Couple’s Philanthropy Fills Kids with Confidence, Nutrition This Summer

Monda Couple
Photo courtesy of SCENE Sarasota

Philanthropists Keith and Linda Monda have made it their mission to provide more opportunity and inspiration for the next generation. This summer alone, thousands of children here on the Gulf Coast will be better fed, safer around water, or stronger readers thanks to initiatives the Mondas helped found and fund. In some cases, the same youngster will benefit from all three.

“Keith and Linda’s giving springs from a desire to help level the playing field for young people, especially those in need,” says Gulf Coast President | CEO Mark Pritchett. “But then they look really hard at how that help can be scaled. The leverage they apply through their philanthropy lifts so many children, it’s amazing.”

Take Monda Kids SWIM. This initiative offers every second-grader in Sarasota County Schools the opportunity to participate in a week’s worth of free water-safety lessons during the school day. The Mondas created Kids SWIM (short for “Safe Water Instruction Matters”) in collaboration with Gulf Coast Community Foundation about six years ago. The couple had read about a long-running charitable thrift store that funded free swimming lessons in northern Sarasota County but was about to go under, and they asked Gulf Coast what might be done to keep the lessons afloat. When we proposed expanding them to reach even more children, the Mondas dove in.

Ripple Effect
Kids SWIM thank-you note

Through a partnership with the school district, area YMCAs, and Girls Inc., Monda Kids SWIM pays for transportation, pool time, and certified instruction so second-grade classes can take group swimming lessons for a full week. Students who might have little or no experience in the water learn things like safely getting in and out of a pool, recovering from a prone position, and holding their faces in the water. With water all around us here on the Gulf Coast, Monda Kids SWIM is a confidence-builder for thousands of children each year—and quite likely a lifesaver for some of them.

The original program that inspired the Mondas served about 8,000 children over its 22 years. Monda Kids SWIM served more than 2,700 students last year alone. Additionally, other donors have followed the Mondas’ lead and contributed to Kids SWIM. The late Alvin Gould even made it possible to expand the program to Charlotte County. (Before he passed, one of Mr. Gould's favorite days of the year was when we would deliver a stack of thank-you notes written by students who had learned to swim!)

“Keith and Linda took a local need and their personal interest, and then they invested in a systemic solution,” says Pritchett. “That’s the difference between charity—which is wonderful—and philanthropy—which can be transformational.”

Summer Reading

Some of the same children who feel more self-assured near a pool or pond are getting another boost from the Mondas this summer through fun and focused reading lessons.

Teacher and Student Reading

Kids READ is a summertime offshoot of the Sarasota County School District’s Reading Recovery program, which provides intensive, one-on-one literacy training to first-graders who struggle the most with reading and writing. The Mondas partnered with Gulf Coast to introduce Reading Recovery to the district a few years ago, and the program has had remarkable success in helping the most challenged young readers quickly catch up to their classmates.

To help prevent “summer slide” among Reading Recovery graduates and prep up incoming students who are likely candidates for the program, the Mondas and Gulf Coast came up with a novel concept: Kids READ. This summer reading program stipends highly trained Reading Recovery teachers to provide about 80 kids with nearly 30 hours of one-on-one reading instruction over the summer. The lessons are built into the children’s summer camp schedules at sites including Boys & Girls Clubs, R.L. Taylor Community Complex, and SKY Family YMCA. The tutors also prepare progress reports that go to the students’ new teachers in the fall.

Like Kids SWIM, Reading Recovery and Kids READ have attracted other generous donors who made it possible to expand and sustain the programs.

Fueling Up

Of course, neither reading nor swimming can be much fun if your tummy is hollow and growling all day. But as our community learned in recent years, when school ends hunger begins for tens of thousands of Sarasota and DeSoto county children.

That’s because free and reduced-price meals and other feeding services that many families utilize during the school year come to an end once school is out. Which is why the Mondas took a lead role in helping All Faiths Food Bank reimagine summer feeding programs in our community.

The Food Bank’s annual Campaign Against Summer Hunger is a concerted effort to raise food and funds to fill that summer gap for students and their families. The Mondas co-founded the Campaign in 2014 and have provided continuous support, along with lead investors including Gulf Coast. Much more than a food drive, the Campaign has transformed the way our community approaches and addresses the risk of hunger faced by 40,000 children in our region over the summer months.

Last year, All Faiths and more than 200 partners fed almost 36,000 children some 2.7 million meals. The goal this year is to reach even more.

Keith and Linda Monda
All Faiths Food Bank named its front entry for Keith and Linda Monda, cofounders of the Campaign Against Summer Hunger.

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