JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – UF’s Rainbow Center for Women, Adolescents, Children & Families at Shands Jacksonville was awarded the third annual Tarsha Butler grant by Voices for Children of the First Coast.
Named in memory of Butler, the $5,000 grant is designed to help children and teens coping with the effects of AIDS lead fuller lives.
Formerly known as First Coast Child Advocates Inc., Voices for Children is a nonprofit board that supports the Guardian ad Litem program in Clay, Duval and Nassau counties. The Guardian ad Litem program ensures that children in the dependency system have an independent advocate working on their behalf in court.
“With the $5,000, the Rainbow Center will be able to enrich the lives of children and teenagers who are living with AIDS – and we are very excited about helping them live life to the fullest extent possible,” said John Wagener, the Voices for Children board president.
The Rainbow Center is the only comprehensive HIV and AIDS program in North Florida.
Tarsha Butler contracted AIDS while she was in foster care. As a result, Guardian ad Litem won a suit against the Florida Department of Children & Families on behalf of Tarsha and in the name of First Coast Child Advocates. Unfortunately, Tarsha died before she could benefit from the money. Voices for Children now serves as guardian of the trust and only children with AIDS are able to receive funds or benefit from it.
“Tarsha was a lovely child who, to her death at a very young age, always had a smile despite how sick she was,” said Mobeen Rathore, M.D., the Rainbow Center’s director and a professor and chief of pediatric infectious diseases and immunology at the College of Medicine-Jacksonville.
Rathore said the grant will provide a transitional support group for adolescents living with HIV or AIDS, allowing them to gain skills needed to transition to adulthood.
“The Tarsha Butler funds will support a case manager as well as provide social activities, outings and speakers that otherwise are difficult to fund through traditional grants,” he said.