Newport County families and sibling group, Nicholas and Indira Schorsch, Jr., Sloane L. Schorsch, Victoria N. Schorsch, Brendan and Tessa O’Donnell and Zoey D. Schorsch have, collectively, accepted restaurateur Richard Sardella’s challenge and will make a $10,000 gift to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center.
The Schorsch siblings and their families spend much of the year in Newport County. “Over the holidays, our families reflected on our good fortune and our desire to make an impactful gift to the community we all love and call home,” said Nick Schorsch, Jr. speaking for the sibling group in a prepared statement. “We looked at a number of non-profits and the MLK Community Center came to fore pretty quickly. When we learned of Richard Sardella’s incredible generosity, it inspired us to make our gift public, in the hopes of encouraging others to give.”
“When she was a student at St. George’s School Zoey volunteered for the Center and it really formed an impression on her,” Schorsch continued in a prepared statement. “We have each, in our own way, contributed to the Center in various capacities over the last few years and we wanted to join together to make a collective gift. Our parents, Shelley and Nicholas Schorsch, instilled in us the importance of giving back and doing good for our communities. Our families wanted people our ages – late teens to mid-thirties – to realize that philanthropy and impactful giving can start at any age, and can be in any amount. When we read about Mr. Sardella’s $10,000 challenge, we realized this was the perfect opportunity to spread that message of giving.”
“To say we’re thrilled by this news would be a gross understatement”, said Heather Hole Strout, Executive Director of the MLK Community Center in a prepared statement. “This is exactly what Richard Sardella hoped would happen: that his generosity would beget other generosity. These gifts come at a time when demand for our services is at an all-time high. People like Richard, and Nick and his sisters ensure we can keep our critical programs running for the kids, families and seniors in our community who need them most. To learn about these gifts in the month when we honor Dr. King is just icing on the cake.”
Founded in 1922 and renamed after Dr. King in 1968, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center is a multi-service provider for at-risk and underserved individuals, families and children in Newport County, Rhode Island. The mission of the MLK Community Center is to nourish, educate, and support Newport County residents to improve their economic and social well-being. To learn more, visit www.MLKCCenter.org