{"id":65460,"date":"2026-05-06T19:57:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65460"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:57:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:57:26","slug":"polk-county-woman-leaves-more-than-740000-to-local-nonprofits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/06\/polk-county-woman-leaves-more-than-740000-to-local-nonprofits\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County woman leaves more than $740,000 to local nonprofits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The generous gift comes from the estate of Mabel Schaefer<\/strong>, a lifelong educator and dedicated member of the community who passed away in 2023 at the age of 100.<\/sup> Through her bequest, more than $740,000<\/strong> has been distributed to 20 nonprofit organizations across Polk and Highlands counties<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GiveWell Community Foundation (GWCF)<\/strong> managed the distribution through a competitive grant cycle that honored Ms. Schaefer\u2019s specific passions: early childhood education, Catholic-based services, and elderly care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notable Grant Recipients<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The funds were allocated to support a variety of local programs, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Polk Education Foundation:<\/strong> $80,000 for strategic phonics instruction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Learning Resource Center of Polk County:<\/strong> $68,000 for the “READY! SET! READ!” program.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Talbot House Ministries of Lakeland:<\/strong> $60,000 for childhood development at the Center for Women and Children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center:<\/strong> $60,000 for diagnostic balance and fall prevention.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Junior Achievement of Tampa Bay:<\/strong> $50,000 for the JA Muma BizTown program in Polk County.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • NU-HOPE Elder Care Services:<\/strong> $45,000 to assist low-income older adults.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lake Wales Care Center:<\/strong> $43,000 for elder services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Magnolia Montessori Academy:<\/strong> $40,000 for scholarship initiatives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Faith in Action North Lakeland:<\/strong> $28,000 for senior care expansion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lighthouse for the Blind and Low Vision:<\/strong> $25,000 for early childhood development.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • WonderHere Education Foundation:<\/strong> $20,000 to establish the Mabel Schaefer Early Childhood Nature Center.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Ms. Schaefer spent her career as a 3rd-grade teacher and was known for her steadfast faith and commitment to helping others. This legacy gift ensures that her values will continue to impact the local community for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The generous gift comes from the estate of Mabel Schaefer, a lifelong educator and dedicated member of the community who passed away in 2023 at the age of 100. Through… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL2ltYWdlcy0xLTIud2VicD9maXQ9MTk0JTJDMjU5JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayBDb3VudHkgd29tYW4gbGVhdmVzIG1vcmUgdGhhbiAkNzQwLDAwMCB0byBsb2NhbCBub25wcm9maXRzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.hDTxsY0qFex2wvpNDdATbxB4IvBBYM_JpJSjmkdcVdMMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9pbWFnZXMtMS0yLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJQb2xrIENvdW50eSB3b21hbiBsZWF2ZXMgbW9yZSB0aGFuICQ3NDAsMDAwIHRvIGxvY2FsIG5vbnByb2ZpdHMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.DYQA57wgE-KoRHPthMaBT3K_VjfwQuMDMJizG1EwkhQMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14557,14556],"class_list":["post-65460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-000-to-local-nonprofits","tag-polk-county-woman-leaves-more-than-740"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65463,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65460\/revisions\/65463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}