Lazydays® Announces Creation of New Charitable Organization:
Lazydays® Partners Foundation
PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2006
Will kick-off with $500,000 pledge to Hillsborough Education Foundation
SEFFNER, FL – Lazydays® RV SuperCenter® (Lazydays) confirmed today the formation of a new charitable organization, Lazydays® Partners Foundation (Foundation). The Foundation’s fund is comprised of contributions made by Lazydays® employees through payroll deduction as well as generous gifts from customers and other individuals and organizations. Over 50% of Lazydays® employees contribute to the Foundation at this time. The Foundation’s mission is to “measurably change” the lives of at-risk children through contributions to organizations which share the same goal. The Foundation’s first grant will be awarded during a check presentation on January 18th at 9 a.m. at Lazydays® and will benefit the Hillsborough Education Foundation (HEF). Several state and local leaders are expected to attend the ceremony including former Gov. Bob Martinez, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee and Jane Castor, Assistant Chief of Operations for the Tampa Police Department.
This Foundation gift will become a $500,000 donation over a 5-year period of time due to matching gifts by Dr. Kiran C. Patel and the State of Florida. The Foundation will present HEF president, Bill Hoffman, with a $25,000 check on January 18th. In return, Dr. Patel has generously pledged to match this donation to bring the total to $50,000. Finally, the State of Florida has pledged to match the combined $50,000 to make the total gift $100,000. Each of the parties has agreed to make this an annual event for five years resulting in donations totaling $500,000 to HEF.
The $500,000 donation will be awarded as college scholarships to 50 qualified teens in Hillsborough County in need of financial assistance to attend college. Scholarship recipients are selected annually by HEF from thousands of applicants. In order to receive the scholarship, a recipient must agree to meet criteria such as maintaining a certain grade point average and remaining drug free.
“We are elated that Dr. Patel and the State have joined forces with the Lazydays® Partners Foundation in making such a large and generous donation to HEF, whose mission truly is to help children achieve academic success by making college an accessible goal,” says Don Wallace, Chairman of the Board and Founder of Lazydays.
Mr. Wallace and Foundation President, Dana Philp, will present HEF with a check from Lazydays® Partners Foundation on January 18th at 9 a.m. at Lazydays, 6130 Lazydays® Blvd. in Seffner, FL. For more information about Lazydays® Partners Foundation, please visit www.ldpf.org.
About Don Wallace and Lazydays: Founded in 1976 by Don Wallace, Lazydays® is the largest single site RV dealership in the world. Located on 126 acres outside Tampa, Florida, Lazydays® has an 86,600 sq. ft. main building, 273 service bays, 300 RV campsites and more than 1,200 RVs on display. The property also has a 40,000 sq. ft. Camping World store, a Cracker Barrel Restaurant and a Flying J RV Travel Plaza. Lazydays® is a national RV destination which hosts more than one million visitors and serves more than 300,000 meals annually. http://www.lazydays.com
About Dana Philp: Ms. Philp joined Lazydays® in 1983. She has served on the Friends of Joshua House board since 2001 and currently serves as Secretary. Additionally, she serves on the Kids Charity of Tampa Bay board.
About Hillsborough Education Foundation (HEF): HEF is an independent not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to help the School District of Hillsborough County teachers and students excel in programs that are not funded by public tax revenues. Led by a volunteer board of directors made up of business, education and community leaders, the Foundation has raised $44 million since its inception in 1988.
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Media Contact:
Kristy Rosier
813.246.4333 ext. 4554
krosier@ldpf.org |
