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A Long History of Giving
In the late 1920s, Manatee County was a small community
struggling through the Florida Depression, which hit a couple of
years before the Great Depression. At the time, Ballard Primary
School was the one and only elementary school in Bradenton. A
group of Manatee County women noticed many children coming
to school without lunches. These concerned ladies banded
together to make sandwiches and bake cookies, which they
delivered con��dentially to the school for those children. Thus,
the Service Club of Manatee County was born.
When the school lunch program became part of the Manatee
County school system in the 1940s, these determined women
turned their focus to providing lunch money, clothes, and shoes
for needy children in the community. The Service Club started
organizing fundraising activities, from bridge parties, luncheons,
and teas to golf tournaments, fashion shows, and rummage sales.
After World War II, the federal government assumed responsibility
for the school lunch program. Even so, the Service Club still felt
compelled to help local children. This is when they decided to
assist youngsters at Children’s Haven (now called The Haven),
a local center for developmentally disabled children.
In the following years, the Club saw a dire need for healthcare for
disadvantaged children. Local dentists and physicians agreed
to provide dental care and eyeglasses and even tonsillectomies
for underprivileged children—all thanks to the Service Club of
Manatee County.
Over the past nine decades, the Club has continued to grow right
along with Manatee County. The group has come a long way
since it was ��rst founded in 1927, but their mission still remains
the same: to change the lives of the community’s children.
“The Club has a long and well-respected history of working to
provide focused support to local agencies whose work directly
impacts the lives of the children of Manatee County,” says Janet
Schmoll, Chair, Guest Experience for Service Club of Manatee
County. “We offer our creativity, many hours of work, and
ultimately our hearts for the love of children.”