By Jane Smith

Delray Beach City Manager George Gretsas received notice of the intent to fire him on June 24 by a 3-2 vote of the city commission. He is suspended with pay.

Commissioners were asked to vote without seeing the outside counsel’s report on allegations levied against Gretsas.

They relied on City Attorney Lynn Gelin, who hired the outside firm. Gelin said Gretsas violated city policy.

“I can’t go forward with that motion without knowing the details,” said Commissioner Adam Frankel who voted no along with Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston.

Gelin will prepare a preliminary notice to give to Gretsas. He has five days to respond. If he demands a public hearing, one will be held in front of the commission in July.

“He could be terminated for cause, if he’s not willing to resign,” Gelin said.

The meeting was delayed for more than an hour while Gretsas talked with his attorney.

The commission also appointed an interim city manager to take over for Gretsas by a 4-1 vote. Deputy Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson nominated Jennifer Alvarez, purchasing director. She has been with the city for 2-1/2 years.

She also happened to be on the telephone and was able to answer questions about her experience.

But Boylston requested making assistant city manager, Allyson Love, the interim.

“She actually ran a city – Fort Lauderdale,” he said. Delray Beach is facing a budget deficit of between $8 million and $10 million, he said to bolster his argument that the city needs someone experienced.

Alvarez will serve until the city decides on whether Gretsas can stay. If he resigns or is fired, city staff will contact the International City Managers Association to hire someone from its pool.

That is how Delray Beach found Terry Stewart who became the interim city manager in 2014, Frankel said. Stewart is now the city administrator of Arcadia.

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana reversed course during the June 22 Town Council meeting, postponing its Fourth of July fireworks show. Until then, the town had planned to have the pyrotechnics display from a barge in the Intracoastal Waterway next to Bicentennial Park but without the traditional celebration in the park.

With the coronavirus pandemic lurking, one by one towns and cities up and down the coastline have been putting the kibosh on fireworks.

Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Deerfield Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth and North Palm Beach canceled or postponed fireworks and other Independence Day gatherings for fear of community spread of COVID-19. Like cities nationwide, they have been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to hold events with large crowds.

Since March, council members in Lantana said they wanted the $30,000 Zambelli fireworks show to go on, even if the party in the park wouldn’t be part of it. Residents were being encouraged to watch from their homes. All town parks in the vicinity — including Sportsman’s Park across the street from Bicentennial; Lyman Kayak Park just around the corner; and the beach, a short hike over the bridge — would be closed, blocked off with police officers standing guard. Town officials were asking people not to cram together to watch the show from the bridge — or anywhere.

But Police Chief Sean Scheller said keeping people off the bridge — historically a favorite spot for watching the fireworks — would be a problem. He said he was concerned about crowd control.

He wasn’t the only one worried about unruly crowds. Dave Arm, president of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce, begged the Town Council to cancel the fireworks. He said he feared mayhem on East Ocean Avenue, the town’s downtown restaurant and shopping district.

“Considering what’s going on in the country, where people are using different circumstances as an excuse to make trouble, I don’t want to see windows broken from my member businesses on Ocean Avenue,” Arm said. “I don’t want to see people hurt. And I don’t want to see Lantana in the national news because we were stupid enough to have fireworks.”

Arm said it would be "insane and irresponsible" to have fireworks this year.

Council member Malcolm Balfour, who made the motion to postpone fireworks until New Year’s Eve or next April for the town’s centennial celebration, said he thought fireworks should not be held, especially with the number of COVID-19 cases steadily increasing.

Vice Mayor Lynn Moorhouse said he couldn’t second the motion for postponement   — the thought of it made him sad, he said — but inevitably he voted in favor of delaying fireworks, as did all council members.

Photographs of firefighters were used as the base for a mural named 'Community Heartbeat' by Boca Raton artist Lynn Doyal. In the mural sample above it can be seen how the face of Deputy Fire Chief Latosha Clemons was obscured. In a different panel (below), images of both Clemons and former Fire Chief Glenn Joseph were removed and replaced with images of white people. Images provided.

By Jane Smith

The lobby-window mural in Boynton Beach's newest fire station in Town Square featured made-over faces of firefighters for a few days in early June.

The mural, now removed, led to the firing of the city's public arts manager and its newly elevated fire chief deciding to leave his position.

Boynton Beach held a soft opening with city leaders and media representatives on June 3. Photos were taken of the mural and displayed on social media. Because of coronavirus restrictions the general public was not included in the opening celebration.

When community members later saw how two black fire department leaders were portrayed as white people, they began speaking out on Facebook and Twitter. They also called Boynton Beach City Manager Lori LaVerriere. The two fire department officials were retired Deputy Fire Chief Latosha Clemons and former Fire Chief Glenn Joseph.

Clemons, a Boynton Beach native, was the city’s first black woman firefighter and rose through the ranks to become deputy fire chief. She retired on March 1 after nearly 24 years of service.

Joseph came to the city in May 2016 from Boca Raton where he spent 29 years in the fire department. When he started in Boca Raton, he was the city’s first black firefighter. He retired from Boynton Beach on Nov. 29.

Boynton Beach provides fire-rescue services to Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.

The incident comes at a time of nationwide racial unrest. The latest outrage was sparked when George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.

Boynton Beach staff removed the fire station mural on June 4.

On June 5 LaVerriere made a YouTube video that was posted on the city’s Facebook page. She apologized and thanked the community for making the Facebook comments and calling her to point out the whitewashing.

On June 6 she fired the public arts manager, Debby Coles-Dobay. Later that day LaVerriere sent a statement that Matthew Petty, a 12-year veteran and the city’s fire chief since December, had agreed to leave his job “in the best interest of the city.”

After Coles-Dobay was fired, she posted on Facebook: “I was pressured to make this artwork change by the fire chief and his staff, as the city well knows. To say that I am disrespectful to our community or its members is untrue, as the community well knows.”

LaVerriere said a new mural would be placed in the new fire station by June 15.

The city’s Art Commission approved a conceptual artwork in November. The members did not see the final artwork before it was placed in the fire station’s lobby windows.

By Mary Hladky

Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner on Friday asked Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow more business openings in the county.

Kerner, who announced he had sent a letter to DeSantis during a Friday news conference, said bars located within restaurants should be opened with a 50 percent capacity limit. Stand-alone bars, however, would remain closed.

In addition, massage, tattoo and tanning businesses should open, he said.

Kerner also opened the door to opening movie theaters, concert houses, bowling alleys, auditoriums and arcades, but said the county wants to continue to review and approve their plans to do so before giving them the go-ahead.

DeSantis on June 4 permitted the opening of bars, movie theaters, concert houses, auditoriums, playhouses, bowling alleys, arcades, tattoo, massage and tanning parlors in 64 counties, with certain restrictions.

Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were not included because of their high number of COVID-19 cases, but DeSantis said county officials could ask to be included in his Phase 2 reopening plan.

Kerner described his request as a modest one that did not need to be made by the full county commission. Convening a meeting would have delayed action when still-shuttered businesses are clamoring to be allowed to open and workers are badly in need of jobs, he said.

“I have a huge desire to get people back to work safely and as quickly as possible,” he said.

Kerner said he followed the advice of Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in deciding not to include stand-alone bars in his reopening request. Protests over the police-related death of George Floyd are taking place in areas where many bars are located, and the combination of open bars and protesters could present a public safety issue, he said.

Kerner expected the governor to decide quickly on whether to allow the reopenings, possibly as soon as Monday.

At a June 4  county commission meeting, Kerner said he was willing to take small steps toward relaxing restrictions, but opposed wholesale measures allowed elsewhere in the state.

Commissioners Hal Valeche and Mack Bernard wanted to go even further in lifting restrictions.

Kerner’s move comes as the number of coronavirus cases in the state and county continues to rise.

Health director Dr. Alina Alonso told commissioners on June 2 that the county did not yet meet the threshold for further relaxation of restrictions.

The number of new cases in the county has jumped in the past week, while areas in the Glades and Lake Worth Beach are coronavirus hotspots.

But she also noted that the number of people admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 has dropped and hospitals can absorb more patients because they are at 70 percent of capacity.

As of June 5, Florida’s COVID-19 case total was 61,488, with deaths at 2,745. Palm Beach County had 6,859 cases, with 376 deaths.

Coronavirus: summary of persons being monitored, persons under investigation, and cases

Data through Sep 21, 2020 verified as of Sep 22, 2020 at 09:25 AM

Source: www.floridadisaster.org

Boca Raton (pop. 99,805): 6,561

Boynton Beach (pop. 78,679): 4,038

Briny Breezes (pop. 578): 1*

Delray Beach (pop. 69,451): 3,096

Gulf Stream (pop. 985): 4

Highland Beach (pop. 3,916): 18

Hypoluxo (pop. 2,839): 34

Lantana (pop. 12,581): 475

Manalapan (pop. 466): 30

Ocean Ridge (pop. 1,956): 13

South Palm Beach (pop. 1,470): 10

Palm Beach County (total): 45,602 cases | 1,286 deaths

PBC population: 1,496,770

*Reported by Briny Breezes, Inc.

Bureau, US Census. “City and Town Population Totals: 2010-2019.” The United States Census Bureau, 21 May 2020

By Jane Smith

 The Delray Beach city manager lifted most restrictions on the municipal beach on May 24.

The beach restrooms will remain closed.

“The meteorologists are expecting rain for the next few days. The rain should take care of everyone’s concerns about overcrowding at the beach,” City Manager George Gretsas, wrote in an email sent about 1 p.m. to city commissioners and the mayor.

“And since Broward County will be opening their beaches on Tuesday (May 26), I will be repealing the beach restrictions. This way, we don’t have to continue burning up staff resources.”

Delray Beach had closed its municipal beach to limit the spread of the coronavirus, a highly contagious respiratory illness. City leaders urge beachgoers to follow the guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The main pavilion at Atlantic Avenue is open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily. Lifeguards staff the beach from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily.

Sunbathing, surfing and volleyball playing can resume, along with group fitness activities that do not involve more than 10 people.

When Delray Beach first reopened its beach on May 18, activities were limited to walking, jogging and swimming.

Oceanside Beach Services, which runs the beach concession stands, can rent cabanas, chairs and umbrellas. Beachgoers can bring their own, along with coolers and tents.

Parking along A1A is limited to four hours. Meters are enforced. People with handicapped stickers can park for four hours at no charge.

City residents can park for free at the Anchor Park parking lot. All drivers attempting to park there must present a driver license with a Delray Beach address. Time limits will be enforced.  

At Atlantic Dunes Park, half of the parking lot is available for parking and open to all. Parking is free. Time limits are enforced. 

Morgan Didio, a student at Lynn University, walks with her friend Emma Fleurian, a student at FAU, along the beach at South Beach Park in Boca Raton the morning of May 18, the day Palm Beach County reopened the beaches. They were closed for weeks because of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Pressure to unlock coast, boost jobs outweighs risk of surge in virus

Related: Rules for the beach

By Mary Hladky

As Palm Beach County officials took the first steps toward rolling back coronavirus closures in late April, they started with recreational facilities such as parks and golf courses.
They then asked Gov. Ron DeSantis in early May to lift special restrictions placed on the county so restaurants and retail stores could reopen with capacity restrictions. DeSantis agreed, and also ended the closure of hair and nail salons and barber shops.
But beaches remained on the still-closed list, despite clamoring from the public to use the state’s most treasured resource.
That finally changed May 15 when county commissioners voted 5-2 to ratify an earlier decision to reopen public and private beaches on May 18, with beach-goers required to practice social distancing.
“We need to set policy that is for the greater good and not worry about outliers,” said Commissioner Robert Weinroth.
So why didn’t beaches open sooner? The county didn’t need DeSantis’ permission to reopen them. He had issued an executive order in March that extended beach closures but gave Palm Beach and Broward county administrators the authority to open them up.
County commissioners, however, faced a complex situation and were juggling competing demands.

Backdrop of death remains
Although some state data showed a decrease in hospital admissions and other positive signs that the rate of COVID-19 infections had stabilized or was in decline, the number of cases and deaths in the state and county continues to rise.
As of May 19, the state had 46,944 coronavirus cases, 502 more than the day before and 2,806 more than on May 15. Palm Beach County had 4,699 cases, up 41 from the day before and up 308 from May 15. The state’s death toll was 2,052, and the county’s was 284.
With DeSantis continuing to lift South Florida restrictions, some county commissioners were hesitant to further relax rules and risk a surge of new cases, possibly stretching hospitals — still struggling to obtain enough personal protective equipment — to the breaking point.
Disturbing images of people massing on Jacksonville and Naples beaches when they opened gave commissioners another concern. But Dr. Scott Rivkees, Florida’s surgeon general, has said he did not see an increased number of coronavirus cases resulting from Jacksonville’s mid-April beach reopening.
Yet Dr. Alina Alonso, health director in Palm Beach County, has urged commissioners to be cautious, saying in early May that reopening too soon or without proper protocols could cause a spike in cases.
At the same time, many laid-off or furloughed workers desperately needed to return to work, and businesses faced the prospect of shuttering for good.
And county residents going stir-crazy in their homes badly wanted a return to something like a normal life. Beaches occupied a special place in their hearts, and by May many were no longer willing to be kept away from them.

A family visits the municipal beach in Delray Beach on May 18. Lifeguards patrolled the beach for unsafe activity while police officers made sure beach visitors did not violate any of the rules posted on signs all along A1A and at beach accesses. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

James Stonehouse of Delray Beach does distance swimming, surfing, kayaking and snorkeling.
These activities reduce the stress of a health condition and the demands of caring for his 90-year-old mother. His beach activities are “very therapeutic,” he said.
“I have been beside myself that I haven’t been able to get to the beach,” he said. “People pursuing health-sustaining activities should be allowed to pursue them,” especially those he practices that “align with social distancing.”
Chris Currie of Ocean Ridge said he is an “ardent user of the beach” with activities including scuba diving, swimming and sailing. He has let town commissioners and DeSantis know that he wanted beaches opened and has broadcast his feelings on social media.
DeSantis’ order closing beaches was “total overkill,” he said.
“I also believe there is absolutely no scientific basis whatsoever (for the closure), nor is there any rational basis for it. All my research says there is probably no more conducive environment to social distancing than the beach,” he said. “There is no environment more hostile to COVID-19.”
Currie had intended to file a lawsuit over beach closures but backed off when he learned that county commissioners were about to reopen them.
“I can assure you, if they are ever stupid enough to do this again, they will be hit with litigation in the first 10 minutes,” he said.
Palm Beach County could have legally prevented residents of other counties from using its beaches, County Attorney Denise Nieman said. But she recommended against doing that because many of the beaches have received grants for beach restoration and other improvements. The grant agreements include clauses that prohibit restrictions on who can use the beaches, she said.
While county residents who want beaches reopened have not been shy about making their feelings known to city and town council members and county commissioners, there is also strong opposition.

County faces quandary
County Administrator Verdenia Baker told commissioners on May 8 that people surveyed were split on the subject.
One-third wanted full beach reopening provided groups on the beach would be limited to no more than 10, one-third wanted partial opening with restrictions such as closing bathrooms and not allowing sunbathing, and the rest did not want beaches to open out of concerns about virus spread.
Lake Worth Beach Commissioner Omari Hardy argued forcefully at the meeting against reopening beaches because the number of coronavirus cases in the county had not declined for 14 consecutive days, a metric that would indicate the contagion is under control.
“I think this is ill-advised and I think this is happening too soon,” he said.
“I agree with you,” said County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay.
County Commissioner Gregg Weiss said that the county should delay a reopening decision until officials have data showing whether the reopening of parks, golf courses and other recreation facilities has led to an increase in coronavirus cases. Similarly, the county has no data yet on the impact of limited reopening of restaurants and retail businesses.
Asked in a May 13 interview about why the commission did not address reopening beaches sooner, Weiss said it was trying to balance reopening businesses to alleviate the loss of jobs and other economic hardships caused by COVID-19, the desire of residents to have parks and beaches open and the health and safety of residents.
“You have this very difficult balance the board is trying to address,” he said.
Videos and photos of people crowding on Jacksonville and Naples beaches worried him. “At the end of the day, will people coming to our beaches do the same thing? I don’t know,” he said.
But his main focus was finding out if the lifting of restrictions in Palm Beach County would spark an increase in infections. That won’t be known for about two or three weeks afterward.
He wants the county to have a plan to reverse course and impose shutdowns quickly if the disease rate increases. Without that, “our reaction could be too slow,” he said.
Weinroth, who represents southeast Palm Beach County, is a strong proponent of opening beaches.
The commission’s delay in considering the opening was a result of the photos taken in Jacksonville and Naples, he said in a May 13 interview. “It makes people concerned.”
But he hoped that those disturbing images would fade from memory and that residents can be trusted to socially distance and not gather in groups on the beach.
“I really feel we need to do this with a light hand,” Weinroth said of beach regulation. “If residents use the beach appropriately, there won’t be a problem. We want people to be out in the sun.
“If something doesn’t go right and we have to shut it down, I will have no problem reversing the decision.”
County commissioners opened public and private beaches before Broward and Miami-Dade counties took similar action. As of May 19, those counties had not announced when their beaches would open. Broward County Mayor Dale V.C. Holness said it would not happen until at least May 26, the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend.
The fact that the three counties did not act in concert concerned Ocean Ridge Town Manager Tracey Stevens.
“The thing we are worried about the most is if Broward and Miami-Dade don’t open beaches, we will get an influx of people to the beach,” she said on May 13.
She agrees with the assessment of lifeguards that they cannot enforce social distancing and limit crowd size by themselves. But police officers in the town, which has no lifeguards of its own, are limited in what they can do.
“Our concerns are that it is going to be really hard to enforce something when we don’t have a huge police force,” she said.
Even so, she did not intend to place greater restrictions on beach use than the county has. If every city and town has different restrictions, “it makes it too confusing and too hard to enforce,” she said.
Beaches present a special challenge, she said. While a restaurant or business has a clear capacity that makes it easier to regulate how many people can be inside, “there is no real capacity to a beach,” she said. “You can have thousands of people flocking to an area all at once.”

Doctors still urge caution
Like the county health chief Alonso, other physicians urged caution on reopening.
“I completely understand how everyone is feeling about being cooped up at home … but the other side is to caution everybody we are still in the middle of this pandemic,” said Dr. Terry Adirim, a professor and senior associate dean for clinical affairs at Florida Atlantic University. “A lot of us feel we are early in the pandemic.
“Anything we do to reopen we have to do carefully,” she said. “We are not going to be able to go back to where we were before the pandemic until we have a vaccine.”
She advised a deliberate approach that allows for some openings, following by a waiting period of several weeks to see whether they have caused an increase in virus cases. If not, additional openings would be permitted.
Adirim realizes the pressure on county officials to take steps to rescue the devastated economy.
But the county needs a “really good, coherent strategy” for opening. That includes more testing, contact tracing and developing plans for quarantining people exposed to those sickened by COVID-19, she said.
The number of cases will continue to rise until herd immunity is achieved, said Dr. Bill Benda, an emergency room physician and associate professor of emergency medicine at FAU. But the rate of increase must be slowed so that hospitals are not overwhelmed, he said.
Benda agrees with Adirim that it is critical to have a significant increase in diagnostic and antibody testing.
Reopening is difficult because not enough is known about the best way to do that. It is also complicated by the fact that some people won’t give up partying and don’t practice social distancing, he said.
“We haven’t made a sacrifice since the draft in the Vietnam War,” he said. “This is the first time in a long time we have been asked to make a sacrifice, and a significant proportion don’t want to do it.”
Benda, a surfer who loves the ocean, has seen many people sneak onto the closed beaches when they could easily exercise elsewhere.
“The reason to open up now is for people to feed their children,” he said. “It is not to walk on the beach. Quit whining about the beach.”

Tim McKinney Jr., an eighth-grader from Ocean Ridge, greets sunrise at Ocean Ridge Hammock Park on May 18. Tim received the skim board for his birthday earlier in the month and was able to use it for the first time when beaches reopened. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Nurses at Delray Medical Center model the masks provided by Briny Breezes seamstresses. Photo provided

By Ron Hayes

Their mission began in March, when dozens of women took up battle positions at sewing machines along our coast.
Day after day, week after week, they cut patterns, stitched borders, folded pleats, attached ribbons and elastic bands.
They made masks.
Some were experienced seamstresses, some nervous amateurs learning as they worked.
All are members of local service clubs, doing their little bit each day in the war against the COVID-19 pandemic.
By early May, these women of the Briny Breezes Hobby Club, the Ocean Ridge Garden Club, the Casuarina Woman’s Club of Lantana, and the Boca Raton Garden Club had produced thousands of protective masks.
Today, some of those masks are worn by doctors and nurses at the VA Medical Center in Riviera Beach, the Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade, the Lynn Cancer Institute in Boca Raton and the Delray Medical Center.
They’ve been sent to fire departments in Indiana and the Keys, a homeless shelter in New York, hospitals in Georgia and Oregon, families and friends in Colorado, Connecticut and Arizona.

•

“We’re all quilters, so we have lots of scraps and fabric stashes,” explained Marla Guzzardo, president of the Briny Breezes Hobby Club.
Using patterns they found online, the women began sewing both masks and head coverings in early March, working together in their clubhouse until safe-distancing guidelines shut it down. Then they took the club’s nine sewing machines home and worked alone.
“I drove around in my golf cart collecting the masks,” Guzzardo said. “We’re quarantined, so we’ve been sewing fools.”
By May, the women had sewn more than 2,000 masks and head coverings.
Club member Christina Adams, a registered nurse, sent a mask to her friend Tricia Marinella, who’s been screening employees and patients at Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade since her regular job as a school nurse at Park Vista High School vanished when the county’s schools closed.
“Lakeside saw the masks and thought they were really cool, so I reached out to Christina and they sent us about 20 masks and 20 head coverings,” Marinella says.
Then Adams sent more to a nurse she knows at a hospital in Tifton, Georgia.
Gabrielle Taylor, another nurse and club member, brought 80 masks to her colleagues at the VA Medical Center.
Guzzardo sent 40 to the Tavernier Police Department in the Keys.
Like a benign and loving virus, the masks were spread far and wide by word of mouth.

•

In Ocean Ridge, Mayor Kristine de Haseth was given the Briny Breezes pattern and a couple of masks by Christina Adams. The mayor called Stella Kolb, a member of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club and an experienced seamstress. Together they turned the club’s attention from gardening to sewing.
All they needed were fabric and ties.
“I was doing something in my granddaughter’s bedroom and I saw a headband and it hit me,” Kolb recalled.
She and de Haseth hit the Dollar Stores, buying up elastic headbands, five for a buck. Some were hot pink and fluorescent, with fake rhinestones. But they would do.
Next, Kolb stood in line at the JoAnn Fabric store in Boynton Beach for an hour or more while shoppers were admitted 10 at a time.
“They limited the patterns and amounts, so I went three times and bought some of this and some that,” she said. “I must have bought 50 to 55 yards.”
Now, with de Haseth organizing the project on her computer and Kolb offering sewing lessons, the garden club members set to work.
Some sewed, some made financial donations toward the materials.
“I let the ladies sew whatever they’re comfortable with,” Kolb said. “Some used patterns, some improvised. Some made masks for their children.”
Packed in zip-lock bags with instructions, the first masks went to the town’s police officers and Town Hall staff. Officer Debra Boyle distributed masks to the elderly and infirm residents she checks on regularly. Then they were passed to club members and their families and so on to residents of Crown Colony, Wellington Arms and other 55-plus condo communities.
“We’ve distributed over 400 masks,” Kolb said, “but we’re still making them because we have the fabric and elastic.”

•

JoAnn Fabric in Boynton Beach is also where de Haseth once took sewing lessons from Christine Burtch and Rosemary Mouring. Burtch is the store’s education coordinator and Mouring one of the sewing teachers.
They are also the president and past president of the Casuarina Woman’s Club in Lantana.
“Just the two of us are doing it,” Mouring said. “We don’t have many members, but we work together. When she’s not working, she comes here to my house and we sew.”
At JoAnn, Burtch put together kits containing enough material to make five masks and handed them out to some of those patient customers waiting in line. The idea was for JoAnn’s customers to make the masks and bring them back as donations to local hospitals and health care providers.
“The majority were not brought back,” Burtch said.
But working together, the women had sewn 102 masks by May, including some of green material for the Sheriff’s Department.
And they’re still turning them out.
“Since I’m not teaching, it’s good to be doing something,” Mouring said. “I’m bored to death.”

•

On March 23, members of the Boca Raton Garden Club got the message by email.
Calling all seamstresses!
Mary Kaub, president-elect, had seen the need and knew the club could help.
“Holiday House is our biggest craft sale of the year, and we had all this leftover material,” she said.
When Bianca Boone got the message, she knew she was just what the project needed.
As a teenager growing up in Brazil, she’d learned to sew patterns from a neighbor who gave lessons. But then her career intervened. She came to Boca Raton and worked as an engineer at IBM, then retired. Two years ago, she joined the garden club.
“I never thought I’d be in the garden club sewing, but I’m loving it,” she said. “Working at home, I get into a production line. I work about three hours a day. I don’t work that long, but you get more and more efficient. I think I’ve sewn about 400 now.”
On Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11 a.m., the women, about 21 of them, drop off their masks at the club and pick up the fabrics to make more.
“Our seamstresses find a pattern that works best for them and they turn those in,” Kaub said. “We’re not picky. I’m quarantined, so I sew at night, and I can make about a dozen a day.”
So far they’ve donated about 1,200 masks, to the Lynn Cancer Institute and Boca Raton Fire Department, as well as hospitals as far away as Oregon and New York.
“We’re using cotton materials,” Kaub said. “All cotton, and we wash them to make sure they go out clean.”

•

The basic patterns and rules for mask-making don’t vary.
Christine Burtch at JoAnn Fabric recommends a 6-by-10 inch rectangle of 100% quilter’s cotton, sewn in two layers. Some mask makers leave the top open to create a pocket in which a paper towel or coffee filter can be slipped to enhance the protection. And some use different colors for the front and back so wearers can tell which side they’ve put over the mouth.
Health care workers wear the donated masks over their medical-grade N95 masks to extend the life of the professional protective gear, not as a substitute.
For all the women wielding their sewing machines in the war on COVID-19, function always comes first. But that doesn’t mean they can’t accommodate a touch of style, too, and a smile.
“I wanted a Lilly Pulitzer mask,” Stella Kolb of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club said. “All pastel pinks and greens and blues. So I wound up taking a Lilly dress I hadn’t worn in 10 years, cut it up, and I even sewed the buttons on because they had her name on them. I got about 12 or 13 masks out of it, for me and my friends.
“I’m a Lilly,” she explained. “There’s a lot of Lillys along here.”

Iain Paterson and John Brewer also volunteer at Trinity Lutheran Church in Delray Beach, passing out produce to people in need during the pandemic. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Two Delray Beach dads, concerned about how restaurants could survive a shutdown during the onslaught of COVID-19, came up with a plan to help the local eateries.
The men — John Brewer and Iain Paterson — founded the Socially Distanced Supper Club, an online effort to drive business to area restaurants hanging on for dear life.
The club debuted in mid-March after the state shut down all nonessential businesses and limited the size of groups as Florida attempted to mitigate the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
With more time on their hands, Brewer and Paterson began talking about ways to save the small restaurants they enjoyed in Delray Beach.
“The mom-and-pop restaurants are the last bastion of small business where the owners live locally,” said Brewer, a 55-year-old commercial real estate broker whose first job was busing tables at the Driftwood restaurant (currently Riggins Crabhouse) his dad owned in Lantana. “It will be the end of an era if all Delray restaurants have corporate owners. … Who wants that?” he said.
Brewer knows Paterson from Trinity Lutheran School. Brewer’s son went there, and Paterson has three children enrolled at the school. Paterson had started a Dads Club. Brewer jokingly called it “an excuse to go over to the Saltwater Brewery to play shuffleboard table games and drink a few IPA,” meaning India pale ale.
“Iain called me up and talked about my taking pictures of food and posting them on Instagram,” said Brewer. “He suggested I do that on Facebook and help small restaurants.”
Restaurants were relegated to takeout sales. Few would survive that business model. If they could count on business from catering, Brewer said, more could ride out the pandemic.
The Socially Distanced Supper Club name came from the 6 feet of separation rule. By early May, the Delray club had more than 13,000 members and spawned at least 15 other chapters in five states.
The Supper Club, accessible on Facebook (www.facebook.com/groups/664927070929564/), directs diners to buy at a choice of two or three restaurants nightly, in a flash-mob style. That way the owners know how much staff they’ll need and how much product to order, Brewer said.
Even though restaurants are now allowed to open with 50% occupancy, the club likely will continue until occupancy is closer to 80%, Brewer says. Few restaurants can make it on the reduced occupancy, he says, and some people won’t feel comfortable going out to eat until there is a vaccine.
It’s a simple but brilliant idea, making people think “I wish I had thought of it,” Brewer said. “For once, I am ahead of the curve.”
A Delray Beach native, Brewer has become the face of the club with daily videos on Facebook. He discusses the night’s featured restaurants and reminds people to be patient when picking up their meals.
Brewer and Paterson volunteer their time. Diners must call in their orders to restaurants by a deadline and pay for meals via credit cards.
“We’re helping Delray people find restaurants that they didn’t know existed,” said Paterson, 46, the southeast Florida sales director for Hufcor. Based in Wisconsin, the firm makes acoustic moveable walls sold internationally to hotels, music halls and universities.
The Delray Beach supper club chapter’s success won national attention when NBC’s Kerry Sanders came to town to film a segment that appeared May 9 on the “Weekend Today” show. 
Mayor Shelly Petrolia gave the story a shout-out during a commission meeting, saying, “It showed what makes Delray, Delray, by people thinking outside of the box.”
“Besides, considering the stay-at-home restrictions, no one from Delray is going to drive up to Palm Beach Gardens to get a meal,” said Paterson, who moved to the U.S. from the Bahamas when he was 11.
Two other volunteers created the forms needed to assist the small restaurants onto the catering platform.
In addition, Paterson and Brewer are involved with a new hot lunch program based at Trinity Lutheran School intended to help unemployed restaurant workers.
Jamie Wagner, the school’s executive director, was moved by a video that showed restaurateur Rodney Mayo in tears. Mayo was talking about the worst day of his life, March 20, when he laid off 650 employees. Since then Mayo opened a daily feeding spot at his Howley’s restaurant in West Palm Beach. In Delray Beach, Mayo’s group owns the Subculture Coffee house, Dada restaurant and Honey nightclub.
Wagner also wanted to help. He had enough money to pay for two weeks’ worth of meals, but the program continues with funding from sales of vehicle decals, baseball caps and T-shirts from the Socially Distanced Supper Club. Another volunteer coordinates the sales.
As of mid-May, more than 16,000 meals had been served.
The results of these efforts?
“The community feels closer,” Brewer said, “with people stepping up to volunteer. And the mom-and-pops will expose themselves to a new audience.”

It’s been an odd couple of months, right?
There were no beach walks, pedicures or hanging with friends. The neighborhood kids studied at home, and new graduates tossed their tassels only via video streams. Easter and Passover rituals were shared using Zoom.
And yet, I’m grateful. Grateful to live in a place where people help their neighbors. Where clever, caring people find solutions to difficult problems during a deadly pandemic. Where health care workers and first responders go to work each day — even in the face of danger and anger. Where local governments work hard and wisely to keep our cities and towns operating and informed.
I’m grateful for all of the people who work as part of our Coastal Star operation. These are difficult times for newspapers. Our team has adapted to a changing environment with skill and grace. All are committed to bringing news and information to this community.
In the pages of this combined May/June edition you’ll find many examples of why I’m grateful.
There are the readers who donated to help local businesses and nonprofits, there are those who offered their support for community journalism, and the condos, clubs and organizations that stepped up to pay tribute to first responders and health care professionals and to celebrate the beauty and strength of our community.
Although businesses in our area are beginning to reopen, we expect the local economy to stay sluggish through the summer. So, our plan is to publish again the weekend of July 4 and again just before Labor Day. Altering our frequency enables us to continue publishing. We hope to be monthly again in the fall.
In the meantime, be sure to join our website (www.thecoastalstar.com). It’s a members-only site to assure a safe online experience. You’ll find our calendars (including summer camps) there again this month; and as news important to our local community happens, we’ll do our best to post stories and email you the latest news updates.
In the midst of a deadly virus causing heartbreak and sickness and separating families when they need each other most, I’m grateful for my nearby friends and family. They have made us face masks, kept us stocked with produce from the Glades and mangos from their trees and are willing to help in any way they can. It’s been good to have them near.

I am grateful.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

As of May 18, all public, municipal and private beaches, including all beach parks, are authorized to reopen from sunrise to sunset. Beach-goers shall follow CDC guidelines by limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people and distancing themselves from other parties by 6 feet. Beach concessions (including but not limited to chair, umbrella and cabana services) may operate following CDC guidelines related to social distancing and sanitation.

Lantana Municipal Beach: lifeguard, parking (156 parking spaces at $1.50/hour, 42 spaces free for residents with sticker), Dune Deck Café open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (open 7 a.m. weekends)
Ocean Inlet Park (county): lifeguard, free parking (218 spaces), fishing (keep 10' apart)
Hammock Park (county): no lifeguard, free parking (29 spaces)
Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park: open sunrise to 9 p.m., lifeguards 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., parking $5 weekdays and $10 weekends and holidays, pavilions and playground equipment closed, Turtle Café open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Gulfstream Park (county): lifeguard, free parking (92 spaces)
Delray Beach (municipal beach and Atlantic Dunes Park): open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; lifeguards; beach activity is limited to walking, jogging and swimming; no surfing, sunbathing, volleyball, group activities, congregating, chairs, tents, umbrellas or cabana rentals allowed; pavilion and restrooms closed; parking meters ($1.50/hour, 4-hour limit) along A1A, free parking (60 spaces) at Atlantic Dunes, free resident parking (82 spaces) at Anchor Park, no beach parking permitted in beach area neighborhoods
Boca Raton (Spanish River Park, Red Reef Park, South Beach Park and Pavilion): open sunrise to sunset but parking lots, restrooms, playgrounds and picnic pavilions remain closed; activities are not restricted but swim at your own risk; no lifeguards; parking meters on Palmetto Park Road and Spanish River Boulevard
South Inlet Park (county): closed
—Steve Plunkett

In cooperation with American Medical Response (AMR), the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach County is opening a new community based testing site in Boca Raton. The drive through testing site will be located at the FAU Tech Runway on the north end of the FAU campus. The address is 901 NW 35th Street,  Boca Raton, 33431. Residents should enter the testing site from Spanish River Boulevard.

Appointments are required for testing. To make an appointment, call 1-800-209-7919 Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Testing is available to anyone over the age of 12, with or without COVID-19 symptoms. No doctor referral needed. Proper ID will be required with name, date of birth, and photo. Tests will be administered by healthcare professionals from AMR. Results are not immediate. Please remember to wear a face covering.

The 335-acre South Florida National Cemetery has impeccably maintained burial grounds nestled within pine flatwoods and surrounded by cypress domes that enable it to exude a sense of calm.

Our garden columnist unearths the evolution of the National Cemetery from an overgrown wetland to a worthy shrine for the military — including her husband

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

On Memorial Day, we honor our fallen military members with parades, speeches and plenty of pomp and circumstance. But this year, the onslaught of the novel coronavirus has changed just about everything.
That’s why we are lucky that we have a shrine to honor our veterans year-round, day or night, rain or shine and, yes, even during a pandemic.
It’s the 335-acre South Florida National Cemetery, one of the busiest, and, I think, loveliest in the state.
“This cemetery is designed to be a lasting tribute to our veterans so that not only current family members but generations to come can visit and reflect on their loved ones and the services they provided to their country,” says Kevin Ridgeway, who was the assistant director of the cemetery until recently, when he became director of the Hampton National Cemetery in Virginia.

Stands of native plants, including these cabbage palms, separate the burial fields at South Florida National Cemetery.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

With mitigated wetlands and carefully maintained cypress domes buffering manicured burial fields set within pine flatwoods, the cemetery exudes a sense of calm and respect for not only our country’s warriors but also nature.
I know that’s true because on June 10, 2019, I buried my husband, a Korean War veteran, in this hallowed ground. And since then, I’ve visited it often to find peace and comfort in this very South Florida setting.
But it wasn’t always this way.
The cemetery was inspired by need when early in the century, the Department of Veterans Affairs identified more than 420,000 veterans living within a 75-mile radius of the Palm Beach County area.
“It is critical for our veterans to have a cemetery in close proximity to where they live,” says Michael Kroll, CEO and president of Miller Legg, the civil engineering and landscape architecture firm that was charged with designing the cemetery.
Up until then, the closest facility was in Bushnell, about a 3½-hour drive north.
In 2002, the VA purchased a 300-acre parcel along U.S. 441 in Lake Worth (the cemetery later grew to 335 acres with the purchase of an adjacent nursery).
Then the search was on for the people who could bring to it “the level of design required of a cemetery of shrine status,” explains Kroll.
He believes his firm was selected because it had created many other Florida cemeteries and had expertise in working with Florida’s ecosystems. “We prefer leaving the land in its more natural state rather than doing a very formal planting that you see in many national cemeteries,” he says.
On his first visit to the location, Kroll found established Florida habitats, but he also remembers fighting his way through a bramble of blackberries on his way to wetlands.
The natural areas also had been covered by large swaths of invasives, including melaleuca, Old World climbing fern and Brazilian pepper that shaded out and strangled native species, says Katharine Murray, president of Environment Quality Inc., the Tequesta company hired to oversee and preserve the wetlands.
Nathan Williams, southeastern district agronomist for the VA National Cemetery Administration, recalls an early visit by saying, “There were a lot of wetland areas and a lot of trees including some cabbage palms, some scrub oaks and quite a few pine trees. But then there was sand and a whole lot of underbrush.”
This being South Florida, one of the first orders of business was to start the permitting process to protect the wetlands, a process that involved multiple agencies and could take up to three years.
Next, Kroll and his team went to work on a master plan.

Amy Pena, grounds forewoman at the cemetery, checks that the headstones are properly maintained and aligned.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

This was not an easy project as there was pressure from local veterans and state politicians to “get the place open.”
The first veteran was interred on April 7, 2007, in what was considered to be the cemetery’s “fast track” element. It was set on 8 acres buffered from traffic by naturally occurring pine trees and dense understory, according to Ridgeway.
Just after it opened, my husband and I visited. What I remember from that first visit was sweating uncomfortably as the sun beat down on unshaded white marble headstones lined up starkly in white sand, making the place glaring and hot.
A parking lot, fashioned from construction rock, housed a trailer that served as the administrative headquarters where we picked up a pamphlet explaining the veteran’s right to be buried here, as well as a spouse or dependent child.
By the time we left, I told my husband there was no way that, when the time came, I was leaving either him or myself at this cemetery. But my husband had different ideas.
From that day, he had faith that the VA would create a fitting memorial for military members who chose to make this their final resting place.
And unbeknownst to me, who didn’t return to the cemetery for another 11 years, that’s exactly what happened.
During the first phase of development, which covered 185 acres and was completed in 2010, Kroll and his team continued to remove invasives, adding wax myrtles, sabal palms, slash pines and other native foliage to the natural areas that were left as buffers between the burial fields.
And they continued to excavate what is today a central lake that’s also used for irrigation. Here too they used the fill to raise the existing pine flatlands, making them suitable for additional grave sites.
“In our designs, we appreciate the contrast between natural landscapes and manmade landscapes,” says Kroll. “Here you see a very dynamic contrast between areas of highly maintained marble headstones and, behind them, lush forests of pine trees or oak trees with understory plants. The contrast between these two habitats’ textures are fantastic.”
Kroll also added unobtrusive administrative and maintenance buildings; loop roads; columbariums and burial plots to hold cremated remains; and a memorial walk as well as committal shelters. It is in the shade of these shelters that, just before a burial, taps is played and an American flag officially folded and presented to family members as they honor their deceased loved one.

A killdeer stands in front of a grave at South Florida National Cemetery. The birds build nests among the gravestones.

Through all this, Kroll and his staff preserved and created habitat that welcomed nature’s other inhabitants, including largemouth bass, butterflies, snakes, alligators, woodpeckers and even a pair of bald eagles spotted in the back of the property.
With all this completed, it was time for my husband and me to return to the South Florida National Cemetery to take another look. We did so in early 2019, when we knew his health was retreating and finding a burial place was heavy on our minds.
Here, instead of blazing sun and blinding marble, we discovered birds singing in the lush tree-filled buffer areas, sabal palms clearly outlined against blue sky, a cool breeze wafting across the manmade lake ringed with purple blooms of pickerel weed, and tiny lizards playing hide-and-seek among the gravestones.
People regularly were coming and going as they quietly and reverently visited their loved ones’ graves, giving what could be a very deserted and regimented place a pleasant sense of activity. There was plenty of thriving habitat for everyone and everything.
It took only that one visit to convince me that the South Florida National Cemetery is a unique place. And I agreed to commit my husband and myself to its perpetual care.
With time marching on, the cemetery is readying itself for a $31 million Phase Two that is slated to begin this summer and include the northwest quadrant of the property.
It will add a new entry gate and sign, as well as a public assembly area with garrison-size flag on an 80-foot pole, memorial walkway, memorial wall and committal shelter as well as columbariums and burial fields for about 20,000 interments.
With Memorial Day approaching, I am grateful for the care and respect this cemetery and its staff show our veterans and their loved ones, even when the world is turned upside down.

By Amy Woods

More than 400 members of the community gathered in late February for the Ferd & Gladys Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm Beach County’s No Excuse for Abuse Luncheon, where they enjoyed boutique shopping from local vendors.
Keynote speaker was Linor Abargil, a lawyer and former Miss Israel and Miss World who is a survivor of sexual violence and now advocates for other victims. Abargil’s story was retold in an Emmy Award-nominated documentary.
The nonprofit’s Domestic Abuse Program assists in identifying abuse, creating personalized safety plans for victims and their children and providing direction to local and national resources.
In other news, the Ferd & Gladys Alpert Jewish Family Service of Palm Beach County is offering financial assistance for Jewish college students through the Thelma & Isador S. Segall College Scholarship Fund and the Jewish Educational Loan Fund.
The Segall fund will award scholarships up to $5,000, and the loan fund will provide interest-free allotments for college, graduate school and vocational programs. For information on eligibility requirements and to apply, visit www.alpertjfs.org/scholarships-loans/ and www.jelf.org. For questions, call 561-684-1991.

Gift puts Marleen Forkas’ name on FAU theater
Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters has received a $1.125 million gift from benefactor Marleen Forkas to name the Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre.
The theater serves as a training facility for production and performance students as well as a venue for public events.
“The arts bring beauty and expression to the world,” Forkas said. “My hope is that the Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre will continue to be a place for students and the community to immerse themselves in the essence of theater and the arts and that they will carry that experience with them for the rest of their lives.”
College Dean Michael Horswell added, “It is vital that we have state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for our students to be well-prepared for future careers. This gift clearly shows Marleen’s love of the arts and especially of our students whose lives she continues to enrich through her generosity and her continued presence at our performances.”

Pre-COVID-19 gala raises funds for at-risk children
As the coronavirus cripples the economy and jeopardizes aid to at-risk children, Boca West Children’s Foundation is providing $800,000 to its 25 partner charities.
The foundation already has granted $315,500 to 11 local nonprofits that care for thousands of youths each day; it will distribute the remaining funds soon.
“In this trying time, Boca West Children’s Foundation now, more than ever, is embracing our granted charities and the at-risk children they serve,” said Arthur Adler, founder and chairman.
One of the difficulties the current crisis creates for these charities is they are being forced to cancel fundraising events planned to raise everyday-needed funds to care for kids.”
The money was raised during the 10th Anniversary Gala attended by 900 guests and featuring entertainment by stand-up comedian Jay Leno.

Community Foundation helps to combat dire times
Through money raised for its COVID-19 Response Fund and grants directed from Donor-Advised Funds, the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties will make a $2.3 million local impact.
As of early May, a total of $700,000 had been granted to local nonprofits on the front lines of the global pandemic.
“Community foundations are uniquely well-positioned to identify, activate and strategically connect people in the greatest need to lifesaving resources in these challenging times,” said Brad Hurlburt, the foundation’s president and CEO. “We are strengthening our trusted partnerships with multiple nonprofit agencies to quickly and proactively help the most vulnerable in our community with immediate basic needs such as payments for utilities, child care and rent.”
The foundation’s staff is working to quickly deploy grants to organizations providing food, housing assistance and access to health care. For information, call 561-659-6800 or visit www. yourcommunityfoundation.org.

High-impact grants to be awarded May 28
The 10 finalists selected by Impact 100 Palm Beach County are another step closer to receiving one of five $100,000 high-impact grants.
The grants are designed to fund transformational community programs in southern Palm Beach County. The organization will announce the winners May 28.
“Each of the finalist programs have the potential to positively change different aspects of our community in an impactful way,” organization President Kathy Adkins said. “During this time of great uncertainty, it’s gratifying to know these grants will help improve and strengthen our community.”
The 10 finalists are Boca Helping Hands, Coastal Conservation Association, CityHouse, Community Greening Corporation, Compass, Florida Atlantic University Foundation, GIVT, Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches & Treasure Coast, Roots and Wings, and Spady Cultural Heritage Museum.

Help for homebound, hungry amid coronavirus
The Addison is donating 700 hot meals weekly to Boca Helping Hands to help manage the needs of the nonprofit’s homebound and other hungry clients during the pandemic.
Volunteer drivers from the venue are making deliveries to 30 homebound residents three times a week. The balance of the meals are offered to people who rely on Boca Helping Hands for food.
“Since the COVID-19 crisis began, we have been preparing packaged hot meals for pickup each day,” Executive Director Greg Hazle said. “The need has doubled. In addition, we’re now giving out 300 pantry bags a day, up from 160.”
Another feeding program allows clients who are able to drive to Boca Helping Hands to be handed hot meals through their car windows. Hours are 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays along with 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursdays.
In the interest of protecting the health of not only clients but also employees and volunteers, the food center will be closed until further notice. All job training, classes, mentoring sessions and in-person interviews are temporarily suspended.
For more information, call 561-417-0913, ext. 202 or visit www.bocahelpinghands.org.

Proceeds totaled nearly $200,000 from the 29th annual Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County fundraiser. The money will go toward child, adult and family literacy programs. Jean Kwok, a best-selling author who wrote ‘Searching for Sylvie Lee,’ was the headliner. ‘We could not have asked for a more inspiring speaker,’ said Kristin Calder, the nonprofit’s CEO. ‘Jean’s moving story of her personal journey from impoverished child of immigrants to best-selling author reminded us all that books and reading truly have the power to transform lives.’ ABOVE: (l-r) Committee members Dr. Regine Bataille, Seran Glanfield, Karen Rogers, Sabine Dantus, Bettina Young, Bernadette O’Grady, Kwok, Debra Ghostine, Stephanie Kahlert and Laura Silver. Photo provided

George Elmore took the spotlight at the second installment of the Kravis Center’s speaker series, moderated by Kravis board Chairman Jeffrey Stoops. Elmore, founder and president of paving contractor Hardrives, talked about his successes and career milestones. He also praised the Kravis Center and its impact on the area. ‘It would be tremendously different if the Kravis Center wasn’t in West Palm Beach,’ he said. ‘I don’t think we would have had CityPlace, now Rosemary Square, or the Palm Beach County Convention Center. It brought a lot here and continues to raise the bar for arts and culture as well.’ ABOVE: Stoops, Elmore and Mark Levy. Photo provided by CAPEHART

Il Circolo, the Italian Cultural Society, rang in its 44th annual affair with a theme of Celebrazione delle Donne. The sold-out dinner dance featured music from Gino DeMarco’s band, concert pianists Sergio and Barbara Salani, tenor Carlos De Antonis and Italian pop singer Alessandro Coli. The party began with a Tuscan cocktail hour followed by dinner. Sally Valenti was honored for 35 years of service. ABOVE: Valenti (center), with Chairs Antonella Brancaccio and Chris Salamone. Photo provided

MorseLife had its final gathering of the season with best-selling author Andrew Gross, a Palm Beach resident. Gross detailed his life as a writer and how he did not initially set out to become one; instead, he started off as a businessman, with several failed ventures. For 12 years, MorseLife has brought presentations from authors like Gross to audiences while introducing the programs and services it provides to seniors living in the community. ABOVE: Amy and Neil Katz.
Photo provided by CAPEHART

The world’s largest autism fundraising event celebrated a local version along the downtown waterfront to support the mission of Autism Speaks. The sensory-friendly and family-family event attracted more than 3,000 participants. ‘Knowing you have the support of the Autism Speaks community will help families navigate their journey and help them not feel alone,' said walk Co-Chairwoman Marla Garchik, who received the nonprofit’s inaugural Wright Legacy Award. ABOVE: Co-Chairwomen Lisa Harrison and Garchik. Photo provided

The women of the Highland Beach chapter of UNICO National put on their second fashion fete with more than 120 guests, who enjoyed a perfectly prepared meal and delightful designs from Mario Pucci Boca. Models ages 3 to 9 strutted the runway, showing off children’s clothing from Once Upon a Time in Delray Beach. Proceeds from the event will fund the music therapy program at the Palm Beach Children’s Hospital in West Palm Beach. ABOVE: (l-r) Committee members Terry Weiss and Gail Guy; the hospital’s Lisa Baron and Liz Lung; Bree Gordon, director of Creative Arts Therapies of the Palm Beaches; Chairwoman Susan Gengo; and committee member Madeline LoRe. Photo provided