Amscot Financial Contributes Mini-grants to 38 Non-profit Service Organizations

TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Amscot Financial, a leading provider of convenient, consumer-oriented financial services, made mini-grants of $100 to $1,000 to 38 non-profit service organizations in its 16-county service area from August to November. The grants went to:

• Emma's Little Helpers, Palmetto. Emma's Little Helpers was founded in July 2010 out of a desire to provide assistance to families in the Tampa Bay area that have children undergoing medical treatment. The agency intends to reduce the stress associated with hospital stays, while maintaining a family's quality of life at home and at the hospital. For more information, please visit www.emmaslittlehelpers.org.
• The Edge, Kissimmee. This non-profit organization is dedicated in serving community youth and families who are homeless or going through crisis. It provides support, resources and referrals.
• AMIKids Volusia, Daytona Beach. This non-profit organization "reaches out to kids that society has given up on." AMIkids builds safer, more productive communities through restorative justice, economic development, community service and positively impacting public safety. Students in the AMIkids programs learn accountability, consequences and how to redirect their lives in order to give back to the surrounding community through service projects. For more information, please visit www.amikids.org.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast, Sebring. For more than 43 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life.  Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers ("Bigs") and children ("Littles"), ages 6 through 18, in the communities it serves. For more information, please visit www.bbbssun.org.
• Manatee Children's Services, Bradenton.  Manatee Children's Services was founded in 1977 by a group of concerned Manatee County residents who identified an unmet community need: temporary housing for children who had been removed from unsafe homes. Since then, the organization has grown to 12 different programs and continues to provide the entire Suncoast Region with essential services to improve the quality of life for children in need. For more information, please visit www.manateechildrensservices.com.
• Kids Beating Cancer, Orlando. The mission of Kids Beating Cancer's is to increase access to treatment for children with cancer and life threatening diseases in need of a bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. The group seeks to fund the cost to identify compatible donors, help with uninsured medical expenses and provide support for families as they face the challenging journey towards a cure. For more information, please visit http://www.kidsbeatingcancer.com.
• James Elementary School, Tampa. James Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade students in single-gender classrooms. It is organizing a multi-cultural day featuring a storyteller who will tell students stories about Latin America.
• Casselberry Elementary PTSA, Casselberry. This school-based organization helps fund programs for students that budget cuts are removing from schools. The PTSA helps underwrite the costs for the runners club and the art club.
• Mt. Calvary Academy, Daytona Beach. This school was the first in Volusia County to serve primarily inner city students at the elementary level sponsored by an African-American church. All staff members have a bachelor's degree or above. In addition to a regular school curriculum, the academy also offers dance and step teams, music and choir and educational field trips. For more information, please visit: www.mtcalvaryacademy.com.
• OASIS Network, Tampa. OASIS stands for Outreach Assisting Students in Schools. This non-profit organization was specifically developed as a unique and effective way of directly distributing donations of children's personal items to our county's most needy public school children. Direct communication and cooperation with school based social workers and other school representatives make this effort possible. For more information, please visit http://oasis-network.org .
• Early Learning Coalition of Pasco, Spring Hill. The purpose of the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, Inc. is to prepare children to enter and succeed in school. The Coalition empowers parents to establish and maintain control over the education of their children and to become advocates on their own behalf. The Coalition engages the community by providing opportunities for involvement, growth and empowerment. For more information, please visit www.phelc.org .
• Mavericks School, St. Petersburg. Mavericks High School is a charter school that provides students with an essential high school education, job preparedness, prospects for continuing education and a state-recognized high school diploma – all tuition free. For more information, please visit www.mavericksineducation.com.
• Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa. The museum is dedicated to exhibiting important photographic art as central to contemporary life and culture.  FMoPA collects, preserves and exhibits historic and contemporary works by nationally and internationally known photographic artists.  FMoPA also enriches the community by operating outreach programs to educate children and adults, including a Literacy Through Photography program that is free to at-risk children. For more information, please visit www.fmopa.org.
• Powerful Young Adults, Inc., Clearwater. PYA takes a bold approach to directly address our growing educational crisis.  Our mission is dedicated to assisting young girls from the ages of 12-21, to achieve excellence in self-esteem motivation, education, and cultural awareness through the provisions of tutoring, mentoring, job training and employment opportunities. For more information, please visit www.powerfulyoungadults.org.
• Arthritis Foundation, Florida Chapter, Tampa. On Dec. 3, the Tampa-based Florida Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation held the Jingle Bell Run/Walk to raise funds to help accomplish its mission: improving lives through the prevention and cure of arthritis. For more information, please visit www.arthritis.org.
• Page 15 (Urban Think Foundation), Orlando. Page 15 is committed to providing supplemental reading and writing education for all students living and attending public schools in Orlando. Its free after-school tutoring and creative writing workshops are dedicated to enhancing communication skills, encouraging personal creativity, and inspiring a lifelong passion for the language arts. For more information, please visit www.page15.org.
• Paws for Friendship, Inc., Tampa. This non-profit organization of volunteers shares the unconditional love of their personal pets with all people in need, not just any specific age or disability. It reaches those in need who are in cancer units, dialysis centers, burn centers, hospices, nursing homes and hospitals. It also works with children who have had emotional or physical trauma in places such as Camp Easter Seals, school programs and children's health and awareness programs. For more information, please visit www.pawsforfriendshipinc.org.
• The First Community Christian Pentecostal Church of God, Orlando. The church offers a program that helps low-income families with children get food and clothing.
• Tampa Bay Academy of Hope, Tampa. Founded in 1996, the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope has assisted over 2,500 youth and their families with leadership training, counseling, referrals, mentoring, job placement, and scholarship development. TBAH serves youth between the ages of 8 and 18, adults, and families who live in socioeconomically depressed communities. Youth receive coaching, mentoring, tutoring, life, literacy, and leadership skills through the different youth programs. For more information, please visit www.tampahope.org.
• Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, Indian Shores. The nonprofit Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, Inc. is the largest wild bird hospital and bird sanctuary in the United States, based on the admission of up to 8,000 birds per year. For over 39 years, the Sanctuary has helped injured wild birds. The Sanctuary's mission is dedicated to the rescue, repair & rehabilitation of injured birds and then their release back into nature. For more information, please visit www.seabirdsanctuary.com.
• Gamma Theta Omega, Inc., Tampa. Gamma Theta Omega Chapter (GTO) prides itself on service to the Tampa Bay community, offering many community and service activities, such as the distinguished Miss Teenage Tampa Scholarship Pageant, the Annual Ivy AKAdemy Celebration and the Emerging Young Leaders association. For more information, please visit www.akagto.com.
• Hillsborough County Sheriff Black Advisory Council, Tampa. This organization serves in an advisory capacity to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and offers service to the community. Among the services performed in the past were providing law studies materials to students at Franklin Middle School and books and school uniforms to students at more than a dozen other schools.
• USF Upward Bound Association, Tampa. Upward Bound provides support to participants in their preparation for college entrance. The program offers opportunities for participants to succeed in their precollege performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits. Upward Bound at USF serves high school students from low-income families and students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree (first-generation college students). For more information, please visit www.ugs.usf.edu/upbound/upbound.htm.
• Five and Two, Tampa. This nonprofit ministry exists to create, maintain and strengthen food pantries in the Tampa area.  It distributes foods through drives, events and gatherings and helps more than 1,000 individuals a week. For more information, please visit www.fiveandtwoonline.com.
• Mission L'Eglise de Jesus Christ, Inc., Orlando. This nonprofit organization works with underprivileged you who have run away from home. It works to reunite and strengthen families.
• Improvement League of Plant City, Plant City. The Improvement League is 501(c) 3 organization committed to identifying gaps in services in the east Hillsborough County area, assisting with finding funding, and securing the means to address identified community needs. It offers a financial literacy program for young people in Plant City. For more information, please visit www.improvementleague.com.
• Central Florida Children's Home, Orlando. The Central Florida Children's Home cares for abandoned, neglected, and abused children between the ages of three and 18 years, and is dedicated to creating a nurturing, fostering environment that helps these children grow into responsible and productive adults. For more information, please visit www.centralfloridachildrenshome.org.
• The First Tee of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg. The First Tee of St. Petersburg is the leading youth development program in Pinellas County that uses golf as a vehicle to help teach life skills. The group strives to provide young people of all backgrounds with an opportunity to develop strong character enhance life's values and support education through golf. For more information, please visit www.thefirstteestpetersburg.org.
• Lake County Sheriff's Office, Tavares. The Lake County Sheriff's Office offers programs for young people including D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and a teen driver challenge class that teaches road safety. For more information, please visit www.lcso.org.
• Family Resources Foundation, Pinellas Park. The Foundation supports the operations of Family Resources, a private not-for-profit organization that provides a vital continuum of services to children, youth and families. The group's goal is to support the family as a whole and keep families together.  When keeping the family together is not a safe option, Family Resources offers community-based programs that teach young people effective coping skills as they transition into adulthood and other safe living arrangements. For more information, please visit www.frfound.org.
• Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, Tampa. The Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County is responsible for advancing the community-developed plans titled "Places for People." Designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Florida's Department of Children and Families, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and the City of Tampa, the Homeless Coalition is the lead agency for our community's homeless continuum of care. For more information, please visit www.homelessofhc.org.
• Community Based Care of Central Florida, Kissimmee. CBC of Central Florida is a non-profit agency charged with developing community-based services and support for children and families served by the child welfare system in Central Florida. The agency presently serves 3,000 children with services ranging from mentoring and tutoring to foster care. For more information, please visit www.cbccfl.org.
• Womens Resource Center, Bradenton. The Womens Resource Center, in collaboration with the Manatee County Health Center, hosted an inclusive health fair focused on the Latino community in October.
• Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association, Tampa. The association is an out-of-school program that serves youth with mentoring, tutoring, computer training, character development and educational field trips. For more information, please visit www.thjca.org.
• Florida Medical Clinic Foundation of Caring, Zephyrhills. The FMC Foundation provides housing, nutrition and educational support to homeless families. For more information, please visit www.fmcfoundation.org.
• Feeding Children Everywhere, Sanford. This non-profit organization exists to empower and mobilize people from all walks of life to help meet one of life's basic needs: food. For more information, please visit www.feedingchildreneverywhere.com.
• Suncoast Squadron Naval Seacadets, Clearwater. This non-profit group works with young cadets to develop patriotism, self-reliance and leadership skills while teaching them about maritime history and the importance of the Navy and the Coast Guard. For more information, please visit http://www.seacadetssuncoast.org.
• Holiday Extravaganza Toy Give-Away, Orlando. This program is geared to serve school children in grades ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade.

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Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Amscot Financial is a leading provider of income tax preparation and electronic filing services, refund anticipation loans, prepaid debit cards, check cashing services, cash advance services, bill payment services, money transfer services and money orders through its wholly owned division, Amscot International Money Order Company.  Amscot also offers the Amscot Card, a pre-paid debit card that allows owners to make purchases from any location that accepts MasterCard™. Amscot Financial currently operates 175 tax preparation offices and 175 retail financial service centers throughout Florida and employs more than 2,000 people. Amscot Financial has been recognized by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as one of Tampa Bay's Best Places to Work for four consecutive years. For additional information, please visit the company's Web site at www.amscot.com.

SOURCE Amscot Financial