Jarrod Owen (L) and Steve Owen (R) presented the generous donation to Rey Navarro, Director of Village Operations.
Hibiscus Children’s Center Receives $20,000 Donation from Jake Owen Foundation
Vero Beach, FL – Hibiscus Children’s Center is pleased to announce that it received a $20,000 donation from the Jake Owen Foundation. Mr. Steve Owen, Jake Owen’s father, and Jarrod Owen, Jake Owen’s brother, visited the Hibiscus Children’s Village in Vero Beach recently to deliver the generous contribution. This is the seventh year that Hibiscus Children’s Center has benefited from the generosity of the Jake Owen Foundation Benefit Concert held annually in Vero Beach.
This wonderful partnership helps to directly enhance the critical services received by our youth at the Hibiscus Village. Youth are provided professional mental health counseling and trauma-informed care by our staff so they can begin healing from the trauma of abuse. Medical and dental services are provided and on-site educational services are a priority for our teens. The program encourages and assists youth who have dropped out of public school to receive their GED, virtual school diploma or an alternative diploma. Training and preparing youth for adulthood is addressed through the Career Pathways to Independence Program at the Village. Our youth are engaged in community-based internships with local businesses and agencies as well as on-site internships. The Graphic Design Impact Center is a component of Career Pathways and helps to expand our youth’s horizons through graphic design and technical skills needed for marketable employment. C.U.L.I.N.A.R.Y. (Cooking Up Life skills, Intellect, and Nutrition for Ambitious & Resilient Youth) is another component of the program that helps to teach culinary education and training to gain food handling and service certifications. Teens are involved in all aspects of menu and food handling preparation, dietary requirements, food ordering, budgeting, inventory control, and other culinary activities. Activities are designed to reinforce critical thinking, problem solving, build self-esteem, and identify continuing education options to support the skills needed to attain internships and employment.
Hibiscus Children’s Center is deeply grateful to the Jake Owen Foundation for their continued generous support of our teens living at the Hibiscus Village. The Foundation’s previous support provided exciting new opportunities for our youth. In 2015, the “Jake Owen Music Experience” was created at the Village to open up opportunities for musical enrichment. Studies have shown that by participating in artistic activities, youth can experience dramatic improvements in their self-esteem, enhance their short- and long-term memory, and learn to manage stress in a healthy way. Many of our teens have a passion for music and this experience has helped to enrich their lives and overall well-being.
