Grant administration resource development 2

WORKSHEET 2.1: Letter of Inquiry Questionnaire

1. What is the purpose of this letter of inquiry? To whom is it being sent, and what is the connection?

The Children’s Care Academy is seeking to expand its complimentary childcare services to include a Quick Bites Café to better serve the children of family members and caregivers undergoing cancer treatment in the central west portion of Pinellas County, Florida.

The letter of inquiry is being sent to Allegany Franciscan Ministries, c/o Cheri Wright-Jones, Regional Vice President, 33920 US Highway 19 N, Suite 269, Palm Harbor, Florida 34684.

Allegany Franciscan Ministries have granted funds to various organizations seeking to serve and improve lives in and around the Pinellas county area. This is in alignment with the Children’s Care Academy’s desire to serve and improve lives with the provisions the Quick Bites Café can offer the community.

2. What year was your organization founded? What year was it incorporated?

The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas, non-profit 501(c)3 organization, was founded on January 2, 2012, with incorporation status established on July 5, 2013.

3. What is the mission of your organization?

The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas exists to nuture children in a safe and enjoyable environment for those with parents undergoing cancer treatment. Our focus is to provide complimentary care for parents who do not otherwise have access to childcare. Our goal is to create a fun, loving and educational experience for every child.

4. What are the long-term goals for your organization?

The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas serves as an outreach program to the community of children whose parents or caregivers are undergoing cancer care. The academy’s immediate goal is to launch the long-term goals set forth by the academy’s Board of Directors and staff. After much thought and collaboration, the academy has defined the following long-term goals deemed essential in keeping with the the ever-growing childcare needs in the cancer care community by further enhancing our nurturing outreach mission of caring for all children.

The long-term goals of the Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas include: Establishing a Quick Bites Café, expanding the on-site tutoring program with the acquisition of additional electronic devices and creating a handicap accessible facility.

The Quick Bites Café will be a complimentary nutritional food service offering a light breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner for children attending the academy. The Quick Bites Café will offer convenient nutritional meals and snacks for the children while offering parents an alternative to packing lunches and unhealthy fast food choices.

Purchasing additonal electronic devices will allow expansion of the on-site tutoring program. The acquistion of computers, educational software and iPads will facilitate the ability to offer a wider range of enhanced tutoring services. Supplying iPads for children will be advantagous in helping with mental stimulation and accomplishing homework needs. Improving the academy’s technological resources with the latest technology has to offer will help improve the on-site educational process as well as offer more qualtiy time at home with loved ones.

Providing a handicap accessible facility for children with limited physical abilities lends way to further the outreach program by targeting a specific population in need.

5. What programs does your organization provide that support these goals?

The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas offers complimentary child care services to children whose parents or caregivers are undergoing cancer treatment. The academy is conveniently located behind the cancer treatment center offering convenient one-stop qualtity care for both children and adults. The facility is designed to accommodate an office, six class rooms; each with an attached bathroom, resource room with library and computer stations, two restrooms; one public and one private, a common area for play and recreation and an employee breakroom. The breakroom is equipped with a full-size refrigerator, microwave and storage with the capacity to be expanded into a fully functionable Quick Bites Café.

The academy provides snacks in the form of Gold Fish, pretzels, animal crackers and Cheerios. Apples, grapes and cookies are occasionally donated by area supermarkets. Children can be at the academy anywhere from breakfast to dinner time and the snacks currently provided do not meet specified nutritional standards.

The academy offers on-site academic tutoring at no cost by licensed professionals. The academy currently owns two out-of-date computers that are utilized for both academic tutoring and homework assignments. As the academy continues to grow and children’s homework assignments are becoming more digital, the two out-dated computers are not sufficient in meeting the technological needs of the children.

Currently, the only handicap accessibile feature on site is limited handicap parking. Due to the lack of handicap accessibility, the academy is currently unable to care for children with limited physical abilites.

6. What is the need in your community that you seek funding to address?

Caring for children whose parents or caregivers are undergoing cancer treatment is a growing need in our community. Those afflicted with cancer face many obstacles from diagnosis to the end of the treament process; loss of wages, lack of insurance coverage and for those with children, potential lack of childcare. Treatment can last anywhere from one to several hours for several weeks and even months, producing challenges for the family. Treatment can take time away from the family and make some parental responsibilities such as making a sandwich a difficult task. These challenges can be an especially demanding experience for the single parent or caregiver.

The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas was established for the sole purpose of providing complimentary quality childcare to assist in easing the cancer treatment process for parents or caregivers. To further broaden our outreach, the academy believes providing complimentary nutritious food and snacks to the children will aid in helping to lessen even more of the challenges associated with the treatment process. Establishing the Quick Bites Café will afford parents or caregivers a greater peace of mind at home knowing children have been nourished in a safe and caring environment during the course of treatment.

7. How in your organization’s view is the need related to our programs, long-term goals, and mission?

The Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas shares the compassion of Allegany Franciscan Ministries in transforming lives by promoting physical, emotional and societal well-being within the communities in which we serve. Our shared commitment toward helping those in need with integrity lend way for a relationship that could better define the mission of the Children’s Care Academy to care for children whose parents are undergoing cancer treatment in the western part of Pinellas County, Florida. Establishing a fully-operational Quick Bites Café offering nutritious food to the children in our care will enhance our outreach to the those in need. Providing a nutritional snack or meal can mean all the difference to a hungry child or an ailing parent or caregiver. Anything we can do as an organization to help those in need will work to strengthen our care-giving mission while helping to support the community around us.

8. What do we propose to do about this need?

The Children’s Academy of Pinellas is seeking to incorporate a Quick Bites Café into our program to further assist the needs of our community through a complimentary nutritious on-site food program. The academy board-serving restauranteer will act as liasion to ensure proper operating guidelines are enforced and followed thoughout the café implementation process. This person will serve as active in-house chef, upon retirement, as well as being intrumental in providing contacts for potential donors within the restaurant business.

Blueprint specs have been drawn for the program expansion of the Quick Bites Café. Building specs include expanding the breakroom area to meet the service needs of a fully-functional small cafe. This will involve knocking down the wall adjacent to the breakroom, adding a front entrance and back exit doors with the installation of additonal overhead lighting and electrical outlets. This will be the extent of the major construction that will house the actual café. The academy has procured a licensed contractor willing to donate his time to convert the existing breakroom into a small café.

A budget has been created to include the purchase of operating equipment and construction costs for the café. Operating equipment include: dual cooking range, second refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, sink with garbage disposal, cookware, dishware and tables and chairs. Additional operating costs include: hiring two part-time food preparers, Sam’s Club Membership, pantry staples and miscellaneous supplies.

The first six months food supply for the café will be purchased with funds generated from a previous fund-raising event and the generosity of local supermarkets. The Children’s Care Academy hosts an annual fund-raising event that aids in funding the facility’s day-to-day operations. The academy plans to add an additional annual fund-raising event to help with future food purchases.

9. What outcome do we anticipate after the first year of funding?

Anticipated outcomes for funding of the Quick Bites Café food program include: providing nutrition to children who may not otherwise receive a hot nutritonal meal due to the extenuating cirumstances that can result from cancer treatment; lack of food, lack of funds and the physical inabilility to provide said nutrition and furthering enhancing the quality of care offered to the children while extending a better quality of life for each family served.

Our ultimate desire is to offer Children’s Care Academy outreach programs beyone the bordes of the central west portion of Pinellas County, Florida.

10. What is the total cost of our proposed idea for the first year (or multiple years if we plan to request multiple-year funding)? How much do we want from this funder?

The proposed budget for the Quick Bites Café is estimated at $50,000. Said funds will convert the breakroom area into a small café, purchase the necessary operating equipment and cover two part-time salaries plus miscellaneous expenses

11. Who will be contacting the funder to determine its interest and when? Whom should the funder contact for more information?

Denise Colburn, President. Children’s Care Academy of Pinellas 123 Highland Avenue, Largo, Florida 31111. 727-411-1111. [email protected]

Now that you have finished answering the questions, you can take the information and build a letter of inquiry. The ideal way to write the letter is to follow this format: opening, background, problem statement, proposed solution, closing. The questions you answered here followed this format.