Andrea Galabinski Allegra Print & Imaging of North Fort Myers awarded much-needed printing funds to several area nonprofit organizations. Pictured are recipients John Buterbaugh San Carlos Roller Hockey, Susan Perez of the Nations Association, Nancy Heuther of Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida, Cece Simon of C.C. Bootstrap Homeless Ministry, Betty Hughes of Animal Refuge Center and Melissa Terry of the Bridge Youth Center. Unable to attend was a representative from the Wishing Well, an organization that also received an award.

In today’s economy, nonprofit corporations are receiving less donations. Seven local companies were recently awarded printing funds from the FootPRINT Fund of Allegra Print & Imaging of North Fort Myers to help with their budgets.

The funds were in varying amounts up to $1,000 in free printing and graphic services, which several representatives said is a key way to allow them to keep providing services.

A board was formed by Allegra owners Bruce and Darlene Vanderveen to review applications and determine who could best benefit by the funds.

The board consisted of North Fort Myers Honorary Mayor and Lee County Deputy Jarrod Cantrell; Sherry Collier of Brightway Insurance;

Michelle Hoover of Alexander & Hoover CPA; Alan Parvey or Parvey & Frankel Attorneys, PA; Brent Struense of WFTX-4, along with the Vanderveens and Dirk Smith, sales, from Allegra who spearheaded the effort.

Applications were open to any nonprofit in Lee County.

Organizations and their representatives accepting the awards included Melissa Terry of the Bridge Youth Center, Cece Simon of C.C. Bootstrap Homeless Ministry, Nancy Heuther of Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida, Susan Perez of the Nations Association, Betty Hughes of the Animal Refuge Center and John Buterbaugh of San Carlos Roller Hockey.

Unable to attend was a representative from the Wishing Well, an organization that also received an award.

“Basically we started this FootPRINT Fund to help out area nonprofits,” said Bruce Vanderveen. “It’s a tough time out there for everybody, and we wanted to help them get going for season. Whatever we can do to help the community we want to do, give back. We all work together. We can’t rely totally on the government, sometimes we need to do it ourselves.”

They gave out about $5,000 in printing services.

“We learned so much about area nonprofits, some who we were not aware of or knew about their services,” said Darlene Vanderveen.

Services could include graphic design, printing, copying and bindery.

Representatives of each of the organizations talked about their services at the awards luncheon.

“The Bridge Youth Center reaches out to teens 11 to 18, through prevention programs and we tutor for GEDs and FCATS,” said Terry of the Bridge Youth Center. “We do job placement, career assessment, resume writing and are involved with the juvenile justice system. This will absolutely help our budget – we basically have no budget so we are appreciative of this. It means so much.”

Its Web site is urbanteens.org.

“The C.C. Bootstrap Homeless Ministry is located at Christ Community Church on Orange Grove Blvd.,” said Simon of the organization. “We serve the homeless and low income. We serve meals and give food to take away. We provide showers and a prayer for the homeless, and bring in a chiropractor and masseuse in occasionally”

The organization also helps the low income “stretch their dollar.” The phone number for information is 898-2331.

“We’ve been serving the community since 1978,” said Perez of the Nations Association. “We have a mentoring and children’s program, service to families at Thanksgiving and Christmas with baskets, summer programs and financial programs when we have funding.”

That organization is located on Palm Beach Boulevard and the Web site is nationsassociation.org.

Buterbaugh talked about San Carlos Roller Hockey.

“It gives the kids something to do, keeps them busy, and gets them physically involved,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the schools; we see so many obese kids in the school. They can do more or just have fun, and if it is something they want to go forward with, they can.”

You can reach him at coachjohn63@aol.com.

Concerning the donation he said, there was no printing budget this year. “It will come in very handy.”

“Our agency sees over 3,000 kids a year,” said Heuther of Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida. “We provide medical exams for them, provide family therapy and prevention programs. We also have afterschool and summer programs in the Pine Manor area.”

It is located on Evans Avenue downtown.

“Any donation helps, with funding being cut,” she said. “It is great to get printing to be able to get our name out there.”

Hughes, treasurer, of the Animal Refuge Center, talked about the history of that organization.

“We are in our 21st year,” she said. “We currently have a population of about 500 animals and no cages. We’re are part of the Save The Pets Food Alliance with the Harry Chapin Food Bank – keeping about 600 families be able to keep their pets in this economy.”

In the spring, especially, the group can’t take them all in.

“If they get donated pet food, they don’t have to leave the pets at ARC,” she noted of that fund. The printing award will only add to its awareness efforts.

Board members reported that they all enjoyed being part of this event and choosing worthy organizations to receive the funds.

“They were all very worthy and it was very difficult to choose the seven that we did. We had a dollar amount and had to go with that,” said Deputy Cantrell. “We looked at what their needs were.”

“It was nice of Bruce and Darlene to ask me to be part of the board – it is a wonderful thing they are doing,” said Parvey.

The North Fort Myers Allegra location has garnished numerous awards, individually and through its parent franchise company. It has also been the consistent winner go the North Fort Myers Neighbor Reader’s Poll as “Best Of North Fort Myers.”

It’s been in business here for about 20 years.

The business features traditional and advanced printing technologies, including full-color printing, graphic design services, short-run digital printing, color and high-speed copying, posters and banners and more.

The Allegra Network is one of the world’s largest print and graphic communications franchises with more than 600 locations in North America and the United Kingdom.

Allegra Print & Imaging of North Fort Myers is located at 4621 Bayshore Rd., and the phone number is 656-3555.