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Grant to Museum Will Plant the Seeds of Learning in Kids

The New Children’s Museum announced that it has received $30,000 from longtime supporter San Diego Gas & Electric for two key efforts: $15,000 for the Museum’s Garden Project in the Children’s Park and $15,000 for Salute our Troops military efforts.

Michelle Nixon, director of community relations for SDG&E, said the work both organizations are doing has a tremendous positive impact.

The Garden Project has been funded by SDG&E since late 2013. SDG&E’s grant will help support the hands-on workshops featuring eco-friendly planting activities, education about local plant life, sensory exploration, and other engaging projects.

The grant for Salute our Troops helps the Museum provide half-price admission for military families year-round and free admission during the summer Blue Star Museum program. SDG&E makes it possible for the museum to offer workshops for USO families in 2016, a special time for children and their recently returning — or newly deploying — parents.

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County announced its “2015 Corporate Partner of the Year,”

Millennium Health, and its “2015 Community Partner of the Year,” Council President Pro Tem Marti Emerald and staff. BBBS of SDC said both partners have made a significant impact in the lives of San Diego youth and in the promotion and support of the San Diego mentoring movement.

Millennium Health, a San Diego-based health solutions company led by its CEO and BBBS of SDC Board Member Brock Hardaway, contributed a substantial donation to create Beyond School Walls science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. It’s the first program of its kind in San Diego that offers children in underserved communities exposure to quality STEM education while providing one-to-one mentorship. In addition to the STEM Sister-2-Sister program at its headquarters, Millennium also funded programs at three other sites, including Qualcomm Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., BIOCOM and ViaSat Inc. The STEM Sister-2-Sister program pairs caring adult women with young girls who live in high-risk gang territories to provide mentoring and nurturing relationships to counter the recruitment of 11- to 13-year-old girls lured into human trafficking through gangs.

“Every child should have the opportunity to reach her full potential, and with the help of our dedicated team of employees who have become Big Sisters in the Beyond School Walls STEM Sister-2-Sister program, we are making a significant, positive impact in these young girls’ lives,” Hardaway said.

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BIA Cares, the charitable foundation of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, has awarded the nonprofit Home of Guiding Hands $5,600 to replace flooring in one of its 31 community-based homes serving people with developmental disabilities.

BIA Care’s commitment to giving back to the community is inspirational. Since 1990, it has donated more than $2.2 million to charitable projects and programs in San Diego County.

Home of Guiding Hands also announced that the Heller Foundation of San Diego has provided $5,072 in funding for energy-efficient replacement windows throughout the Penasco house, which is home to six developmentally disabled adults. Although the home is maintained to the highest standards, this 41-year-old home needs upgrades associated with the age of the house. Due to limited and decreased state funding, resources are spread thin. HGH is grateful for the continued partnership of both foundations to help them provide the highest quality of life to San Diegans with developmental disabilities.

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Ulla Lotta Wiik recently endowed a gift of $200,000 to San Diego State University. The gift will support student exchanges and collaborative scholarly research to strengthen SDSU’s international programs in languages, regional studies and international business. In appreciation, a 500-seat auditorium in the College of Arts and Letters has been named for Wiik. Wiik and her first husband, Einar Wiik, have already contributed much to the San Diego region’s economic success. In 1991, they relocated their business, Standard Filter Corp. from Los Angeles to a 30,000-square-foot headquarters building in Carlsbad. The company is a world leader in filter bag manufacturing for the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Send Kudos/Giving items to sglidden@sdbj.com.

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