Our Mission

The foundations mission has two core areas of focus. The first is to help students that live in single parent homes that are in need of assistance for extracurricular activities during junior high and high school in Alachua, Marion, Monroe and Sumter counties.  The second area of focus is to help seniors in high school get to college with the Fresh Start College Scholarship.  The Grilled Cheese Foundation was formed as a result of the founders personal story.  In a small town fishing village in The Florida Keys, her family "received a lot of help from the locals during  junior high  and high school".  She is paying it forward and looking for volunteers and donors that share a passion for helping young people find their passion and provide support to assist them in doing so.

The Founder

"When you have a passion you pursue it, when you have a calling you live it." Charisse Rivers lives her passion every day in both her personal and professional life. Charisse, a known financial advisor, University of Florida graduate, philanthropist, and mother of two, is passionate about educating people on effective financial planning.  Charisse is the founder and CEO of Zinnia Wealth Management and popular radio show host for Retirement Coffee Talk podcast. As a result of her passion to pay it forward, she founded the Grilled Cheese Foundation, a non-profit organization offering scholarships to help sixth graders through college age students that enable them to discover their passions and pursue education with purpose.

The Story behind Grilled Cheese Foundation

"When you’re a kid you don’t necessarily know you are living in poverty until you do."  Charisse was raised, alongside her two siblings by a single Dad in the Florida Keys. He was a tree trimmer, and work wasn’t always plentiful and neither was food. During one particularly rough patch Charisse's father took Charisse and her two siblings to a local restaurant.  Sadly, he only had enough money for them to share one grilled cheese sandwich. You could say these experiences helped shape the rest of her life. The owner of the restaurant saw the need and gave each of them their own grilled cheese sandwich and then something else happened. The entire community rallied around this single father who was devoted to raising his three young children. In that small town, there were two dance studios, some amazing moms, a local restaurant, and a couple of families that helped shape their lives. Charisse learned the value of hard work and resiliency from her father and the importance of community in times of need. She knew that it took hard work to achieve a goal and that the reward of self-accomplishment was priceless. Charisse also recognized that her father didn’t understand how money worked and that his life could have had a different outcome if someone had taught him a few important personal finance skills. Charisse has made it her mission in her businesses to do everything she can to educate people on how they can control their future by understanding how to manage their finances. Charisse embodies the statement “knowledge is power” and “how this knowledge inspires confidence.” Charisse pays it forward  to the community who once gave to her and to the local communities she lives and works in.  Charisse models this passion by support for local veterans, anonymous gifts, and contributions during Christmas for children and parents in need and through founding the Grilled Cheese Foundation for middle school and high school students to help them pursue their dreams.