Weekly Insights: The Sally Wilkey Foundation
According to Indian River Indicators, 16% of children and youth under the age of 18 are living below the Federal Poverty Line in Indian River County. The health and well-being of our youth population can be affected by the economic status of their family. Youth who experience living in poverty may experience more stress and lower access to healthcare resources.
The Sally Wilkey Foundation is a nonprofit in Indian River County with the mission to enrich the lives of underserved youth through tennis instruction, academic support and life skills development. This foundation helps to fund tennis for children who would not otherwise be able to afford to play. Each week the organization offers tennis lessons, educational support, meals and equipment to children from advocacy organizations and homeless shelters in Indian River County, Florida. In addition to providing tennis lessons and camps, the Sally Wilkey Foundation provides educational support, enhancing the lives of our program participants and aid in character development, encouraging them to get better grades in school. They also provide a meal to every child when the tennis sessions end.
Sally Wilkey was a Vero Beach resident and graduate of St. Edward’s School. She was a collegiate tennis player, world traveler, philanthropist, and courageous fighter of life’s circumstances. Sally was extremely kind, generous with her time, and laughter came easily around her. She lost her fight with brain cancer at age 29 in February 2019, but she is remembered every single day by countless people throughout the world.
Weekly Insights works in conjunction with Indian River Indicators. Indian River Indicators was launched in June 2021 and originated after the completion of the 2019 Indian River Community Needs Assessment. It provides key data and information about our community that is updated annually and can be used to support and sustain proven programs. It can also be used by community leaders to develop policy, promote promising practices and inspire innovation that can lead to solutions to persistent community challenges. Indian River Community Foundation holds informational sessions on the first Tuesday of every month at 4pm via Zoom to introduce the community to this new resource. Please email Director of Philanthropy, Chiaka Nwosu at chiaka@ircommunityfoundation.org to attend a session.
To learn more visit www.ircommunityfoundation.org and click “Indian River Indicators” or contact a member of the Community Foundation’s team at 772.492.1407.