The Rod & Gun Club of Florida had its annual Kentucky Derby party at the Gulf Stream home of Bob and Jane Souaid. More than 100 members and guests sported large-brimmed hats and colorful attire to watch the 143rd Run for the Roses. Folks cheered on Always Dreaming to his Derby win. A gorgeous sunset provided the backdrop for the fireside champagne and buffet dinner. Club President Stephen Jara put on an event to remember,  accentuated by cool weather and a near-full moon. Visit the Rod & Gun Club of Florida website at rgcfla.com. Photo provided

A Boynton Beach veteran received France’s highest honor, the National Order of the Legion of Honour medal, aboard the USS New York during Fleet Week. William ‘Bill’ Thomas served as a U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II, earning a medal and several ribbons for his bravery.

Isabel Saad’s engaging photography, curated by Bruce Helander for The Gallery at Center for Creative Education, led to a sellout. Every photo from Saad’s first solo show was snapped up, with a percentage of proceeds going to the center’s educational programs.  ‘With varying levels of artistic merit, the artworks and opening reception were well received by art aficionados and casual collectors alike, with the stamp of approval being the sold-out works by Isabel Saad,’ gallery manager Jonathon Ortiz-Smykla said. ABOVE: David Lee and Cynthia Graves. Photo provided by Michael Price

The George Snow Scholarship Fund celebrated and honored its donors while introducing them to students helped by their philanthropy. Guests met three scholars. ‘The Tiki Dinner provides a connection to our scholars that our supporters look forward to every year,’ said Tim Snow, president of the fund. ABOVE: Wendy and Vincent Sadusky. Photo provided

The Women of Grace honorees are Yvonne Boice, nominated by the Palm Beach State College Foundation; Tammy Culmer, nominated by Take Stock in Children; Linda Heneks, nominated by the YMCA of South Palm Beach County; Jacqueline Moroco Maloney, nominated by the Bethesda Hospital Foundation; and Kirsten Stanley, nominated by the Junior League of Boca Raton. The 2017 Future Woman of Grace is Claudia Cabral, 17, a junior at Suncoast Community High School. ABOVE: (l-r) Cabral, Stanley, Dr. Monica Habib-Heghinian, Boice, Culmer, Kimberly LeTourneau and Dr. Daniel Cartledge.
Photo provided by Downtown Photo

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has presented the Friends of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge with an award for making extraordinary contributions to the conservation of natural resources in the southeast region.
The award, Friends Group of the Year, goes to a volunteer organization whose hard work and perseverance helps to save land and preserve wildlife.
The refuge contains one of the largest cypress forests in the country and encompasses 144,000 acres in the northern Everglades. The Friends’ mission is to promote a better understanding of the refuge and the natural history of South Florida.

The Lord’s Place gets kudos
as top employment spot
After conducting employee surveys and workplace evaluations, The Nonprofit Times, in partnership with Best Companies Group, ranked The Lord’s Place ninth in the country among the top 50 nonprofit companies to work for. The Lord’s Place, which has helped the homeless in Palm Beach County get jobs and find places to live for 35 years, serves 1,600 in need annually. After taking part in its programs, a total of 94 percent of those served were not homeless by the end of the year, and 61 percent gained employment.
 “It is a great honor for The Lord’s Place to be recognized in this way,” said The Lord’s Place Board Chair Cornelia Thornburgh. “It is a testament to the passion and commitment of the staff and the leadership team to do their very best in serving those who are homeless.”

Foundation hands out
$1.2 million to six nonprofits
    The Quantum Foundation approved six grants to Palm Beach County-based nonprofits totaling $1.2 million. Recipients included the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County ($75,000), the Children’s Behavioral Health Collaborative ($500,000), Pediatric Oncology Support Team ($50,000), El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center ($155,352), Florida Atlantic University Clinical Skills Training Facility ($300,000) and the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County ($125,000).
(l-r) Heather Coltman, dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, donor Rochelle Dobbs and Margo Green, of the college’s advisory board, stand in front of Chihuly artwork in FAU’s Culture and Society Building. Photo provided

Dale Chihuly sculpture
installed on FAU campus
A four-piece blown-glass wall installation created by artist Dale Chihuly now graces Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.
The work was donated by Rochelle Dobbs and has been placed in the college’s Culture and Society Building outside the theater.
“The location was requested by the donor so that students, faculty and particularly the public coming to our Living Room Theaters would be able to enjoy the beauty and impressiveness of the installation every day,” said Heather Coltman, the college’s dean. “We have already heard from patrons and students that the installation provides an amazing upgrade to the area.”

Arts initiatives in county
receive monetary support
The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County is the recipient of a pair of grants to support efforts to make art and culture accessible throughout the area.
A total of $50,000 has been awarded by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, and the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties has awarded $25,000. The $25,000 is a matching-funds grant to establish a permanent endowment as part of the foundation’s Forever Nonprofit Endowment Challenge. The money for the initiative came from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur and Marie Graber Martens funds.
“A matching challenge like this one provides our partners like the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County with future stability and a foundation from which to grow — one not contingent on the success of current or future fundraising efforts,” said Brad Hurlburt, the foundation’s president and CEO.

Belle Glade teenager
named Youth of the Year
Je’Cynthia Nonar was named 2017 Youth of the Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County.
Seven teens representing the clubs competed in the annual contest for the title. For the first time, the winner was announced live based on scores for public speaking at the event.
“Je’Cynthia has been one of our star club members for years, and we are so proud to have her represent the young women that overcome adversity thanks to the support and encouragement our clubs provide every day,” said Jaene Miranda, president and CEO of the organization.
The 17-year-old from Belle Glade was recognized for embodying the values of leadership and service, achieving academic excellence and living a healthy lifestyle.

Submit your event or listing to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net

The Plate: Station House Chicken Sandwich
The Place: Whistle Stop Tavern, 224 N. Third St., Lantana; 670-2003.
The Price: $9.95
The Skinny: John and Jerry Broz know food. Anyone who has been in the area any length of time probably has dined on food prepared by the Broz family — they operated the Famous Restaurant and Lounge from 1947 to 1974 north of downtown Lake Worth before heading west of town to run the Bohemian Gardens, open from 1976 to 2010.
Now they’re at the Whistle Stop Tavern in Lantana, once home to the Grumpy Grouper and other restaurants. Here, they bring their skills in the kitchen to a range of dishes from such bar fare as wings to steak dinners and, in a nod to their eastern European roots, pork schnitzel.
This chicken sandwich essentially is their version of Buffalo chicken, breaded, fried until crisp and dipped in wing sauce. The chicken itself was fresh and tender, and the blue cheese and sriracha mayonnaise added a little kick. Kudos to Whistle Stop for serving it on a perfectly toasted roll.
— Scott Simmons

The Kravis Center’s elite were honored for their philanthropy while celebrating the center’s 25th anniversary. Laurie Silver discussed how education programs are preparing the next generation of artists and audiences. ‘We have met and exceeded our annual fundraising goal of $5.8 million three months ahead of schedule,’ Chairman Michael Bracci said. LEFT: (l-r) George Elmore, Sidney Kohl, John Kessler.
Precious Moments photo

Wilmer Rodriguez with his restored 1953 Buick Special. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Thom Smith

For Wilmer Rodriguez, the “black and white” 1953 Buick now parked in front of the Boynton Beach police headquarters gets a big “10-4.” Rodriguez, a detective and hobbyist mechanic, took up the cause of restoring the 64-year-old chrome-laden clunker. He couldn’t be more pleased with the result, especially considering its history.
    He found the Buick languishing in a Midwestern barn eight years ago and planned to convert it into a hot rod. However, with the city’s 90th anniversary a year away, the idea was hatched to restore it as a vintage patrol car for community outreach. With some police discretionary funds, donations and materials from citizens and area businesses, especially work space at Florida Collision Center, the project began.
    Fellow officers and 14 students in the city’s Youth Violence Prevention Program, some skeptical at first, went to work. A few months later, the kids, down to five boys and one girl, had a modernized classic, even airbags. But it wasn’t easy.
    “Buicks have a lot of chrome,” Rodriguez said. “It took a lot of work to clean it up. Plus, we added a big flasher on the roof and a genuine highway patrol spotlight on the side.”
    But for reasons unknown, the car never made its debut, banished all these years to the police garage … until mid-May, when the department finally decided to display it.  
    “It’s a beauty,” said Rodriguez, who noted that Buicks, while not common as squad cars, were used. In fact, the California Highway Patrol bought 270 specially built two-door sedans with lightweight bodies, high-horsepower engines and oversize brakes to contend with drag racers.
    The TV show Highway Patrol rented some of the Buicks from the CHP to use in the filming, which would include numerous takes of Oscar-winner Broderick Crawford as Dan Matthews standing by his Buick, microphone in hand and replying in his coarse staccato “10-4,” cop-shop radio code for “understood.”
    Rodriguez learned from his father, a mechanic, first in Cuba where a few old Buicks still cruise the roadways. In 1980, the family with 4-year-old Wilmer arrived in Miami during the Mariel boatlift.
    Wilmer’s work isn’t limited to automobiles. Earlier this year, he and Boynton Beach project manager Kevin Ramsey built a special wheelchair for a 10-year-old Coral Springs girl with multiple developmental defects. The chair was a miniature replica of the 2010 Camaro owned by the girl’s late father.
    Rodriguez no doubt is looking ahead, maybe to future restorations. Retirement is less than a year away, but the codes 10-4 and 10-7 — “Assignment complete and out of service” —  probably won’t apply.
                                ***
    Seems like only yesterday. On Nov. 22, 2002, The Strokes, then one of the hottest bands in the land, played the first concert in the new De Hoernle Amphitheater at Boca’s Mizner Park.
    Subsequent acts included Kenny G, Judy Collins, Ringo Starr, the Allman Brothers, ­
Yo-Yo­ Ma, authors Edward Albee and Doris Kearns Goodwin, orchestras and ballets, at a pace that remained steady even after the city of Boca Raton assumed operation in 2010.
    But the amphitheater’s days may be numbered. City Council workshops and planning meetings are being held that will lead to the adoption of a “campus master plan” later this summer. Those sessions have included discussions about the future of all city-owned property, amphitheater included.
    A decade ago, developers and city government envisioned building a large indoor theater just east of the amphitheater. Today, however, that space provides overflow parking for amphitheater events because the Mizner Park garages can’t handle shoppers, diners and performance patrons.
    Retailers complain that shoppers stay away on concert nights. Residents in the Mizner Park apartments don’t like the noise.
    While the original plan has not been scrapped, increased downtown development may force the performing arts in a different direction …  a short drive to the northwest, to city-owned land near the new library on Spanish River Boulevard.    
    “The campus master plan encompasses City Hall, the Police Department, the library, tennis center, the sports fields — all the city property in the downtown area,” city communications manager Chrissy Gibson said. “Council members have brought up that they’d like to see a cultural arts center and would like to see it on the campus.”
    Some groups, Gibson said, would like to see all city government and cultural arts concentrated on one campus. Others want input on choosing a successor should the amphitheater move.
    AEG, an international entertainment juggernaut that has produced shows at Mizner, wants to be part of any discussion “about building a newer, bigger, better, great facility out on Spanish River,” Gibson said.
    “The council has not asked for any proposals, but people are starting to hear about it. For concert promoters, downtown presents so many challenges. They would like to be in Boca, for sure, but the downtown area may not fit their needs.”
    Gibson stressed that the master plan is still in development. A consultant hired by the City Council is expected to present his evaluations and recommendations in July. Then, she said, “the council will decide what it wants to do.
    “People have an interest in Boca and in culture and that’s great.”
                                ***
    More than 3,200 degrees were awarded to students from more than 50 nations at six Florida Atlantic University commencement ceremonies in early May, including 101 who were 50 or older. Notable among the graduates was Ndjuma Joseph, 28, from Port St. Lucie. She hopes to use her degree in music to teach. The road to her degree was not easy. Not only is she the music school’s first blind graduate, but with hip dysplasia she requires a wheelchair.
   Nevertheless, she plans to teach music.
                                ***

     Though no Sandlers picked up degrees this year, hedge fund manager Harvey and wife Phyllis have again made their presence known around campus, this time with a $7 million gift. The money will establish two new centers within the Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work — the Robin Rubin Mindfulness and Wellness Center and the Substance Misuse, Mental Health and Research Center — and provide renovations to the College for Design and Social Inquiry.
    Additionally, the student athlete lounge within the Schmidt Family Complex for Academic and Athletic Excellence will be named for the Sandlers, who contributed $250,000 in honor of their good friends Dick and Barbara Schmidt.
    The Sandlers’ relationship with FAU began more than a decade ago when daughters Robin Rubin and Amy Ross earned degrees in social work. Both graduated with honors — Robin stayed on as a professor in social science — and have been active in the community ever since.
    The entire Sandler family believes in putting their money where their life is. Their foundation has helped more than 100 organizations, including the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, the Alzheimer’s Foundation, Camp Excel for Underprivileged and Troubled Children and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
    “It feels so good to give back,” said Harvey Sandler. “It’s important to make investments in your community and take pride in where you live.”
                                ***
    The philosophy department was saddened by the deaths of two esteemed members.
 Dr. Lester Embree, 79, a Marine veteran and one of FAU’s “eminent scholars,” who was internationally known for his work in phenomenology, died in January.
    Five weeks later, Tom Baxley, who chaired the department for 10 years before retiring in 2003, died from prostate cancer. Baxley first made headlines as a basketball player. Though only 5-foot-10, the hotshot guard scored 57 points in one game for North Miami High School and led his team to a state championship in 1960. Two years later, he led the University of Florida in scoring and as a senior was named team captain. In later years, he took up handball and for more than 10 years was Florida singles and doubles champion.
    He was also quite the handyman. As his family noted in his obituary, “There was not anything he couldn’t fix.”
                                ***
    With all things Trump dominating headlines lately, one of the biggest sporting events in the world is attracting scant coverage locally. That may change, however, since one of the participants in the 35th America’s Cup, the world’s oldest sailing competition, has local ties.
    Bermuda is the latest stop for Matt Cassidy, where as a bowman for USA Oracle BMW, he hopes to help Team USA win a third consecutive cup. Cassidy, 39, who now calls Chicago home, was born in Michigan. The state isn’t known for mild winters, so during Cassidy’s formative years the family would head south to a slightly warmer Delray Beach. The best of both worlds: highly competitive summer sailing on Lake Michigan, school and surfing during winters in Delray. After graduating from Pope John Paul High School (now St. John Paul), he headed to the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
    While earning his degree, he became a “decent” competitive sailor and after graduation was offered a coaching job in San Diego. One thing led to another as he moved from small boats and small competitions to bigger boats and now to the biggest competition on water.
    The series has evolved from the initial 100-foot schooner, to elegant but hardly speedy 70-foot sloops to today’s high-tech, 50-foot catamarans that can reach 50 miles an hour and cost hundreds of millions.
     As a veteran of keelboats, the cats present new challenges to Cassidy. “There’s a learning curve,” he told Traverse magazine. “It’s such fast pace, the racecourses are so small, the maneuvers happen so quickly, there’s little room for error. . . . Maneuvers happen in a specific sequence, and when you’re a few seconds late, that snowballs and you’re playing catch-up for the duration of the race.”
                                ***
    To aid in the fight against childhood cancer through the P4 Foundation and the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, Richard Staller organized an ice cream social at Ben & Jerry’s. Celebrity scoopers included Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein, Delivery Dudes founder Jayson Koss and, since Staller happens to be the team dentist, Lane Kiffin, celebrated football coach at Florida Atlantic University. Kiffin, fresh from his first spring practice, scooped, drizzled, sprinkled and even took a turn at the register. But in the end, he confessed, “I was not very good at it, that’s for sure. I was a true freshman.”
                                ***

    While his former TV wife Molly — Melissa McCarthy in Sean Spicer drag — navigated New York’s 58th Street aboard a motorized podium on May 13 during a taping of Saturday Night Live, Billy Gardell chased lunch with Key lime pie at — where else? — The Old Key Lime House in Lantana.
    Gardell next headed south for his second show at the Improv next to Seminole Hard Rock and, though unconfirmed, likely then headed north to visit family. A Winter Park High grad, he cut his comic teeth in Central Florida and recently teamed with his brother to open a pizza joint in Orlando. Unfortunately for the Gardells, they had to close it last November after only a year. No action when the snowbirds left, Gardell said.
                                ***
   Dancers have been named for this year’s Boca’s Ballroom Battle (6 to 10 p.m. Aug. 18) and they are already practicing with the pros at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Royal Palm Place. They are: Jim Dunn, vice president and general manager of JM Lexus; Teresa “Terry” Fedele, registered nurse, retired hospital executive and community volunteer; Lisa Kornstein Kaufman, founder and creative director at Scout & Molly’s; Derek Morrell, proprietor of Ouzo Bay; Heather Shaw, vice president and general manager at Saks Fifth Avenue; Logan Skees, director of business development at Trainerspace; Elizabeth Murdoch Titcomb, president of EMT Creative; and John Tolbert, president of the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
Tickets are $185. Proceeds benefit the George Snow Scholarship Fund.
   For more information about the event at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, call 347-6799 or visit www.ballroombattle.com.
                                ***
    Palm Beach’s newest celebrity resident, fashion maven Tommy Hilfiger, can claim a bargain. The oceanfront estate of deceased Londoners Lord Anthony and Lady Evelyn Jacobs had been listed for nearly $43 million. Hilfiger got it for $34 million.
Designed by Jeff Smith in the style of island pioneer Addison Mizner, the house boasted more than 13,000 square feet in an E-shape. In 1998, it cost $4.15 million.
    The Jacobses kept homes in Palm Beach for 35 years. In 1999 at Palm Beach Country Club, Anthony met Bernard Madoff, who made an investment proposal. Satisfied with his investigation of Madoff, Jacobs invested “tens of millions.” He estimated he recouped about 70 percent of his stake before his death in 2014. When Lady Evelyn died seven months later, the family put the estate on the market.
                                ***
    Subculture Coffee is back. Booted from his 123 E. Atlantic Ave. home in March for leasing upstairs space to a third party, Rodney Mayo is moving his java joint across the street and a block west to 20 W. Atlantic.
    That’s the former location of Nature’s Way Cafe, but it’s only temporary. If Delray Beach OKs Hudson Holdings’ proposed development just south of Atlantic Avenue, Mayo expects to take over one of the restored historic houses.
                                ***
Summer’s near and the time is right for some special live music at Boston’s on the Beach, where Eliot Lewis makes a special appearance June 8 with veteran local favorite Billy Livesay. Lewis made his mark in the ’80s as musician and producer with Average White Band. He currently backs Hall & Oates, who play Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena the night before. The music starts at 8:30 p.m., ends at midnight and no cover charge.

Thom Smith is a freelance writer who can be reached at thomsmith@ymail.com.

In May, Boca Raton Regional Hospital announced its primary-affiliated physicians who were listed as “Top Doctors” by the research firm, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.

The selection process included reviewing a peer-recommended list for standards, including medical education, training, board certifications, hospital appointments, administrative posts, professional achievements and malpractice and disciplinary history.

The doctors were:

Howard A. Adler, Hematology; David Alboukrek, Rheumatology; David J. Applebaum, Plastic Surgery; Gostal Arcelin, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Michael S. Aronsohn, Otolaryngology; Shawn Baca, Rheumatology; Richard S. Bailyn, Neurology; Alan R. Bank, Gastroenterology; Channing R. Barnett, Dermatology; Thomas C. Bartzokis, Interventional Cardiology; Seth J. Baum, Cardiovascular Disease; Albert Begas, Medical Oncology; Brent W. Bellotte, Ophthalmology; Jonathan B. Berger, Internal Medicine; Marc Bergman, Orthopedic Surgery; Lloyd D. Berkowitz, Hematology; Brian A. Bernick, Obstetrics and Gynecology; David P. Bogue, Plastic Surgery; Frederick J. Boltz, Neurology; Jeremy S. Breit, Pulmonary Disease; Warren S. Brenner, Hematology; Nicolas Breuer, Internal Medicine; John Briggs, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Mark S. Bromson, Orthopedic Surgery; Rafael C. Cabrera, Plastic Surgery; Julio V. Cardenas, Infectious Disease; Attica C. Chang, Dermatology; James Chong, Gastroenterology; Paul Christakis, Pediatrics; Frank D. Cirisano, Gynecologic Oncology; MaryPat L. Clements, Rheumatology; Robert A. Cohen, Family Medicine; Rodney S. Cohen, Gastroenterology; Brian E. Coleman, Orthopedic Surgery; Joseph A. Colletta, Surgery; Richard A. Conlen, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Albert Dabbah, Plastic Surgery; Dawn M. Davanzo, Internal Medicine; Barry L. Davis, Pulmonary Disease; Jeffrey Devon, Internal Medicine; Bradley S. Douglas, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Scott D. Dudak, Urology; Merrill H. Epstein, Psychiatry; Patricio Espinosa, Neurology; Steven Fagien, Ophthalmology; Arnold Falchook, Rheumatology; Lawrence M. Fiedler, Gastroenterology; Robert S. Fishman, Gastroenterology; Joseph Forstot, Rheumatology; Stuart A. Friedman, Allergy & Immunology; Harvey I. Garber,  Colon and Rectal Surgery; Neil H. Gershman, Allergy and Immunology; Michael A. Gleiber, Orthopedic Surgery; Howard B. Goldman, Ophthalmology; Stephen A. Grabelsky, Hematology; David A. Gross,  Psychiatry; Samuel Lee Heering, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Donald F. Heiman,  Infectious Disease; David Hevert,  Internal Medicine, James G. Houle, Otolaryngology; Jared A. Jaffe, Nephrology; Mohammad Jahanzeb, Medical Oncology; Daniel A. Jewelewicz, Ophthalmology; Mitchell S. Karl, Cardiovascular Disease; Y. Aaron Kaweblum, Pediatrics; Cristina F. Keusch, Plastic Surgery; Matthew A. Klein,  Surgery; Douglas A. Kohl, Ophthalmology; Alan J. Koletsky, Medical Oncology; George J. Kolettis, Orthopedic Surgery; Michael J. Krebsbach, Hand Surgery; Jan W. Kronish, Ophthalmology; Seba Krumholtz, Internal Medicine; Suzanne M. Laskas, Pediatrics; Ira L. Lazar, Nephrology; David I. Levenson,  Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; David I. Levey, Internal Medicine; Larry P. Levin, Sports Medicine; Felice Levine, Internal Medicine; Richard A. Levine, Internal Medicine; Sara S. Levine, Internal Medicine; Michael Elliot Lewis, Cardiovascular Disease; Mark R. Licht, Urology; Alan Neil Lieberman, Cardiovascular Disease; Steven M. Litinsky, Ophthalmology; Nancy J. Liu, Otolaryngology; Eliezer Livnat, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Brandon J. Luskin, Hand Surgery; David Makover, Rheumatology; David Marcus, Pediatrics; Armen Margaryan, Nephrology; Mark McCormick, Obstetrics & Gynecology; Steve E. Meadows, Hand Surgery; Jeffrey I. Miller, Urology; David Mishkel, Interventional Cardiology; Robyn M. Moncrief, Surgery; Jorge I. Montalvan,  Internal Medicine; Michele J. Moraes, Dermatology; Louise E. Morrell, Medical Oncology; Nathan Nachlas, Otolaryngology; Morris Naus, Gastroenterology; Brad Nitzberg, Otolaryngology; Philip R. Oranburg, Cardiovascular Disease; Ira Pardo, Rheumatology; Jeffrey Perlman,  Ophthalmology; Vito C. Proscia, Gastroenterology; Joseph R. Purita, Orthopedic Surgery; Mitchell K. Rauch, Urology; Samarth Reddy, Hematology; Harold Richter, Hematology; Rolando F. Rodriguez, Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism; Steven I. Rosenfeld, Ophthalmology; Mark H. Rubenstein, Cardiovascular Disease; John Rubin, Internal Medicine; Joshua H. Rubin, Gastroenterology; Patrick E. Rubsamen,  Ophthalmology; Ashish K. Sahai, Orthopedic Surgery; Alan M. Saitowitz, Internal Medicine; Carl Salvati, Neurology; Michael A. Schaffer, Ophthalmology; John P. Schosheim, Psychiatry; Jordan B. Schwartzberg, Dermatology; Jonathan I. Seckler, Interventional Cardiology; Ernesto I. Segal, Ophthalmology; Stephen J. Servoss, Interventional Cardiology; Neil S. Shachter, Cardiovascular Disease; Jeffrey E. Siegal, Ophthalmology; Jane D. Skelton, Medical Oncology; Howard R. Sonderling, Gastroenterology; Jacob D. Steiger, Otolaryngology; Craig L. Stemmer, Nephrology; John M. Strasswimmer, Dermatology; Kari Tannenbaum, Internal Medicine; Marc Taub, Urology; Shari F.Topper,  Dermatology; Bryan S. Vinik, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Howard M. Weiner, Allergy and Immunology; Mark H. Weiner, Ophthalmology; Russell D. Weisz, Orthopedic Surgery; Jerry R. Wexler, Pediatrics; Jonathan Wideroff, Surgery; Mark H. Widick, Otolaryngology; Kurt L. Wiese, Infectious Disease; Lawrence M. Yore, Urology; and Melvin David Young, Orthopedic Surgery.   

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream resident Chris O’Hare’s “bad faith conduct” in seeking hundreds of public records may leave him liable for the town’s hefty legal bill and even sanctions, a circuit judge decided.

In a case O’Hare filed against the town, Judge Thomas Barkdull III  said Gulf Stream did not unjustifiably delay its response to a public records request from O’Hare and his conduct bars the relief he sought, namely his own attorney’s fees and costs.

O’Hare’s conduct “was clearly intended to inappropriately manufacture public records requests in order to generate public records litigation and attorney’s fees,” Barkdull wrote in a final judgment Monday.

What’s more, Barkdull wrote, “Having had the opportunity to observe O’Hare at trial, the Court further concludes that O’Hare intended to harass and intimidate the Town’s employees to generate litigation and fees with ‘gotcha’ type requests.”

At issue was O’Hare’s request made after Town Hall closed for the day May 14, 2014, for “all records in any way related to any correspondence between Jones-Foster on behalf of the town and Martin O’Boyle and created or received during the period of time from March 1, 2014, through to the moment you receive this request.”

Jones, Foster, Johnston & Stubbs PA is Town Attorney John “Skip” Randolph’s firm, with about 40 lawyers in its West Palm Beach office.

Gulf Stream answered O’Hare within two days, saying it was “working on a large number of incoming public records requests” and would use “its very best efforts to respond to you in a reasonable amount of time.”

O’Hare filed suit 46 days after he made his request, a day longer than the statutory requirement, asking Barkdull to declare the town was making an “illegal withholding” of the records and seeking attorney fees.

In January, after a four-day non-jury trial, Robert Sweetapple, Gulf Stream’s outside counsel, told town commissioners the judge sided with them. In his final order, Barkdull invited Gulf Stream to ask that O’Hare pay its legal bill and also be sanctioned.

At the same meeting, O’Hare told commissioners he disagreed with the ruling. “So do my attorneys, and of course we’ll appeal that,” he said.

Before Barkdull’s ruling, a municipality that successfully defended itself against a public records dispute still had to pay its own legal bill.

O’Hare began asking Gulf Stream for public records in 2013. From late August through December that year, he made more than 400 requests, Sweetapple said. Together, he and fellow resident Martin O’Boyle have filed more than 2,000 requests and dozens of lawsuits.

The May 14, 2014, request was one of 10 O’Hare made that day that led to seven lawsuits, Sweetapple said.

By Jane Smith

Sober homes will finally be regulated under a House bill that is on its way to the governor.

The bill, passed unanimously by state representatives and senators, allows the Department of Children and Families to write the rules regulating sober homes.

“The legislation represents meaningful progress towards real regulation of an industry that has no real regulation, oversight or accountability, much to the detriment of vulnerable people it is intended to serve, their loved ones grasping for help, and the communities in which the industry operates and impacts,” said Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein. His city has been plagued with rogue sober home operators who care more about making money than the welfare of their clients. 

“This statewide legislative step will be followed by changes to our city regulations focused on protecting the residents of sober living homes,” he said, “and in doing so we protect the surrounding neighbors, neighborhoods and our citizens at-large.”

Delray Beach is in the process of rewriting its group home regulations that would protect both the vulnerable residents and the neighborhoods where they are located. Sober homes are a type of group home where residents live together in sobriety. When that happens, the residents are protected by federal discrimination and fair housing laws.   

The city is battling unscrupulous operators who use federal housing and disability laws “to perpetuate the slavery of addiction at the expense of those among us who are most in need of our protection,” Delray Beach City Attorney Max Lohman has said.

The proposed state law, which passed its final hurdle on May 4, will help to regulate sober homes by:

• cracking down on deceptive marketing practices and provides criminal penalties for violations
• adding more items to the list of “benefits” that cannot be provided for patient referrals to a treatment center and
• increasing penalties for patient brokering when treatment centers pay sober home operators for each client they refer to the center. For brokering 20 or more patients, the operator is subject to a first-degree felony charge and a $500,000 fine.

“This bill provides substantial reforms to the sober home industry which will have a real effect on stemming the crisis facing our community,” its sponsor, Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, said in a prepared statement.

The bill’s passage came a day after Gov. Rick Scott declared a statewide public health emergency on the opioid crisis. The order allows communities immediate access to a $27 million federal grant for prevention, treatment and recovery support services.

When signed by the governor, parts of the sober homes law will go into effect on July 1.

To ease the final days of the bill making it through the Legislature, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg and his chief aide, Al Johnson, traveled to Tallahassee on May 1.

Aronberg, a former state senator, received $275,000 last year from the Legislature to head a Sober Homes Task Force. The group of industry representatives developed recommendations that Hager and State Senator Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, wrote into bills.

Part of the money also went to hire Assistant State Attorney Justin Chapman who became part o the Task Force’s law enforcement subgroup.

Aronberg also convened a Palm Beach County grand jury convened on the opioid epidemic. He paid for that out of his county budget.

By Jane Smith

      Gov. Rick Scott declared a public health emergency May 3 over the opioid epidemic running rampant throughout the state.

      The declaration came after the fourth listening tour held in Duval County on May 3. The state workshops started May 1 in West Palm Beach, where many public speakers asked Scott to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency.

      By signing the emergency order, Scott is allowing communities to draw down more than $27 million in federal grant money from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Opioid State Targeted Response Grant. Florida was awarded the grant on April 21 to provide prevention, treatment and recovery support services.

      Without the order, it would have taken months for the state to distribute the dollars to local communities, according to Scott’s press release.

      Many county leaders, including Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, county commissioners and Chief Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath, asked Scott to declare the emergency.

“Long seen as an issue local to Palm Beach County, this declaration brings to light that this epidemic is a human tragedy not just in the Palm Beach County area, but to the entire state,” said state Rep. Bill Hager of Boca Raton.

      Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said, “I'm pleased Gov. Scott has made the emergency declaration we have been seeking. We are not yet certain how the funds will be apportioned, or whether they may be used retroactively to reimburse the city for first responder resources, or just for future expenses.” 

      At the West Palm Beach stop on May 1, County Vice Mayor Melissa McKinley said she was the first one to ask Scott to declare the emergency after an aide lost her daughter to an overdose.

      “I have also directed state Surgeon General Dr. Celeste Philip to declare a public health emergency and issue a standing order for Naloxone in response to the opioid epidemic in Florida,” Scott said in a press release.

      “The individuals struggling with drug use are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends and each tragic case leaves loved ones searching for answers and praying for help. Families across our nation are fighting the opioid epidemic and Florida is going to do everything possible to help our communities.”

      Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the press release, “This declaration will help strengthen our continued efforts to combat the national opioid epidemic claiming lives in Florida by providing additional funding to secure prevention, treatment and recovery support services.”

By Jane Smith

                  Fed up with sloppy contracts and having to beg for taxpayer dollars, the Delray Beach City Commission will soon consider taking over its Community Redevelopment Agency board.

                  The final straw was the building naming policy the CRA board approved in late April.

                  On May 2, interim City Manager Neal deJesus asked city commissioners whether they wanted two naming policies in the city.

                  “That’s an arrogant power grab,” said Mayor Cary Glickstein. “That board serves at the pleasure of the City Commission. I’m not interested in two separate policies.”

                  The mayor asked the city attorney about what options are available.            

                  “There’s the nuclear option,” said Max Lohman, city attorney. “The CRA operates as an autonomous board. … The City Commission can sit as the CRA board.” Many other Palm Beach County cities have joint CRA/City Commissions, including Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, the city attorney said.

                  Lohman will bring a resolution to the May 16 meeting for city commissioners to debate dissolving the current CRA board and replacing it with the City Commission.

“The ‘nuclear option’ is troubling to me and the West Atlantic community,” CRA Board Chairman Reggie Cox said on May 6. He apologized for not phoning sooner. His family was dealing with a medical emergency, he said.

“Why didn’t anyone ask me to roll it back?” Cox said. He did not attend the late April CRA board meeting when the policy was approved. The CRA staff would have worked with city staff to come up with one naming policy for the city, he said.

“There’s more here than what’s being stated,” Cox said. “It’s all about who controls the resources.”

The CRA covers 20 percent of the city, from the interstate to the ocean along Atlantic Avenue where property values are the highest.

      “I never supported" taking over the CRA board, said City Commissioner Shelly Petrolia. "I figured more people involved, more diverse input.” But after four years of having to explain to constituents about the inability to use city tax dollars as the commissioners see fit, Petrolia said she’s ready to discuss disbanding the CRA board.

      She talked about the lingering iPic contract that still has not closed.

      “We don’t know what’s happening on the back side, after we approved the front side,” she said, referring to the extra $400,000 iPic was able to secure from the CRA after a tri-party agreement was approved in November.

      The theater company won a CRA bid in December 2013 to pay $3.6 million for a tract of land between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues. In recent months, the city has been blamed twice for the developer’s failure to close, forcing the city attorney to spend staff time explaining why the developer was at fault.

      The iPic developer also did not have its construction bonds ready, as required in the purchase agreement, Lohman said.

      “We submit our requests to the CRA and the board determines what they will do,” deJesus said. “They are a separate entity. We can’t command them.”

      Vice Mayor Jim Chard said, “We are the poorer cousins to the CRA. I’m willing to consider it.”

"They want to dissolve an award-winning board," Cox said, referring to the 2015 award from the Florida Redevelopment Association for Creative Organizational Development and Funding for the Fairfield Inn & Suites.

      Commissioner Mitch Katz lauded the CRA for helping to create a lively downtown.

“I defended the CRA, they got us to where we are,” he said. But now, he’s ready to consider disbanding the CRA because of recent actions, including the “corporate welfare” to iPic.

      Deputy Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson who lives in the Northwest neighborhood that is part of the CRA said, “Millions have been spent over the past 30 years east of Swinton,” the city’s historical divide between upper-income white residents on the east and the lower-income minority residents who live west of Swinton.

Residents in the Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods, recently dubbed The Set, have waited more than 30 years to get little more than an alley paved, Johnson said. “They are disgusted,” she said. “Just be prepared” for talk about a power grab by the commission.

The CRA is posed for success in The Set, Cox said. The agency has a good working relationship with the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition, is trying to get a Publix grocery store in the area and has a proposal in process to redo the Uptown-Downtown project.

      The mayor also said he was concerned about how the CRA takeover would be perceived by residents in the West Atlantic neighborhoods.

      “Perception is the reality,” he said. “I also look at the results. Over 30 years, there has been one development go in on West Atlantic … the hotel.”

Cox said the hotel was not the only development for the West Atlantic area. He pointed to the mixed-use Atlantic Grove and the public buildings of the library, the courthouse and the tennis center.

If the city commissioners have a problem, it's with themselves," Cox said. "They appoint the CRA board members and approve the CRA plan."

By Amy Woods

Braman Motorcars general manager Stephen Grossman ceremoniously gave Andrew Aiken, president and CEO of the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society, a $25,000 check as part of a multiyear commitment to support the zoo’s tiger exhibit.
The money enabled the natural habitat for four Malayan tigers to nearly double in size and provided extra space for behind-the-scenes tiger housing.
“Their ongoing support of the health and wellness, education and daily operations [involving] the four Malayan tigers that call Palm Beach Zoo home is pivotal in helping us expand our role as Malayan tiger ambassadors,” Aiken said.
Said Grossman, “This partnership makes sense because both organizations are about relationships. For Braman, it’s between us, our customers and the community. For the Palm Beach Zoo, it’s between people, the animals and the community.”

Secretary of state lauds Young Singers
Young Singers of the Palm Beaches received a $1,000 Diversity and Inclusion Award from Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
The award recognizes Florida-based arts organizations with initiatives that reflect inclusion. It is given by the Division of Cultural Affairs and Citizens for Florida Arts and made possible through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Young Singers of the Palm Beaches CEO Beth Clark and managing director Melanee Blankstein accepted the award in Gainesville during the 2017 Convening Culture Conference. The money will go toward “Choir in the Glades,” an after-school program offered to elementary- and middle-school children in the Belle Glade area.
Nearly 250 were in attendance to support the Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club at its Be Great Celebration Dinner on March 8. ABOVE: Event co-chairwomen Kirsten Stanley and Sue Ambrech flank honoree Muriel Losee-Pratt. BELOW: Former board member John Lynch also was honored.

Photos provided

Boys & Girls Club raises more than $100,000
The Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach celebrated its fifth-annual fundraiser March 8 at the Seagate Country Club. The Be Great Celebration Dinner raised more than $100,000 to benefit the club.
 The dinner honored club supporter Muriel Losee-Pratt; Youth of the Year Karah Pierre of Delray Beach, a club member and Atlantic Community High School student; and former board member John Lynch.
Sue Ambrecht, Beau Delafield, Patsy Randolph, Kirsten Stanley and Juliet Warner chaired the event.         Sponsors included Muriel Losee-Pratt, Kenneth and Sue Ambrecht, Marc and Melissa deBaptiste, Beau and Carrie Delafield, Goldman Sachs, and Gary and Penny Kosinski as well as James Morley Jr., Murat Davidson Jr., Bruce and Margaret Warwick, Eric Sorensen, Henrik and Louise Vanderlip, George Bell, the McCarthy Foundation, and Michael and Ondine Hefley.

New program provides free cribs, diapers, formula
Boca West Foundation, Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Sweet Dream Makers have kicked off an initiative that will help new mothers who need it most.
“Beginnings” guarantees that no baby will leave the hospital without a crib, diapers and formula. Boca West Foundation, via board member Neil Gillman and wife, Doris, has committed $20,000 toward the initiative. In addition, the foundation has made a $10,000 donation for the renovation of the maternity wing.  
“This is going to be a transformational partnership in that we will be able to help so many families and especially the children,” said Sarah Pollak, director of development and donor relations at the hospital.
Added Suzanne Broad, founder of Sweet Dream Makers, whose mission is to promote the health and wellness of children and families by providing beds and other essential furniture, “A bed for every child is a dream come true, but thanks to the support of the Gillmans through the Boca West Foundation, it is now a reality.”

Community Foundation names new VP
The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties appointed Sheila Kinman as vice president for development. Kinman is responsible for connecting donors to philanthropic causes, facilitating legacy and planned gifts and establishing impactful charitable funds.

Boca Chamber celebrates DIAMOND Awards
The 11th annual DIAMOND Award Luncheon took place Feb. 24 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club and was attended by close to 300 who watched Susan Saturday and Rebecca Zerbo earn high honors.
The Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce annually recognizes professional women in south county who contribute to the vibrancy of the community. A DIAMOND Award recipient is a dedicated, inspiring, accomplished, motivated, outstanding, noble and driven woman.
Saturday, of BBX Capital and Bluegreen Vacations, was the award recipient this year.
 Zerbo, who founded the charitable organization Positive Pocket to empower, inspire and motivate people affected by bullying, received the Pearl Award. The award is given to a young female who is a graduate of the Chamber’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy.

Maurice Johnson, a Baptist pastor, has launched Mable Dean Millinery Creations at his home in Wellington. Photos by Ruth Cincotta/The Coastal Star

A retiring Boca  milliner fretted about finding a  suitable successor. Today, she’s brimming with pride over her heir apparent — a pastor with a flair for design and a dedication to the centuries-old craft.

Maurice Johnson created this hat, complete with silk flowers, feathers and a veil.

By Mary Thurwachter

With both Mother’s Day and the Kentucky Derby in May, this is a big month for hat makers.
But finding a milliner — not just someone who sells women’s hats but one who designs and makes stylish headpieces from scratch — isn’t so easy anymore.
For years, fashionable women looking for a special topper for Easter, Mother’s Day, the Triple Crown races, social functions or church, flocked to Hats Etcetera, the specialty shop on Federal Highway in Boca Raton where milliner Carina Gatto held court.
“We’re still here,” Gatto said, although she retired from hat making a year ago. “We’re just ‘Etcetera’ now. We do embroidery and monogramming. There isn’t a hat to be found in the shop.” In-vogue, made-from-scratch hats can be found, however, at the Wellington home of Gatto’s protégé, Maurice Johnson, senior pastor at Roanoke Missionary Baptist Church in downtown West Palm Beach.
The two have known each other for about 12 years, having met when Johnson and his wife, Charmaine, a lifelong fine hat aficionado, walked into Gatto’s shop at 6455 N. Federal Highway in Boca Raton.
“My wife didn’t buy a hat off the shelf that day, but we ended up going back to have Carina do a custom design,” Johnson said.
The result was a stunning beret-style pillbox made with starbright Swiss braid, adorned with gold and bronze organza flower buds and trimmed with a gold-bead/Swarovski crystal band.
“That was the hat that started it all for us,” he said. “After that, my wife only wanted to wear Carina’s designs.”
Until now, that is.
These days Charmaine, a kindergarten teacher and mother of three, finds herself in the enviable position of being married to a milliner.
Over the years, Johnson and Gatto got to know each other because Johnson would frequently bring down an outfit or a pair of shoes his wife planned to wear to a special event and wanted a stylish hat to go with them.

Maurice Johnson made this hat to complement a pair of his wife’s shoes. 

“My wife was working and couldn’t always come down to the shop in Boca,” Johnson said. So the clergyman came to Gatto with details of what his wife had in mind.
“He always had a clear idea of what he wanted,” Gatto said. During the last couple of years, as Gatto eyed retirement, she invited Johnson to work with her.
Hat making is hard work, Gatto said, and her hand strength wasn’t as good as it had been.  Turned out, her protégé learned fast and clearly had an aptitude for hat making.
“He’s very talented,” said Gatto, 74. “He has a great eye for color and design. He comes up with ideas I would never have thought of.”
 Johnson, 41, wasn’t looking for a new profession and, in fact, isn’t giving up his day job at the church.
“I would have never in a million years thought I could make a hat from scratch,” he said. As a teenager, he leaned toward becoming a mortician, like others in his family.
It didn’t take long, though, for Johnson, who grew up in West Palm Beach, to seek the counsel of his pastor about a calling he felt toward the ministry.
Johnson has been at Roanoke Missionary Baptist Church for 15 years. Being a man of the cloth is stressful, he said, and hat making, he has discovered, is therapeutic.
From his light-filled office/millinery studio at his Wellington home, he designs, creates and decorates beautiful women’s hats. “When I’m in here, the kids don’t come in,” he said.
His original inspirations for hat design were his grandmother, Mable Dean, and her sister. In fact, Johnson named his company after his grandmother. “She was a true woman of grace,” he said.
For new designs, Johnson finds ideas in various places, from flowers and bushes outside his home office, to lampshades, to shoes, to other pretty toppers he admires, including some he sees on the women in his church.
All the hat making work is done by hand, and Johnson doesn’t use a glue gun to secure feathers or flowers or other adornments to his creations.
 “Glue is a no-no,” he said. “Carina wouldn’t approve.”
 Gatto, who lives in Delray Beach, learned to make hats as a little girl in the Netherlands from her mother.
“It came naturally to me,” she said.  
In Boca Raton, Gatto enjoyed a large following.
One of the hats she made was worn to William and Kate’s royal wedding, and some of her creations were purchased by movie stars, including Stephanie Powers, who wrote Gatto a letter to tell her how much she loved her hat. Many of her creations have gone to the Kentucky Derby.
Gatto has lived in the U.S. for 50 years and is an American citizen. She made her living for many years as a paralegal and didn’t launch her millinery career until she was 50.
“It’s never too late for someone to start another career,” Gatto said.
 She continues to mentor Johnson. “Every now and then I get an S.O.S.,” Gatto said. And since Johnson now owns all her hat-making equipment, she drives to his home studio to help him find solutions.
“I’m really proud of him,” Gatto said. “I worked very hard at my trade and it’s nice to find someone who shares my passion. It shows people certain traditions do not die out.”
 Johnson has already churned out dozens of hats and is working on a website where he can sell them. In the meantime, customers can reach him by phone at Mable Dean Millinery Creations,777-3881.  

The hat that started it all: Carina Gatto created this beret-style pillbox for Maurice Johnson’s wife, Charmaine.

The local chapter of National Society of Arts and Letters will host an elite ballet competition June 2 spotlighting 17 young dancers vying for a $12,000 prize. ABOVE: Co-chairwoman Alyce Erickson and chapter executives Brian Edwards and Shari Upbin with ballerina Sophie Miklosovic. Photo provided

By Amy Woods

    The National Society of Arts and Letters Florida East Coast Chapter will put Boca Raton on the map this month when it welcomes delegates from the national organization to its annual meeting.
    The city will experience a weeklong cultural immersion beginning May 29, with arts-related activities unfolding at Florida Atlantic University, the Wick Theatre & Costume Museum and other venues throughout the city. An elite ballet competition titled En Pointe takes place June 2, featuring 17 young dancers vying for a $12,000 prize.
    “It’s a major, major event that will be in Boca and something very different,” said Shari Upbin, president of the local chapter.
    Judges for the competition are Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School artistic director Cynthia Harvey, New York’s Eglevsky Ballet executive artistic director Maurice Brandon Curry and internationally acclaimed dance photographer and West Palm Beach resident Steven Caras.
    “These dancers coming in from all over the country will actually get not only an opportunity to win big money, which they need, they also will have an opportunity to meet these judges in a very closed environment,” Upbin said.
    The competitors will participate in a master class the next day that includes one-on-one sessions with the judges.
    “If you’re a young dancer, what better opportunity for networking than to meet with someone famous and helpful who’s been there, done that,” Upbin said.
    The events conclude with the Red Rose National Awards Gala on June 3 at Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club. The evening of cocktails, dinner and dancing will feature a performance by opera singer Zaray Rodriguez, winner of the NSAL’s Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Voice Competition.
    “The purpose of the gala is to honor the young artists and the young people,” Co-Chairwoman Alyce Erickson said. “We have some really fabulous people attending.”
    The Gold Medal of Merit will go to Wheeldon for his lifetime achievements in the arts and for serving as a role model for budding artists. Scholarships also will be presented to three FAU students and three Lynn University students.
    “It’s good stuff,” Erickson said. “It’s wonderful. It’s all about the young people.”

If You Go
What: En Pointe: Classical Ballet Competition
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 2
Where: Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
Cost: Free
Information: Call 917-797-6653 or visit
nsalfloridaeast.org
•
What: Red Rose National Awards Gala
When: 6 p.m. June 3
Where: Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, 2425 W. Maya Palm Drive, Boca Raton
Cost: $350
Information: Call 391-6380 or visit redrosegala.nsalfloridaeast.org

Impact 100 Palm Beach County had its sixth annual ceremony awarding high-impact, $100,000 grants in each of five focus areas: arts and culture; education; environment; family; and health and wellness. Out of an initial 61 applicants, a total of 27 semifinalists were narrowed down to 10 finalists. The winners were Boca Raton Children’s Museum, KidSafe Foundation, Florida Atlantic University Pine Jog Environmental Center, Parent Child Center and Miracle League of Palm Beach County. This year, a record-breaking 562 members contributed $1,000 apiece, collectively raising $562,000 to change the community. ABOVE: (l-r) Carmen Rodriguez, Jasmine Coyle, Ray Coleman and Anne Henderson. Photo provided by Sherry Ferrante Photography

Members of the Delray Beach Initiative met for some miniature golf fun to raise money for Atlantic Community High School. More than $5,000 in proceeds will be used for college-prep courses for students who otherwise would not be able to afford them. ‘The Delray Beach Initiative is passionate about helping and enhancing the lives of children in the Delray Beach area,’ Chairwoman Allison Turner said. ABOVE: (l-r) Turner, Donald Schneider and Carol Eaton. Photo provided

A crowd of 500-plus attended a high-energy affair benefiting the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. The audience welcomed to the stage Brett Ratner, a Miami Beach native who is a successful movie director and has more than $1 billion in box-office sales. Ratner attended with his mother, his rabbi and his mentor and spoke about Jewish culture, history and values. ABOVE: (l-r) Michael Krauss, Terri Waitzer, Janis Light and Rob Marqusee. Photo provided by Jeffrey Tholl Photography