IMMOKALEE (Dec. 1) – RCMA announces that 400 migrant families affiliated with the organization each received a $100 gift card for essential supplies thanks to a $40,000 grant provided in June 2021 by the Community Foundation of Collier County from their Collier Comes Together for Coronavirus Relief fund. The families, who recently returned to Southwest Florida after working on farms in the Midwest and eastern United States, used the cards to buy food and items such as diapers and cleaning products, which are not covered under the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Headquartered in Immokalee, RCMA is the state’s largest non-profit provider of early childhood education, serving rural, low-income families in 21 counties.
“We are extremely grateful to the Community Foundation of Collier County for making this generous donation from their Relief Fund to support the most vulnerable members of our community,” says Isabel Garcia, RCMA’s executive director. “Throughout the pandemic, we have worked hard with partners like them to ensure that our 5,500 children, their families and other members of our communities have funds to pay for rent and utilities, access to healthcare like COVID testing and vaccines, and food that we distribute at our schools and child development centers.”
About RCMA
Established in 1965, RCMA is the largest non-profit provider of quality early childhood education and family-support services in the state of Florida. RCMA serves people in rural areas living in poverty, primarily migrant and agriculture working families. RCMA operates 65 child development centers and two charter schools, and partners with 19 family child care homes and several afterschool care programs in 21 Florida counties. The organization employs 1,600 people, provides child care and education to more than 5,500 children each year, and has more than 50,000 alumni.