The Sunshine Community Foundation -- A Brief History

The Sunshine Community Foundation was born as the Sunshine Cathedral Foundation in 1999 under the diligent guidance of Robert S. Graham, MD. Our new Foundation was charged with the short-term goal of purchasing a larger home for the fast-growing Sunshine Cathedral MCC. In addition, it was given the key responsibility to provide financial support with major gifts and capital fund drives to meet the growing needs of its worship community, its expanding ministries, and the infrastructure required to sustain this growth.

In June 2001, The Foundation completed a successful $2 million campaign and purchased the current property at 1480 SW 9^th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. There, we have nearly 3 acres on which sits: The Walt Lawrence & Stephen Lewis Center for Worship & The Arts, The Peter B. Cinelli, MD, & Michael A. LiPuma Administration Building, the Foundation Building (home of the Robert S. Graham, MD, & Paul Fasana Chapel), and The Dr. John C. Graves Great Hall Building. These facilities and campus have enabled the Sunshine Cathedral to become the largest GLBT congregation in the nearly 300-member MCC Worldwide Fellowship.

In 2005, President Peter Cinelli presided over the launch of a quiet phase of a second major fundraising campaign. This campaign was publicly announced by the Foundation in February 2006, and raised $1,220,000 for an upgrade to the Administrative offices, the Graves/Foundation Buildings’ courtyard and a major renovation of the Walt Lawrence and Stephen Lewis Center and the newly named John C. Graves Chancel. The new Chancel houses a spectacular new 4-manual Rodgers Trillium Pipe Organ. The new organ console was donated by Bob Hebble and Chuck Zettler. The Italian hand-made Ruffatti-Fratelli Pipes were an estate gift from Clyde Cornwell with additional funding from Gregory Kurdian.

Included in the Lawrence / Lewis Center renovation plan are a state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems. The new Graves Chancel was transformed into a wonderful stage and platform that will be available to everyone in the community as a center for performances, recitals and shows of all kinds.

In 2008 the Foundation became The Sunshine Community Foundation to better represent the 25 diverse groups who use our campus and to lessen confusion with the Sunshine Cathedral as it expands to the Caribbean Island of Jamaica and south to Miami-Dade County.

In the coming months, the Foundation plans to undertake a third major campaign to upgrade the rest of the campus and buildings to meet current and future needs. The Foundation’s campus is filled with excitement and activity every day and is visited by more than 65,000 people annually. Our Foundation is proud to provide the legacy of long-term financial stability for our campus and we’re pleased to announce we recently passed the milestone of $4 million in assets.