details. The Falcon Contracting Team also assisted and has completely covered the cost of disposal.  A special thanks to the Lowes store in Bartow for providing discounted materials for the project.

Thank you to everyone who donated their time and effort to help!

Hot Rods & Hogs Poker Run

Sponsorships are now available for a benefit for the Women’s Care Center. “Hotrods & Hogs Poker Run,” will take place on November 6, starting in Bartow and held in conjunction with the County’s “Taste of Polk” event set for Downtown Bartow.

The Hotrods & Hogs Benefit Poker Run is open to all motorcyclists and vintage car enthusiasts. The Rudolph Round-up, a toy drive for Heartland for Children’s foster care children will also be featured during the run, offering anyone who brings a new, unwrapped Christmas toy for a foster child a chance to win a fabulous prize in a drawing.

The types of sponsorships are as follows:

Corporate Sponsors will receive a “Platinum Sponsor” benefit package that includes the name of the business shown as “title” or “major” event sponsor at the events and a prominent full-color display banner to be shown at the check-points and hosted on the Women’s Care Center Facebook website. The $1,000 Platinum Sponsor will also receive advertising on “Hot Rods and Hogs Poker Run” display boards, a banner with the business name and logo at check-points, advertising on the Facebook website, with a link to the company website, a “Hotrods and Hogs Poker Run” t-shirt featuring the company name and four complimentary meal tickets for the Taste of Polk event.

A $500 Gold Sponsor will receive advertising on “Hot Rods and Hogs Poker Run” display boards, advertising on the Facebook website, with a link to the company website, a “Hotrods and Hogs Poker Run” t-shirt featuring the company name and two complimentary meal tickets for the Taste of Polk event.

A $300 Silver Sponsor will receive advertising on the Women’s Care Center Facebook website with a link to the company website, a “Hotrods and Hogs Poker Run” t-shirt featuring the company name and one complimentary meal ticket for the Taste of Polk event.

A $250 Bronze Sponsor will receive advertising the Women’s Care Center Facebook website with a link to the company website, a “Hotrods and Hogs Poker Run” t-shirt, and honorary mention at opening and closing ceremonies.

A $100 Booster Sponsor will receive a listing of the business on the Women’s Care Center Facebook website and honorary mention at opening and closing ceremonies.

Registration for the event is $25 and $15 for an extra hand or passenger. All proceeds go to benefit the Women’s Care Center, a non-profit organization that provides a transitional living center for homeless women and their children.

For more information on becoming a sponsor for this worthwhile event, please contact WCC board members Pam Renew at (863) 534-1591; or Lauren Hinton, (321) 436-1169.  To sponsor or participate please complete the Registration Form.

Scary Statistics

According to the State of Florida Department of Children and Families Annual Report (07-30-2009), a total of 56,687 persons were identified as homeless on a one day count in 2009. Women make up 32% of that amount and children under the age of 18 make up 16% of the total.  Although the Women's Care Center works very hard to reduce these statistics, the state of Florida relies on hundreds of charitable organizations to help.  We're just a small piece of the puzzle!

Annual Golf Tournament

On Saturday, May 22nd the 11th Annual Golf Tournament benefiting the Women's Care Center of Bartow was held at the Bartow Golf Course.

The 4-Person Scramble began with registration at 7:00 a.m. There was a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. Events included random prize drawings, prices for each flight, longest drive, and closest to the pin. 

An awards luncheon was also part of the day including salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, and baked beans.  A total of eight teams participated in the tournament and had a great time! The team sponsored by Murphy's Carpet Cleaning finished in last place :( The consolation prize was a "How To" book by Tiger Woods.

On that note, the day was a great success and $2,500 was raised for the Women's Care Center.

Hog Heaven Barbeque

The Women's Care Center held a "Hog Heaven Barbeque" at the First Baptist Church of Bartow on Friday, March 19th.  All proceeds were used to purchase pantry and personal hygiene items.

The $7 lunch included barbecued pulled pork, baked bean, coleslaw, roll, bundt cake desserts and a drink. Curly Tails Barbeque and Mosaic sponsored the event and the turnout was incredible!

History

The Women's Care Center was founded as an outreach ministry of Bartow's First Baptist Church Christian Action Committee. In 1992, the Christian Action Corporation, doing business as the Women's Care Center, was incorporated and opened its doors on Hendry Avenue to the first residents in 1993.

In 2002, a home on Boulevard Street was provided by First Baptist Church. In 2003, a new state-of-the-art facility was added to the home. Funds for this construction came from local citizens and churches, The Williams Company and Polk County government.

The Women's Care Center has become a community project and is a member agency of the United Way of Central Florida. It now operates with its own board of Directors whose members are dedicated to the mission of providing safe shelter for women and their children in need.

The geographic spread of residents includes Lakeland, Winter Haven, Bartow, Auburndale, Lake Wales, Eagle Lake, Fort Meade, Mulberry, Polk City, as well as 17 states, Trinidad and Nigeria. The Center offers accommodations for 14+ people and includes kitchen and dining facilities, staff offices, housemother's quarters, a children's playroom, porches, play yard, picnic and barbecue areas.

The Women's Care Center provides a home-like atmosphere made possible in part by donations from local businesses, civic organizations and individuals.