Original Article by Hoover Sun
A Hoover home builder and his wife have started a new charitable foundation aimed at multiplying the efforts of nonprofits to serve struggling Hoover children and families.
Dwight Sandlin, the chairman of the board for Signature Homes, and his wife, Sandy, have launched the Sandlin Foundation for Kids and Kindness after being moved at the needs of families in Hoover.
Sandlin, a Ross Bridge resident who has lived in Hoover for more than 25 years, said his company sells homes mostly to affluent people and he never really realized how many people there are in Hoover who struggle to make ends meet.
The median family income in Hoover is about $102,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but 34% of the students in Hoover City Schools qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on their family income, school officials say.
“I had no idea,” Sandlin said.
He learned more about the extent of problems that people face by talking with David Bannister, the founder of Neighborhood Bridges Hoover, a nonprofit that provides aid to families in need through connections in Hoover schools.
Sandlin said there are several organizations like Neighborhood Bridges already doing amazing things to help people in Hoover, but they could use more resources. Sandlin and his wife have been donors to groups like the YMCA in western Hoover but wanted to do more.
Bannister had the idea to set up a new foundation, with Sandlin providing the seed money to get it started. The goal is to encourage others to donate as well and build an endowment that will be a recurring source of revenue for several Hoover nonprofits.
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