Impact Giving holds annual grant awards
At their 15th annual grant awards event on June 6, Laguna Beach-based Impact Giving, a collective women’s giving group, honored the work of five diverse nonprofits, giving them $135,000 to help continue their humanitarian efforts.
Founders and Founding Board (L-R): Sam Dawson, Ann Duncan Levy, Karen Wilson, Amy Larson and Elizabeth Gosselin
Top recipient, Bracken’s Kitchen, received $40,000 towards the purchase of a $120,000 refrigerated truck to rescue food otherwise destined for landfills. Based in Orange County since 2013, Bracken’s Kitchen aims to rescue 280 tons of edible, unused food in 2024, turning it into healthy meals for the estimated 400,000 people in Orange County who struggle with food insecurity, primarily the working poor. With their new refrigerated truck, Bracken’s Kitchen will be able to rescue food from organizations that require refrigeration, like Amazon.
To turn the rescued food into nutritious meals for those who need it most, Bracken’s Kitchen trains at risk youth and young adults, who, while working alongside professional chefs, learn essential skills for careers in food service. According to its founder, Bill Bracken, “We are committed to reusing, repurposing and restoring both food and lives.”
Orangewood Foundation, one of the leading providers of services to Orange County’s vulnerable youth, received $30,000 for its Lighthouse program aimed at healing survivors of sex trafficking. Beginning in 2017, the program provides two years of transitional housing, intensive case management and therapeutic support to sex trafficking survivors, aged 18-30. Participants have a safe place to live – a caring and nurturing home environment – where they receive 24/7 support.
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