Better Together honors North Central Florida community partners at Doing Good Together reception
The Floridant/10305970

OCALA, Fla. - Floridant -- Better Together, a nonprofit dedicated to families and children, recently honored its North Central Florida volunteers, supporters and community partners who have made a significant impact on the organization and its mission.

As a privately funded, volunteer-driven nonprofit, Better Together relies on the support of donors, community partners and volunteers to provide its services to families across the state. Each year, Better Together hosts a series of Doing Good Together receptions in all six of its regions to honor and showcase the efforts of these individuals and organizations. Each honoree receives a specialized award, in the style of a prized baseball card, recognizing the recipient's impact with Better Together.

Better Together recognized several honorees during the reception held at The Country Club of Ocala. Honorees include:

• Host Family of the Year was presented to Laura and Thomas Gerds.
• Champion for Strong Families was presented to Straight Line Construction.
• Community Partner of the Year was presented to Interfaith Emergency Services.
• Church Partner of the Year was presented to Church of Hope.
• Department of Children and Families Partner of the Year was presented to Amy Cook.
• Mentor of the Year was presented to Tinslie Pickett.
• Super Volunteer of the Year was presented to Alecia Randolph.
• Staff Appreciation Award was presented to Tara Williams.

This year's Ocala Doing Good Together reception was hosted with support from generous community leaders.

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Better Together works to prevent the need for foster care by building strong families and communities. When a parent needs support – due to homelessness, a medical emergency, or other crisis – Better Together volunteer host families provide a safe, loving home for the children short term, while staff and mentors empower the parents to secure employment, housing and other needs. Because job loss is at the root of most family crises, the Better Together workforce program provides opportunities for all job seekers through relational job fairs and volunteer job coaches.

To date, Better Together has served more than 10,000 children, and 98% of children served through mentoring and hosting remain out of foster care. The nonprofit has also connected more than 40,000 job seekers to employment opportunities through church-based job fairs across 24 states.

Better Together is always seeking additional volunteers and community partners to join its efforts to build stronger families. To learn more about how to become a donor, partner or volunteer, visit BetterTogetherUS.org.

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