Rallied by the opportunity to help provide a safe and loving home to children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected, employees of Dallas-based ORIX USA came together this holiday season to raise $160,000 for Jonathan’s Place. This year’s drive is the most successful in ORIX Foundation’s history of hosting the annual fundraiser.
In addition to this grant, ORIX Foundation board member Brittany Byrd partners with Jonathan’s Place to provide programming for girls through her own charity – Girls Embracing Mothers. GEM’s primary focus is to empower girls in grades K-12 with mothers in prison to break the cycle of incarceration and lead successful lives with vision and purpose.
“There are so many deserving charities doing life-changing work in our community, but our employees were overwhelmed by the impact of Jonathan’s Place and their success in creating hopeful futures for our community’s most at-risk children,” said Carol Greene, director of the ORIX Foundation. “We hope this contribution will help Jonathan’s Place change the futures for even more neglected or abused children.”
ORIX Foundation selected Jonathan’s Place as the recipient of the annual holiday drive at its Foundation Fair in September. Employees led the drive by raising $40,000, and ORIX Foundation and ORIX USA contributed an additional $120,000 to the effort, to support the cause backed by its employees.
“The Jonathan’s Place staff and board of directors would like to thank the ORIX Foundation and the staff of ORIX USA for their generosity and continued support of the abused and abandoned children of North Texas,” said Allicia Frye, CEO of Jonathan’s Place. “Their gift of $160,000 will make a tremendous impact on the abused children that come through our doors every day. Through this partnership we are making a difference.”
One child is abused every eight minutes in Texas, and there were 66,572 confirmed victims of child abuse in 2014. Last year, Jonathan’s Place served more than 11,100 children. Monies from the grant will help Jonathan’s Place expand its Foster Care & Adoption Program, Girls Residential Treatment Program, and Transitional Living Program, as well as help more children at its emergency shelter.
About ORIX Foundation: ORIX Foundation is a charitable foundation sponsored and managed by ORIX USA Corporation and its employees to advance education, strengthen communities and improve lives. The foundation awards direct grants to not-for-profit organizations and matches the charitable contributions and fundraising of each ORIX USA and RED Capital employee up to $10,000 each year. Since it was founded in 2009, ORIX Foundation has committed $6.3 million to nonprofit organizations primarily in ORIX USA’s headquarters region of North Texas. For information, visit www.orixfoundation.org.