Boca Raton property owners, rev your lawn mowers. The allowed length of grass — and other untended vegetation — just got shorter.
    The City Council approved an ordinance in February that reduced the permitted maximum height of untended vegetation by 4 inches, dropping it from 12 inches to 8.
    The ordinance is aimed mostly at vacant lots and houses in foreclosure, said Deputy City Manager George Brown. “The key word is ‘untended,’ ” he noted.
    “Untended vegetation” refers to grass, weeds, underbrush or any dense growth of trees, vines or other vegetation.
— Sallie James

By Steve Plunkett

    The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District plans to hand-deliver a check for $3.7 million — as soon as the City Council finds time to accept it.
    The money is half the local cost of renourishing the city’s beaches from the Boca Raton Inlet north to the southern end of Red Reef Park. District commissioners decided at their Feb. 16 meeting that they would pay for half of the bill, up from their previous contribution level of one-third of costs.
    But District Chairman Robert Rollins added one stipulation: “Let them know I’ll deliver the check at the time I address the council.”
    The district and the council have been going back and forth since mid-August trying to schedule a joint meeting. In January the district put the joint meeting on a back burner and asked Boca Raton to schedule an appearance by Rollins at the council’s Feb. 22 workshop. Whenever he appears before the council, he plans to talk about what he and his fellow commissioners call the “strained” relationship between the two government bodies.
    Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director, emailed and phoned City Hall to confirm the Feb. 22 appearance, but did not receive a reply. Rollins said he, too, got the cold shoulder.
    “I placed a call to the mayor’s office last week. No communication from their office regarding that,” Rollins said.
He did not speak at the workshop.
    Boca Raton has been counting on getting the $3.7 million from the district since a joint meeting in June, when district commissioners informally agreed to pay the higher amount. The district had budgeted $2.6 million for the beach project and will dip into reserves for the difference.
    But district commissioners said the 50 percent contribution was for this project only, and that they will consider future renourishment projects on a case-by-case basis. Boca Raton has proposed the district commit to paying half of all beach costs for 30 years.
    The dredging is scheduled to start this month and should be completed by the end of April.
    “The week of March 6 they’ll start pumping sand on the beach,” said Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal program manager.
    Photos of the work will be posted at www.myboca.us under “Central Beach Renourishment Project.”
    Bistyga said under the permit granted by the state Department of Environmental Protection, workers must take “every precaution possible” to protect nesting sea turtles. Sea turtle nesting season begins March 1.
    The renourishment will cost $11.3 million, with the state and county paying about $4 million. That left about $3.7 million each for the district and the city if they split the local share.
    Koski also told commissioners he had received bids for the first phase of rebuilding the boardwalk at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center but he had not yet evaluated them. The bids range from $581,000 to $1.2 million, he said.

‘Who wants to go for a boat ride?’ Guests outfitted in the mandatory life jackets

are ready to be helped aboard one of the 20 yachts offering rides to attendees

of last year’s Boating & Beach Bash for People With Disabilities.

Photo provided

By April W. Kimley

    Jay Van Vechten remembers what he felt like when he made it onto the beach at Spanish River Park in December after the installation of new access mats for people with disabilities.
    “I teared up,” he said. “All of a sudden I could visit the beach by myself again — after 14 years.”
    The mobility mats were installed and paid for by the city of Boca Raton last fall to enable people with disabilities to navigate over beach sand.
    The Boca Raton man is the force behind the city’s successful Boating & Beach Bash for People With Disabilities. A freak accident in 2001 left him in constant pain and able to walk only with a cane.
    “These mobi-mats are a game changer,” Van Vechten said.
    On March 12, for the eighth annual bash, participants will finally be able to gain access to the beach easily because of the mobi-mats. They will be able to participate in a number of beach activities and, weather and currents permitting, even go swimming.
    “We want people to bring their bathing suits and towels,” said Van Vechten, whose excitement over this — and other new activities — is catching.
    Liz Schmidt, of the Boca YMCA, has assembled a team of more than 20 lifeguards and trained volunteers to assist those who want to swim. Two people will supervise every participant; life preservers will be provided, and of course, the regular Ocean Rescue lifeguards will be on hand.  
    “For many [participants], this will be the first time they were ever on the coastal beach here in Boca,” Schmidt said.
    If bad weather or currents preclude swimming, participants with disabilities will have plenty of other beach activities, such as volleyball and horseshoes, and even building sand castles in special, elevated platform boxes filled with sand.
    The Bash is the largest event of its kind held in the U.S. It is run under the direction of the American Disabilities Foundation Inc.
    Last year more than 400 volunteers hosted upward of 5,000 people at the event— young and old, civilians and veterans — and helped them participate in a wide variety of seaside activities at Spanish River Park. All activities are free, and range from wheelchair yoga and kite flying to therapy ponies, free lunches, live music and boat rides on the Intracoastal Waterway.
    Bob Garey, the marina manager at the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, rounded up the boats and captains and supervised water safety — and will do it again this year.
    The organization has also recently received a $4,900 grant from Palm Beach County to buy additional mobi-mats. Van Vechten said these will probably be used to make other parts of the park accessible.
    The Bash is run exclusively by volunteers. It pays no salaries and there are no administrative costs. It offers something many people with disabilities usually miss out on: a day in a seaside park where they can enjoy themselves doing what beachgoers do.

Also new this year:
    The Boca Ballet Theatre will offer dancing for people with Parkinson’s disease.
    Boca Raton Regional Hospital is teaming up with the Florida Atlantic University College of Nursing and graduate students from Nova Southeastern University to provide noninvasive health screening such as blood pressure monitoring.
    Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital has agreed to sponsor the Kids Fun Zone.
    DIVE HEART will demonstrate how to use scuba diving as a tool to build confidence and independence in children, adults, and veterans with disabilities — that organization’s mission.

The park’s entrance was at Camino Real, about where the gates to Camino Gardens stand today.

All that is left is an asphalt pathway and the geyser base in the lake.

In the 1950s, people paid $1.25 to see herds of African gazelle, zebra,

giraffe and camels roam in Boca Raton.

Shirley Schneider, the founder’s daughter, takes

cheetahs Mojah and Mbili for a stroll.

An employee wears an authentic costume purchased in Africa.

Photos provided by Ginger L. Pedersen

By Ginger L. Pedersen

    Boca Raton. The mere mention of the city’s name brings to mind high-end shopping, expensive homes and luxury cars. But to me, it evokes thoughts of giraffes, elephants and an old Jeep.
    Back in 1951, when my grandfather, John P. Pedersen, purchased 300 acres in Boca Raton and created Africa USA, an African animal theme park, it was a tiny town known only for its Addison Mizner-built hotel and its all-but-abandoned Army air base. 
    Now, 55 years after the park’s closing, the story of how Pedersen created Africa USA remains as improbable as it is interesting.
    The city was happy to sell the land, which it had taken back from Mizner decades before for unpaid taxes. But the plan my grandfather had for the land was one that no one could fathom: convert the pine and palmetto flatwoods to an African savannah, complete with herds of gazelle, zebra, giraffe and camels to re-create Africa right in Boca Raton.
    Quite a fantasy for a country boy from Wisconsin.
    Pedersen, his wife, Lillian, and their two children, Jack Pedersen and Shirley Schneider, transformed the land through dredging lakes and planting thousands of exotic plants to create a fantasy land that included Florida’s largest waterfall and a geyser.
    My father, Jack, flew to Africa and took part in safaris or purchased animals from preserves. The animals were loaded onto the freighter African Planet, which docked in Port Everglades to large crowds.
    Africa USA opened for business in March 1953. The park’s entrance was at Camino Real, about where the gates to Camino Gardens stand today. Tourists paid the $1.25 admission to take a boat ride through the lagoon around Monkey Island, or ride aboard an open-air tram pulled by a Jeep. They were among the roaming African herds — no windows or screens between the guests and the animals.
    African-American employees wore costumes my father purchased in Africa. One of the men was a former Japanese prisoner of war and spoke Japanese to the unsuspecting tourists, who thought it was Swahili. Sadly, none of those artifacts were preserved.
    “Princess Margaret” was one of Africa USA’s most popular personalities. She was a trained chimpanzee who lived with my grandparents and was raised as if she were human. She loved to wear frilly dresses, ride her bicycle and mingle with the tourists. She ate in local restaurants, perched in her high chair just like a toddler. 
    The Pedersens also had dogs and cats; a tiny Chihuahua named Chico and two cheetahs named Mojah and Mbili. They were raised as cubs in Africa and starred in the feature film Quo Vadis. The two “cats” would sit in the front seat of my father’s convertible and tool around town to the turning heads of passing motorists.
    As the 1950s came to a close, little Boca Raton was growing up. New housing developments began to surround the park, and many complained of the noise and traffic the park brought. In 1961, my grandfather sold the land to developers, and the animals were sent to zoos around the country, including Busch Gardens in Tampa, where many of the zebra descendants roam today.
    Today Camino Gardens stands on the footprint of Africa USA. A crumbling asphalt pathway around the lagoon and the geyser base in the lake are the only physical remnants of the attraction.
    For my aunt, Shirley Schneider, who turned 90 in February, the park still evokes fond memories. She loved meeting celebrities such as talk show host Jack Paar and character actors Dody Goodman and Hans Conried.
    Shirley and I tell the story of Africa USA to community groups through stories, film, souvenirs, postcards and photos of an old-time Florida.
    My favorite souvenir is a small teacup and saucer, rescued from a yard sale at a great-aunt’s house in Wisconsin. These small relics help tell a story of old-time Florida and its roadside attractions, a time long lost to concrete, asphalt and condominiums.

    Ginger L. Pedersen lives in Boynton Beach and is an administrator at Palm Beach State College. She has written and edited several books on Florida history, including Pioneering Palm Beach: The Deweys and the South Florida Frontier and Legendary Locals of West Palm Beach. She maintains a history blog at www.palmbeachpast.org.

By Rich Pollack

    Highland Beach town commissioners unanimously passed a package of five local ordinances at their March 1 meeting, with several designed to keep the town from looking unsightly during construction.
    “Most of these ordinances have the effect of making sure property is maintained according to the high standards of Highland Beach,” said Town Attorney Glen Torcivia.
    As pent-up demand for custom-built new homes led to an increase in construction, some residents asked commissioners to strengthen town codes and implement regulations to maintain the aesthetics and safety of neighborhoods where building is taking place.
    Residents of at least one neighborhood, Bel Lido Isles, which has seen an increase in construction over the last several years, say they appreciate the new ordinances.
    “The residents of our neighborhood want to be protected from the perils of construction and the town has responded,” said Peggy Gossett-Seidman, secretary of the Bel Lido Isle Home Owners Association.
    One revamped ordinance welcomed by residents adds a little more bite to codes requiring builders to place fences around construction sites.
    Under the ordinance, fences must be chain link, 6 feet tall and with a screen on the outside. The fence must be on all sides of a property where demolition or construction is taking place and include a gate that can be locked when construction is idle.
    Under the new regulations, crews are required to place all equipment as well as large metal trash bins and portable toilets inside the fence, and “No Trespassing” signs must be posted.
    Gossett-Seidman said a locked fence surrounding the construction site benefits both builders and area residents.
    “It keeps the builder’s valuable equipment and materials protected from vandals and trespassers and keeps sand and gravel and other demolition debris from falling onto neighboring properties and roadways,” she said.
    The ordinance also requires the fence be maintained in such a way as “to prevent nuisance conditions and to maintain the public health, safety and welfare.”
    Another new ordinance this month redefined the term “nuisance” in the town’s regulations. Under the new standard, the nuisance must have the potential to affect public health, safety and welfare rather than just be annoying.
    Gossett-Seidman and Bel Lido residents also supported this change.
    “The definition of safety is more specific than the definition of aesthetics,” she said. “We don’t care if you paint your house purple, but we do care if your house presents a safety hazard to the neighborhood.”
    Among other new ordinances is one that limits the number of temporary, on-site storage units to one per property and allows that unit to be in place for only 30 days. Also, a site permit is required before temporary storage units can be placed on a property.
    A separate ordinance passed this month also addresses temporary construction trailers and now says the town’s building official must approve them.
    Town commissioners also voted for a new ordinance requiring a placard be placed on any property that is undergoing rezoning or where the owner has requested a variance, special exception, comprehensive plan amendments or major modifications to the site plan.
    “This is intended to let residents know that there will be a hearing regarding the property,” Commissioner Lou Stern said.

By Dan Moffett

    MANALAPAN — Kersen De Jong was the most controversial citizen in Manalapan because that’s what he wanted to be.
Born in the Netherlands, De Jong said he believed it his duty as a naturalized American to speak out whenever he found injustice. And in Manalapan, he thought he found it a lot.
    His criticism of the town was public and spirited, and his complaints went beyond the spectrum of routine municipal governance. De Jong complained to federal agencies about Manalapan’s attitudes toward race and people with disabilities, and criticized the behavior of police, administrators, elected officials and neighbors with equal fervor.
    Blood pressures rose across the dais when De Jong took the microphone at a town meeting.
    During one recent crusade, he closed emails with a favorite quotation from Roger Baldwin, a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union: “So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we’ll be called a democracy.”
    Mr. De Jong died Feb. 17 after a brief illness while vacationing in Hawaii. He was 65.
    “The greatest thing Kersen did for Manalapan was to stand up and get the town to do the right thing for disabled people,” said Howard Roder, a former commissioner, who credits De Jong with forcing officials to make the Town Hall and library comply with federal disability standards.
    “He also is responsible for getting more handicapped parking spaces at Plaza del Mar,” Roder said. “As far as I’m concerned, he tried to do what was best for Manalapan. Kersen should be congratulated and praised.”
    Mr. De Jong’s empathy for people with disabilities came at a high cost and was intimately understood. When he was 26, he lost both his legs in a car accident in Manhattan.  Friends say he adjusted quickly to walking with artificial legs. In Manalapan, he often came to meetings sitting on a skateboard, paddling it into the room with his hands.
    A true patron of the arts, Mr. De Jong and his partner of 37 years, Phillip Perkins, were known for parties with classical music performances at their Lands End Road home.
    Mr. De Jong’s love of music led to associations with the Boys Choir of Harlem and the Chicago Boys Choir. He started a foundation called the Netherlands American Community Trust to help young artists. Mr. De Jong was the managing director of the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in the United States.
    Friends say he was a consummate networker, who hired many Dutch interns to give them a start in his adopted country.
    He was a member of the board of governors for the Roosevelt Institute and a judge on the United Nations Franklin D. Roosevelt International Disability Rights Award Advisory Board.
    Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands granted him a knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau to recognize his contributions to Dutch-American relations.
    “It’s time to light a candle, say a prayer and wish him well on the next part of his journey,” said former Manalapan Vice Mayor Louis DeStefano.
    De Jong is survived by Perkins and a brother, Martin. The family requests donations to Shake-a-Leg, Miami, instead of flowers.

By Emily J. Minor

    BOCA RATON — Dr. Björn Nils Anders Lamborn, a prominent physicist who held a key role in establishing the Ph.D. program in physics at Florida Atlantic University, died Jan. 14 after suffering a bad fall following cataract surgery. He was 78.
    In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, of which there were many, Dr. Lamborn was revered for his impressively dry sense of humor and an endless love for his Corgi dogs, said his sister, Ingrid Bortner, who lives in Baltimore.
    “Growing up, he was always studious, always brilliant and he had an incredible sense of humor,” Bortner said.
    Born in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of a political writer and a mother who worked as a newspaper writer and translated children’s books from Swedish to English, Dr. Lamborn studied abroad for his younger years, then came to the United States when his parents bought a small newspaper in Winter Park and made Florida their home, Bortner said.
    Dr. Lamborn first studied at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in science. He then attended the University of Florida, where he — in just two years — earned a doctorate in theoretical plasma physics.
    And he did all that by the tender age of 22.
    His sister said Dr. Lamborn at the time was the youngest to get a doctorate in plasma physics, which is the study of nonlinear waves, the ionosphere and gases.
    From there, her brother could have studied just about anywhere, she said, but he chose the burgeoning FAU, where he thought he would have a real hand in the development of the young college’s Physics Department.
    And he did.
    Dr. Lamborn joined FAU in 1965 — just four years after the college was launched — and worked to establish the college’s Ph.D. program in physics, which was approved in 1988.
    Dr. Luc Wille, a colleague hired by Dr. Lamborn to help launch the department, wrote that his mentor leaves quite the legacy.
    “By trying to articulate Björn’s contributions to the department, I came to realize how much he had accomplished and how much he meant to me,” said Dr. Wille, who also wrote that Dr. Lamborn’s “dry sense of humor and the twinkle in his eye livened up faculty meetings.”
As a final display of devotion to FAU, Dr. Lamborn left a $1.1 million endowment to establish an Eminent Scholar Chair in Theoretical Physics, and a $100,000 scholarship endowment for undergraduate physics students who are seeking a doctorate in theoretical physics.
“Dr. Lamborn was passionate about theoretical physics, his students, and Florida Atlantic University,” said FAU President John Kelly. “His most thoughtful and generous gift to establish an Eminent Scholar Chair and scholarship endowment within our Department of Physics will ensure that his dream, vision and legacy continue in perpetuity.”
Bortner said the circumstances of her brother’s untimely death were both odd and shocking. He was in Palm Beach Gardens, she said, getting eye surgery by a doctor they particularly liked. Dr. Lamborn stayed the night in the area because he had an appointment the next day. That evening, apparently walking to get a bite to eat, he stumbled while crossing a road, fell and struck his head. The fall was so bad that he broke his neck, she said.
    Dr. Lamborn never married, but his sister said he loved her children and grandchildren as his own. In addition to his sister, he is survived by a niece, a nephew and five great-nieces and great-nephews.
    Five Corgis also survived him, and they have been placed in loving homes, Bortner said.
    Memorial contributions can be made to the Pembroke Welch Corgi Club of America. Established by Dr. Lamborn, this charitable foundation was created for the welfare of Corgis and other canines. The mailing address is PWCCA Charitable Trust, Attn: Adrienne Saffel P.O. Box 33, Versailles, KY 40383.
    Also, contributions can be made to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33407.

Florent ‘Flo’ Plana and cameraman Hugo Le Gourrierec record Ed Manley

as he talks about photos from his days in the service during World War II.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

The RV in which Plana travels to interview World War II veterans.

By Steve Pike

    A hero is hard to define and more difficult to find. But Florent “Flo” Plana’s definition of a hero is simple: someone who helped liberate his French homeland.
    Over the past seven months, Plana has found more than 170 men who fit his description of a hero. All of them have one life-defining event in common: World War II.
    Traveling in an RV that he bought on Craigslist and painted with the question, “Do You Know a World War II Veteran?” written on its side, the Frenchman, 25, is detailing on video the war experiences of U.S. WWII veterans with the goal of someday opening a WWII museum in Normandy.
    “We’re in process of buying the building in Sainte-Mère-Église. It was the first village liberated,” Plana said. “But we need $300,000 to buy it, so we’re working with grants and donations and the French government.”
    Briny Breezes resident Ed Manley knows all about the town of Sainte-Mère-Église.
    A 22-year-old private in the 101st Airborne, 502nd Parachute Regiment, Manley jumped into Normandy — near Utah Beach — on D-Day. He was part of an 11-man team whose objective was to destroy four coastal guns that overlooked Omaha Beach.
    On Feb. 23 at his home in Briny Breezes, Manley described to Plana his experiences on that fateful June 6, 1944, and in its aftermath — from jumping from only 400 feet above the Normandy beaches, then on to Holland and finally the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded in each leg and captured. He later escaped from Germany’s Stalag 12A prison camp.
    Manley, 94, waves off the slightest suggestion that he is a hero. But his definition of a hero unintentionally proves that’s exactly what his is.
    “A hero is a guy who does something intentionally to help out somebody else,” Manley said.
    To Manley, that best describes Johnny Marsh, a young farm boy-turned soldier, who came to his aid when Manley was in a field, pinned down by German sniper fire.
    “He was hit by a 20mm round that exploded in his body,” Manley told Plana. “He was dead before he hit the ground.”
    It’s for the Johnny Marshes of the war that Plana, funded by donations, is on his American sojourn to tell their stories. Plana first learned of Americans’ sacrifices to his country when at 9, he visited the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach — where more than 9,000 markers stand in remembrance.
    “They are all heroes to me,” said Plana, whose grandfather was imprisoned in a German labor camp and whose great-grandfather, a veteran of WWI, fought with the French underground in WWII.
    “Only if they did nothing more than their jobs, they’re heroes because they gave us the freedom we have now,” Plana said.  
The Veterans Affairs Department estimates that only 1 million men and women who served in the war survive. Plana is working with a group called Veterans Back to Normandy to raise money to take about 20 D-Day veterans, including Manley, to Normandy the first week of June for the 72nd anniversary of the invasion.
    “They’re heroes because they did something important for France and Europe and the Pacific,” Plana said. “Preserving their memories is very important.”
To help support the Veterans Back to Normandy fundraising campaign visit: www.youcaring.com and search for “Support Veterans so they can Partcipate in the Celebrations.”

By Rich Pollack
 
    Motorists traveling along State Road A1A in southern Palm Beach County from March 7 to 13 may be seeing more flashing emergency lights as the South Florida Safe Roads Task Force conducts another in a series of concentrated education and enforcement efforts.
    Officers from several coastal communities, as well as from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol, will be out in force that week to highlight the importance of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians all sharing the road and following safety laws. Authorities will be issuing verbal and written warnings as well as citations, but the focus is on raising awareness and ensuring that those walking, bicycling or driving on A1A understand and follow applicable laws.
    “This campaign’s main purpose is education,” says Highland Beach Police Lt. Eric Lundberg, a task force founder who is helping coordinate the upcoming effort. “Our goal is to restore compliance with Florida laws and protect everyone on the road.”
    Lundberg did not say specifically when law enforcement agencies in Palm Beach County and north Broward County will be conducting saturation efforts, but the task force previously has focused on weekend mornings and Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
    “Those are the times when motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians have the most interaction,” he said.

Owners Sean Iglehart and Clint Reed opened Sweetwater Bar & Grill in 2011

in Boynton Beach. This month they are opening Saxon, which has a different flavor.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Thom Smith

    “Hey, let’s open a bar!”
    Giving the frivolous Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney concept of “Hey, let’s put on a show!” a 21st-century twist, entrepreneurial neophytes Sean Iglehart and Clint Reed decided to pursue their dream.
    Sweetwater wouldn’t be just any bar. It would specialize in rare whiskeys and craft cocktails. Bartenders would become showmen. And they would open, not in Delray Beach or Boca Raton, but Boynton Beach, in, of all places, Las Ventanas, at the corner of  Federal and Woolbright!
    That was April 2011. Customers drove from Jupiter and Miami, sometimes waiting two hours or more to sip a Blind Swine (sous vide hickory-smoked bacon, bourbon and rye, bitters and salted barrel-aged maple syrup) or munch on grilled Spanish octopus with yogurt, crispy chickpeas, dehydrated olives and almonds.
    Iglehart, a Florida native from Gulf Stream’s first family of high-goal polo, was a busboy and barback before studying design in college. He hated sitting at a computer. “East Coast mutt” Reed, born in Virginia and raised in Miami, worked in finance — Barclays, Bank of America — before hooking up with Iglehart at Falcon House in Delray.
    Each brought different skills to the bar, Reed the numbers, Iglehart the creative side.
    “But this place wouldn’t have worked if we didn’t share the vision,” Iglehart said. “He got where I was coming from and saw there was a huge void. When we opened, only a couple of places in Miami were really serious about it. There was nothing like it in this county, or Florida for that matter.
    “People thought we were nuts. We weren’t doing Atlantic Avenue, but I knew if we created a great product in an awesome atmosphere with good customer service, we could get it done.”
    Las Ventanas lacks the draw of Mizner Park and the diversity of Atlantic Avenue, but the location has its pluses. As Iglehart notes, Sweetwater is just across the Intracoastal from Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge and Manalapan. Delray Beach, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach are minutes away, and nowhere else in Florida is I-95 closer to the beach.
    Popularity, however, has two edges. Two-hour waits aren’t acceptable for customers or for Iglehart and Reed. Their solution? Open another bar next door — in Iglehart’s view, “another room to the house.”
    Saxon, after the Germanic tribes that overran Western Europe, will open in March with happy hour and late-night menus, a different look and a focus on presentations by servers instead of bartenders. Libations will be more European — think 1920s Paris — absinthe, gins and brandies, fortified wines.
    Iglehart is confident: “I was thinking about what we’ve accomplished over the last five years, all the people who’ve enjoyed the atmosphere and the cocktails. It’s super rewarding. Plus it’s cool that we’ve inspired others to do the same.
    “Every day’s a challenge; every day there’s always something going on.”

‘Hello, mamas!’ says the sign on the new portable breastfeeding and pumping station

at Palm Beach International Airport. The 5- by 9-foot portable lactation suite,

located past the security checkpoint across from Gate C1, includes seating, an electrical outlet

and a locking door. It is large enough to accommodate mom, her luggage and at least one other adult.

Photo provided

Volunteers donate their time at the golf course
to get reduced fees

Volunteer Francis Sanatan rakes a sand trap at Red Reef Park Executive Golf Course.

Doug Tunstall, who volunteers at Red Reef, plays a round of golf.

Francis Sanatan, a volunteer player’s assistant, fills divots at Red Reef Executive Golf Course.

By Brian Biggane

    It is a goal many aging golfers have as they approach retirement: Sign up at their local club as a volunteer, work one or two days a week and get a drastic cut in course fees.
    More and more, that dream is turning into a mirage.
    Private courses throughout southern Palm Beach County have all but done away with their volunteer programs, and many municipalities hire full-time employees to fill what were once volunteer positions out of liability concerns. The biggest exceptions are Palm Beach County, which uses 100-150 volunteers to staff its three courses as well as the John Prince Learning Center in Lake Worth, and Boca Raton, which has had a bustling volunteer program for more than 30 years.
    Todd Leckrone, director of golf at Atlantis Country Club, which has never used volunteers, said that while on the surface using volunteers is a good way to cut down on expenses, the chances of something going wrong isn’t worth the risk.
    “Say you’ve got a guy driving a cart around your course as a ranger and he gets hit by a golf ball, or has a heart attack,” Leckrone said. “I’m not saying he’s going to think lawsuit right away, but it’s a possibility the way our society is today.
    “For a private club to get tied up in something like that, you risk losing everything.”
    Paul Connell, the director of special facilities for Palm Beach County, who oversees the volunteer golf program, expressed confidence that the county is on firm legal footing.
    “In Parks and Recreation we have a history of using volunteers in just about every area of our operation, and they are all covered by workmen’s compensation. If a volunteer did have a heart attack on the course, that wouldn’t necessarily be considered an accident. Workmen’s comp would cover that as well.”
    Perhaps, but many municipalities are following the private clubs’ lead. The town of Palm Beach (Palm Beach Par-3), Boynton Beach (Links at Boynton Beach) and Delray Beach (Delray Beach Golf Club) also have no volunteer programs.
    Among municipalities that do use volunteers, Boca Raton appears to have the most expansive and streamlined program. Golf Course Manager Greg Jerolaman oversees volunteers at three courses: Boca Raton Municipal on Glades Road west of Florida’s Turnpike, the adjacent executive course and the Red Reef Par-3 (recently renamed the Alan C. Alford Red Reef Golf Course in recognition of Alford’s years of service ­— as mayor, city manager, council member and park ranger).
    Jerolaman said his program began in 1985 and currently uses 39 volunteers: 15 at Red Reef, 12 on the executive course and 12 on the championship course.
    Thirty-one of the 39 are male and they all work five shifts per month totaling about 30 hours. In exchange, they play for $5, but only when openings in the schedule permit. In busy months such as February and March the playing opportunities can be extremely limited.
    So how does one become a volunteer? The procedure is almost identical in the municipalities that use them, which include Palm Beach County (Okeeheelee in West Palm Beach, Park Ridge in Lantana, Osprey Point in west Boca Raton and John Prince) and Lake Worth.
    Applicants do the paperwork at the course of their choice, with those applications forwarded to a volunteer coordinator. The city or county performs a background check, and if the applicant is approved, he or she goes through an orientation process followed by training specific to the golf course.
    “Currently there is no waiting list, but we are always willing to take applicants for current or future volunteer opportunities,” Jarolaman said. “We display signage to promote these opportunities.”
    Jerolaman said besides saving the city money, his volunteer program has been useful when he’s had paid openings to fill.
    “Many of our paid part-time staff has come up through the ranks of having successfully served as a volunteer,” he said. “This makes our volunteer program kind of a feeder system for them to successfully move into the ranks of full-time employment, which helps serve our residents and the general public at the highest possible levels.”
    As for litigation concerns, Jerolaman said Boca Raton has not considered the possibility.
    “We have not experienced any liability issues and have no plans to hire staff to replace volunteers,” he said.

By Ron Hayes

    HIGHLAND BEACH — Joanne Freeman loved books.
    Ms. Freeman, a former bookstore owner who volunteered with the Friends of the Highland Beach Library and later was a part-time member of the staff, died Feb. 6 after battling cancer. She was 77.
    “She was a wonderful person,” said Mari Suarez, the library’s director from 1998 until 2015. “She was very active in helping the library grow, and I loved her as a friend.”
    At one time, Ms. Freeman owned the Delray Mall Bookstore and another in the former Boca Raton Mall before its rebirth as Mizner Park. And then in retirement she turned her attention to her town’s library.
    Beginning in 1998, she served as the first president of the Friends of the Highland Beach Library when it was still housed in the Town Hall.
    “After her term ended in 2003, I said, ‘Why not come to work here?’” Suarez recalled, “and she came to work with us.”
    Until her departure four years ago, Ms. Freeman worked part-time, helping in the library’s move into its own building in 2006 and adding a bit of international flavor to the annual Christmas tree.        “She said to me, ‘Why don’t we do a different theme for the tree each year with decorations that celebrate a country?’ ” Suarez explained.
    Mexico, Japan, Italy, Ukraine — each year the library Christmas tree honored a different country.
    “The one she enjoyed the most was the Austrian one,” Suarez recalled. “She was full of ideas, and many of the ornaments she made herself.”
    A graduate of Bryant College in Providence, R.I., she is survived by John Cicale, her longtime companion; a sister, Patricia Foster; two brothers, Stanley Gavlick and Thomas Gavlick; and nieces and nephews.
    A funeral Mass was held Feb. 20 at St. Lucy Catholic Church.

Jenny O’Sullivan (right), with her husband, Morgan, and children, Caitlin, 6, Sean, 4,

and Molly, 6 months. Jenny O’Sullivan donates breast milk to the Toppel Family Place

at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lona O'Connor

   Jenny O’Sullivan’s three babies were all big — not one of them under 8 pounds — all born healthy and all breastfed. So when she heard there was a need for donated breast milk for premature and sick babies, she was more than willing to help.
    “I said to my husband, I think I can do this,” O’Sullivan said.
    She had already been pumping extra milk and freezing it before she went back to work as a teacher at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton. Her youngest child, Molly, is now 6 months old.
    So when she heard there was an urgent need for breast milk, she contacted the Toppel Family Place at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. After a thorough health screening for her and Molly, she became a donor.
    Toppel Family Place has been providing donated breast milk to fragile premature babies in its neonatal intensive care unit since 2013, but the nearest milk bank in those days was in Texas. In June, the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida opened in Orlando.
    “Boca Raton Regional Hospital has been a little dynamo of a depot,” said Kandis Natoli, executive director of the Milk Bank. “In the last six months, they have sent in over 4,000 ounces.”
    For any baby, breast milk is the best way to assure good health. But for premature babies, breast milk can mean survival. Premature birth is the No. 1 cause of infant death. One out of eight babies born in Florida is premature, according to the March of Dimes.
    “For a sick baby or a premature baby, it is easier to digest,” said Cari Tanella, nurse and lactation consultant at Toppel Place. “It also primes the gut with the right bacteria and it helps with so many diseases.”
    Compounding the problem, mothers of preemies are often unable to produce breast milk because they are sick or on medication after the birth.
    Human milk helps the premature infant build a strong immune system and fight infection, and can prevent necrotizing enterocolitis, a inflammatory bowel condition in preemies, Tanella said. Commercial baby formula does not have the health-protective qualities of breast milk.
    The new Milk Bank of Florida is one of 19 human milk banks across North America. Many of the milk banks opened after 2011, when the surgeon general drew attention to the importance of breastfeeding and called for milk banks in every state.
    According to the 2011 report, 75 percent of mothers start out breastfeeding but after six months, only 43 percent are still breastfeeding. The report sought to increase those rates to 82 percent and 61 percent by 2020.
    Breastfeeding can protect babies from ear and other infections, diarrhea, pneumonia and sudden infant death syndrome and has been linked with a lower incidence of asthma and obesity.
    Breastfeeding mothers have a decreased risk for breast and ovarian cancers, the surgeon general’s report said. Breastfeeding saves a family $1,200 in cost of baby formula.
    Donated milk is tested for bacteria and levels of nutrients. It is pasteurized to kill all known viruses and bacteria, then frozen. The milk is collected, processed and stored according to the standards of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. It can be obtained only by prescription.
    A woman’s body is capable of producing milk for several years. In older times, women breastfed their children until they were toddlers. One of the surgeon general’s goals for 2020  was that 34 percent of mothers would still be breastfeeding on their children’s first birthdays.
    Some of the Milk Bank’s most devoted donors are women whose babies needed donated milk. Once those mothers are able to produce milk, they will sometimes play catch-up so successfully that they have more than their babies need.
    “Once her supply catches up, she may start pumping a quart a day, even though her baby needs just a few ounces,” said Natoli. “They adjust and do well and start being overproducers. They want to help because somebody helped them.”
    Over her desk, Natoli has a photo of an infant sitting on a collection of 10 boxes of milk sent by the baby’s mother in Louisiana. The boxes contained a total of 2,000 ounces of milk.
    “When I looked at that picture, I said, ‘Oh, God bless this good woman,’ ” said Natoli. “It was just lovely.”

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

Gina Melby, CEO of JFK Medical Center, addresses employees and board members

as part of the cele­bration of the 50th year of the hospital.

Dino Gavazza (foreground) and Frank Gueits help carry the capsule that was buried in 2003

after a major expansion of the hospital.

One of the most interesting objects in the capsule was a banner with signatures of the employees addressing the future hospital.

The facility has grown to a 472-bed medical center with more than 600 physicians, 2,000 health care workers and 250 volunteers.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Liz Ryan

By Janis Fontaine

   Liz Ryan has accepted a position with St. Paul’s Day School in Delray Beach as day school director.
    Ryan, who has a degree in music/theater, started her child- care career as a volunteer at her church and then honed her skills providing in-home child care. Once her own children were old enough to be in school all day, she taught preschool for 10 years at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs, her home parish at the time, before being named the preschool’s director, a position she held for more than six years.
    Ryan, who calls herself a “cradle Episcopalian,” says church, Sunday school, and choir were part of her life from day one. She stayed active through high school, playing guitar with the church “folk Mass” group. “I taught Sunday school as a teen and then again after I had my own children,” she said.
    Ryan said she follows the philosophy of Maria Montessori: “Play is the work of the child.” She hopes to add more music to the curriculum at St.Paul’s.
    In her spare time, Ryan likes to paint, crochet, knit, design Web pages, practice calligraphy and plan events.
    She will assume her position in June. She replaces Patti Daniell, who retires after 23 years.

Interfaith concert raises money for common goal
    At the end of January, Muslims, Christians and Jews came together in harmony to help Family Promise of South Palm Beach County raise money for its programs.
    The concert — called Sounds of Promise — featured choirs from five congregations, including St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton. Members of Banyan Creek Elementary’s drum line also performed, and representatives from the Islamic Center of Boca Raton read from the Quran and recited poetry.
    Family Promise of SPBC finds work and housing for homeless families in Boca Raton and Delray Beach. The network consists of 19 congregations, and serves as an example of interfaith cooperation and acceptance.
    Marchele Courtney, who has volunteered at Family Promise for several years, helped organize the 90-minute concert.
    “We had such a variety of performers,” she said. “Our congregations brought their best performers to showcase their musical talent, including The Abundant Life Christian Center Choir from Margate. We had women from the Islamic Center read poetry in English and Arabic, and one recited a beautiful poem she had written. It was an hour of happy.”
    So far, Family Promise of SPBC has helped more than 300 people find jobs and housing. For more information, visit www.familypromisespbc.org.

Holocaust expert Father Patrick Desbois.

Photo provided

Holocaust investigator to speak
    Father Patrick Desbois’ life’s work — researching the Holocaust, fighting anti-Semitism, and improving the relationship between Catholics and Jews — has taken him all over the world. In March, it brings him to Palm Beach County.
    Desbois will speak at 8 p.m. March 29 about the genocide of the Yazidi people in 2014 at the hand of ISIS militants, who abducted women and girls and killed more than 5,000 civilians. He’ll also speak about his work in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
    Desbois is the founder and president of Yahad-In Unum, a global humanitarian organization dedicated to identifying and commemorating the sites of Jewish and Roma mass executions in Eastern Europe during World War II. Since 2004, Desbois has been researching the einsatzgruppen, the Nazis’ mobile killing units. These paramilitary death squads were responsible for many mass killings, such as Babi Yar, which lasted two days and killed 33,771 Jews.
    He also is director of the Episcopal Committee for Catholic-Judeo Relations, under the auspices of the French Conference of Bishops. His grandfather was a WWII prisoner of war held in the Rawa Ruska camp on the Poland-Ukraine border.
    An exhibition, Holocaust by Bullets, on display at the United Nations from Jan. 25 to Feb. 9, was one of many Holocaust remembrance events planned in 2016. The exhibition chronicled Yahad-In Unum’s work collecting evidence of massacres during WWII.
    Desbois, as president of Yahad-In Unum, spoke at a private reception when the exhibit opened. Organized by the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations, the exhibit was subtitled “The Hidden Holocaust.”
    Admission to the private briefing is by invitation only; call Ellen Safran at 906-9775 or email esafran@comcast.net.  For more information, visit www.yahadinunum.org.

INSET BELOW: Marci Shimoff

Upcoming events
    Unhappy? Lonely? She has advice for you.
    New York Times best-selling author Marci Shimoff will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Women’s Foundation of South Palm Beach County’s Granting Wishes cocktail reception, which begins at 5:30 p.m. March 16 at Boca Rio Golf Club, 22041 Boca Rio Road in Boca Raton.
    Shimoff is a nationally recognized expert on happiness and unconditional love. The author of Love for No Reason and Happy for No Reason, she has a new philosophy about finding and keeping love and happiness.
    As part of the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Shimoff logged six bestselling titles including Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, which have sold more than 14 million copies worldwide  in 33 languages. Her books have spent 108 weeks — more than two solid years — on top.
    Shimoff is related to a second important self-help strategy for achieving love and happiness as well as success. Shimoff is a featured teacher for “The Secret,” the visualize-what-you-want-and-you-shall-have-it phenomenon. She’s also the co-founder of the Esteem Group and is a frequent lecturer on empowerment and self-esteem, and on getting to and staying at the top of your game.
    The JWF’s grants fund programs that create social change. The group awarded $125,000 in 2015, and the JWF has awarded more than $1 million over the last dozen years. It funds initiatives in education, health, abuse prevention, and economic security that help women and children. JWF trustees contribute a minimum of $2,000 per year for five years, which allows them a say in which projects are funded.
    The Granting Wishes event features heavy hors d’oeuvres, desserts and wine (kosher dietary laws observed). Admission is $85.
    For more information, visit www.jewishboca.org/grantingwishes or contact Lisbeth Rock Cauff at 852-3188 or by email at lisbethc@bocafed.org.

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at janisfontaine@outlook.com.

Rabbi Joan Cubell, right, with Cantor Geniene Miller, left,

and Adina Baseman Sharfstein at a recent Shabbat service.

Photo provided by Norman Karl Garrett

By Janis Fontaine

    Rabbi Joan Cubell wants everyone to feel welcome at Congregation Beit Kulam, which she founded in July in Boca Raton.
    Beit Kulam, which means The House of Everyone, is a Reform congregation. Reform Judaism is the largest Jewish denomination in the United States, accounting for about one-third of U.S. Jews.
    Cubell recently returned from the biennial conference of the Union for Reform Judaism, which took place in Orlando on Nov. 4-8.  “Reform is the way to go because I believe in pluralism,” she said.  “It’s more welcoming.” More than simply accepting everyone, true pluralism rejoices in the knowledge that diverse groups can thrive at the same time, she said.
    She is the first female rabbi to be ordained as rabbi with s’micha (a rabbinical ordination) from Tifereth Israel Rabbinical Yeshiva in its 60-year history. She’s also the first woman to be accepted as a member of the American Council of Rabbis.
    Those achievements are important, but they pale beside her work as a rabbi of the people.
    Cubell grew up in Randolph, Mass., a close-knit community about 18 miles south of Boston, in a traditional Jewish family. Her father, Frederick Cubell, was a respected businessman. “I miss the sense of community,” she said of the small New England town. That sense of community is exactly what she wants to build with her new congregation.
    Cubell earned a business degree from Northeastern University in 1982 and joined her father’s financial planning firm after graduation. Her father spent 54 years helping people with their money problems. It took a long time and a lot of careful cultivating to grow hundreds of strong relationships in business. That created a bond with the community that was important to both father and daughter.
    “We watched their families grow up and their kids go off to college,” she said, often paying those college tuitions with money the Cubells had helped them save. Cubell still has clients she’s devoted to, but the work itself has her a little bored.
    “It’s just not fun anymore,” Cubell said. “There’s a lot of paperwork, and more interference from Uncle Sam. It’s just not the same.”
    Like so many wealthy Northerners, the elderly Cubells flew south to Florida when they retired. When her father became ill in 2012, Cubell came to South Florida to care for him. “He didn’t even last the year,” Cubell said.
    Then her husband, David Okun, had a stroke. Though he has recovered most of his skills, he still has challenges with his right arm and with retrieving just the right word sometimes.
    Despite these personal hardships, Cubell said it was “bashert,” meaning meant to be.
    She loves being a rabbi, she said. “It’s my passion.”
    Cubell is a new kind of rabbi.
    “What people need from a rabbi has changed. The family unit is no longer together,” Cubell said. People connect more through their kids’ friends at school or at extracurricular activities than they do any other way, Cubell said.
    “But the children all have cell phones and they don’t talk anymore, they text.” Cubell said she knows a woman who texts her son in the next room to tell him dinner is ready. It’s a different world.
    She doesn’t blame technology; she embraces it. “We use technology to keep in touch with our congregation,” Cubell said.
    If social media are the best way to get and stay connected in 2016, she’s in with both thumbs. And if you doubt that you too are searching for “connection,” ask your Facebook friends or go count your LinkedIn endorsements. The more you have, the more connected you are, right?  
    “We host ‘meet-ups,’” she said, referring to the popular website meetup.com, which connects people who share the same interest. “There are a lot of lonely people out there, and some people aren’t comfortable going into a big synagogue with a large congregation. Maybe it’s been a long time since they’ve gone. Maybe they don’t know Hebrew and don’t want to be embarrassed.”
    At Beit Kulam it’s different.
    “We’re a small, congenial congregation. We provide a place for making friends, for making a real connection. We know that’s what’s important. There are a lot of unaffiliated Jewish families in our area and I want to reach out to them.”
     They use music to connect to new people, because music is a universal language. It puts people at ease. Cubell’s musical team  includes Cantor Geniene Miller, who performed with Cubell at Temple Beth Shira, before they decided to fly solo.
    “I’m a different type of rabbi,” Cubell said. “My door is always open, and it’s open to everyone. There’s no pretense here.”
    The congregation has about 80 members and 30 or 40 people still come to services each week at Cubell’s home. It’s cozy, but it will have to do until she finds a suitable permanent home.
    Don’t let the crowded conditions intimidate you. Seating might be a little tight, but you’ll be among friends.
    For more information, visit www.cbkulam.org.

Jenny O’Sullivan (right), with her husband, Morgan, and children, Caitlin, 6, Sean, 4,

and Molly, 6 months. Jenny O’Sullivan donates breast milk to the Toppel Family Place

at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lona O'Connor

   Jenny O’Sullivan’s three babies were all big — not one of them under 8 pounds — all born healthy and all breastfed. So when she heard there was a need for donated breast milk for premature and sick babies, she was more than willing to help.
    “I said to my husband, I think I can do this,” O’Sullivan said.
    She had already been pumping extra milk and freezing it before she went back to work as a teacher at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton. Her youngest child, Molly, is now 6 months old.
    So when she heard there was an urgent need for breast milk, she contacted the Toppel Family Place at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. After a thorough health screening for her and Molly, she became a donor.
    Toppel Family Place has been providing donated breast milk to fragile premature babies in its neonatal intensive care unit since 2013, but the nearest milk bank in those days was in Texas. In June, the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida opened in Orlando.
    “Boca Raton Regional Hospital has been a little dynamo of a depot,” said Kandis Natoli, executive director of the Milk Bank. “In the last six months, they have sent in over 4,000 ounces.”
    For any baby, breast milk is the best way to assure good health. But for premature babies, breast milk can mean survival. Premature birth is the No. 1 cause of infant death. One out of eight babies born in Florida is premature, according to the March of Dimes.
    “For a sick baby or a premature baby, it is easier to digest,” said Cari Tanella, nurse and lactation consultant at Toppel Place. “It also primes the gut with the right bacteria and it helps with so many diseases.”
    Compounding the problem, mothers of preemies are often unable to produce breast milk because they are sick or on medication after the birth.
    Human milk helps the premature infant build a strong immune system and fight infection, and can prevent necrotizing enterocolitis, a inflammatory bowel condition in preemies, Tanella said. Commercial baby formula does not have the health-protective qualities of breast milk.
    The new Milk Bank of Florida is one of 19 human milk banks across North America. Many of the milk banks opened after 2011, when the surgeon general drew attention to the importance of breastfeeding and called for milk banks in every state.
    According to the 2011 report, 75 percent of mothers start out breastfeeding but after six months, only 43 percent are still breastfeeding. The report sought to increase those rates to 82 percent and 61 percent by 2020.
    Breastfeeding can protect babies from ear and other infections, diarrhea, pneumonia and sudden infant death syndrome and has been linked with a lower incidence of asthma and obesity.
    Breastfeeding mothers have a decreased risk for breast and ovarian cancers, the surgeon general’s report said. Breastfeeding saves a family $1,200 in cost of baby formula.
    Donated milk is tested for bacteria and levels of nutrients. It is pasteurized to kill all known viruses and bacteria, then frozen. The milk is collected, processed and stored according to the standards of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. It can be obtained only by prescription.
    A woman’s body is capable of producing milk for several years. In older times, women breastfed their children until they were toddlers. One of the surgeon general’s goals for 2020  was that 34 percent of mothers would still be breastfeeding on their children’s first birthdays.
    Some of the Milk Bank’s most devoted donors are women whose babies needed donated milk. Once those mothers are able to produce milk, they will sometimes play catch-up so successfully that they have more than their babies need.
    “Once her supply catches up, she may start pumping a quart a day, even though her baby needs just a few ounces,” said Natoli. “They adjust and do well and start being overproducers. They want to help because somebody helped them.”
    Over her desk, Natoli has a photo of an infant sitting on a collection of 10 boxes of milk sent by the baby’s mother in Louisiana. The boxes contained a total of 2,000 ounces of milk.
    “When I looked at that picture, I said, ‘Oh, God bless this good woman,’ ” said Natoli. “It was just lovely.”

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

Sleeves To Go model Susan Costanza walks the runway during the church’s

44th annual fundraising luncheon and fashion show.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Irwin Stovroff plays with his golden retriever, Cash.

Photo provided by Maria Teresa Creations

By Arden Moore

   Meet Irwin Stovroff, an energetic 93-year-old from Boca Raton. He regards himself as “the luckiest person there is.” Let’s add remarkable and inspiring.
    This decorated World War II fighter pilot and ex-POW built a successful furniture business career and is now known as the guy who gets things done for military veterans. When he retired at 75, he quickly discovered that the leisure life of playing cards, golf or tennis just wasn’t for him.
    Instead, he launched his second career — assisting veterans with their pension and medical-care paperwork and, for the past six years, overseeing an organization called Vets Helping Heroes.
    This nonprofit group raises money to sponsor the training of assistance dogs for military veterans and active-duty military personnel contending with physical disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder.  
    Since 2008, his group has raised more than $6 million and trained more than 200 dogs that fall into six categories of assistance to veterans: guide dogs for the blind; hearing dogs; service dogs for people with physical limitations; skilled companion dogs for people with cognitive disabilities; combat stress relief dogs; and facility therapy dogs who visit Veterans Affairs hospitals and hospices.
    But let’s go back nearly 72 years ago — Aug. 13, 1944 — when Stovroff was a second lieutenant in the air force. On that date, he woke up before dawn and climbed into a B-52 bomber to fly behind enemy lines on what was to be his 35th and final mission. He got shot down over France and, being Jewish, quickly ditched his dog tags before being captured by the Nazis.
    “I was one day from going home,” he recalls. “Everyone in our squadron had our bags packed to go home and we were envisioning parades. Instead, we ended up in a prison camp.”
    He spent the next year as a POW, fighting fatigue and starvation before being freed by the Russians in May 1945. His 5-foot, 10-inch frame had shriveled to a mere 85 pounds by his first day of freedom.
    Freedom. It is a word Stovroff doesn’t take lightly. It will be the centerpiece of his salute-worthy talk, aptly titled, “An Extraordinary Life Gone to the Dogs,” set for March 6 at the 10th annual Festival of the Arts Boca, held at the Cultural Arts Center.
    “My message is simple: Freedom isn’t free,” says Stovroff. “Somebody has paid a price for it, and we are the beneficiaries. I will share my story and explain why I am what I am today.”
    Stovroff tirelessly delivers talks and raises money and awareness for his cause: to help veterans enjoy enhanced lives thanks to being partnered with these talented dogs.
    “For as long as I’m able, I will do everything I can to help these veterans and work to get them specially trained dogs who can help them live their lives to the fullest,” says Stovroff.
    At a recent talk given in Sarasota, which helped raise more than $100,000 for Vets Helping Heroes, Stovroff was pleasantly surprised to discover who was in the audience.
    “It was a gal named Louise who I had not seen since we were classmates at my grammar school in Buffalo, New York,” he said. “Can you imagine?”
    Stovroff also champions the cause for the Southeastern Guide Dog Program.
    “This is an outstanding organization that breeds and trains purebreds to be guide dogs and dogs for those with PTSD,” says Stovroff. “I promised them that for every dollar someone writes in, I would agree to double it. I gave them $120,000 — worth every penny.”
    He shares his home with a pair of tail-wagging companions: Jenny, a 15-year-old corgi; and Cash, an 8-year-old golden retriever. Both earn their stripes in bringing joy to all they meet.
    “Jenny is smart and she used to go with me to visit residents at senior citizen homes and hospitals, where she would greet everyone while wearing a specially made bomber jacket,” says Stovroff. “Cash is a service dog who is with me all the time. I am blessed to have both of them.”
    Stovroff was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross from Sen. John McCain in 2000, 56 years after his final flying mission. His life is also documented in a book authored by L.A. Weiser, An Extraordinary Life Gone to the Dogs.
    “Yes, I do believe I am the luckiest person there is,” he states for a second time.
    And, for the rest of us, we are lucky to have Irwin Stovroff around to help those in need.
    To learn more about Stovroff as well as the Vets Helping Heroes organization, visit www.vetshelpingheroes.org.
    
Arden Moore, founder of www.FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Each week, she hosts the popular Oh Behave! show on www.Pet Life Radio.com. Learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.