Donor Spotlight: Charley Richards

Each week, The Sarasota Observer will feature a different donor who is involved with Season of Sharing, a 10-year, community-wide fundraising partnership created by the Community Foundation.

Charley Richards has always had a passion for helping others. When he was 8 years old, he collected newspapers and tin cans for recycling during World War II. In 1997, he founded a non-profit organization that provides housing for adults with developmental disabilities. And, in 2001, he became involved with Season of Sharing.

Richards had already been working with the Community Foundation of Sarasota for several years through his non-profit agency, Community Assisted and Supported Living. When he learned about the program from Stewart Stearns, who in May retired from his position as chief executive of the Community Foundation, Richards immediately felt compelled to be a part of it.

“I feel a sense of obligation,” says Richards. “I’ve been very fortunate throughout my life, and I feel that I owe it to give back.”

Richards, who also volunteers in the Community Foundation’s Nonprofit Resource Center, has seen firsthand how many are suffering during these tough economic times.

“There are a lot of heart-wrenching stories out there in this prosperous community,” says Richards. “This economic situation that we’re all trying to live through has done some devastating things.”

Richards immediately breaks into a beaming smile as he describes the people who’ve been helped through Season of Sharing, including a boy awaiting a heart transplant who was able to keep his blood machine pumping because of funding from Season of Sharing.

“It really pulls the community together at this special time of year,” says Richards.

Contact Maria Amodio at [email protected].