crossroads - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T21:11:17Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/crossroadsPhilanthrophy Notes: Grant to boost neuroscience institute at Boca Regional Hospitalhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/philanthrophy-notes-grant-to-boost-neuroscience-institute-at-boca2020-03-03T21:41:55.000Z2020-03-03T21:41:55.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p></p>
<p><strong>By Amy Woods</strong></p>
<p><strong>Boca Raton Regional Hospital</strong> has received another transformative donation toward its $250 million “Keeping the Promise” campaign to expand and improve the hospital.</p>
<p><br />Philanthropists Bernie and Billi Marcus have made an additional gift of $15 million. It will supplement a $25 million commitment from their foundation in 2012, which created the Marcus Neuroscience Institute.</p>
<p><br />“There are few who understand the value of ensuring the next generation of health care better than Bernie and Billi Marcus,” said Lincoln Mendez, the hospital’s president and CEO. “We are forever grateful to them for their foresight, relentless spirit, selfless generosity and commitment to their passion — the Marcus Neuroscience Institute.”</p>
<p><br />Keeping the Promise has raised $153 million toward its goal.</p>
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<p><strong>Nonprofit is looking for a few good women</strong></p>
<p>Impact 100 Palm Beach County has issued an open invitation to women who want to make difference in their community.</p>
<p><br />Through March 31, a membership drive is taking place for the organization, which is dedicated to giving high-impact grants to nonprofits that rely on donations to further their missions. The grants will be presented April 15 during the Grand Awards event.</p>
<p><br />“The goal of Impact 100 Palm Beach County is to turn a nonprofit’s visionary idea into reality in a high-impact way that helps the local community,” President Kathy Adkins said. “Since 2011, Impact 100 Palm Beach County has awarded more than $3.3 million in grants to over 30 nonprofits to make positive change in southern Palm Beach County.”</p>
<p><br />For more information, call 561-336-4623 or visit <a href="http://www.impact100pbc.org">www.impact100pbc.org</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Luncheon raises $45,000 for Crossroads Club</strong></p>
<p>More than 200 attended The Crossroads Club’s Gratitude Luncheon to benefit the nonprofit haven for people fighting addiction.<br />Longtime Delray Beach resident Tony Allerton, the club’s executive director and one of its original members, was honored for six decades of service to the community.</p>
<p><br />“For 37 years, The Crossroads Club has helped tens of thousands of people who suffer from addiction — from local residents to snowbirds to visitors to our community,” said Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who served as honorary chairwoman. “This nonprofit helps empower individuals to reemerge as positive contributors to our city.”</p>
<p><br />A total of $45,000 was raised.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>Poverty-awareness initiative launched</strong></p>
<p>The Junior League of Boca Raton’s Little Black Dress Initiative will take place March 9-13, raising awareness for the needs of underserved women and children in Palm Beach and Broward counties.</p>
<p><br /> League members will wear the same dress every day for five days along with a button that reads, “Ask Me About My Dress.” The goal is to address the reality of limited resources and lack of choices among people who live in poverty.</p>
<p><br /> The event was to kick off March 5 at Rex Baron Boca Raton. It will coincide with the Association of Junior Leagues International’s Day of Impact on March 10. On March 25, members will donate their dresses to Dress for Success Palm Beaches. Chairwomen Cheryl Marcus and Tara Patton are aiming to raise $20,000 through the initiative to buy diapers for mothers in need.</p>
<p><br /><strong>The Arc receives national award for innovation</strong></p>
<p>It was an amazing year for The Arc of Palm Beach County.</p>
<p><br />The charity earned 11 awards in 2019 recognizing its programs, services and staff. The Arc received a national Program Innovation Award for designing a student mentor program.</p>
<p><br /> It also recognized two team members, with the Leadership in Education Award (to Bairbre Flood) and the Direct Service Staff Award (to Brooke Teta).</p>
<p><br />“I see the work my team does and the lives that they impact on a daily basis,” said Kimberly McCarten, president and CEO of The Arc of Palm Beach County. “To have our peers, partners and the community recognize our dedication is both satisfying and humbling.”</p>
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<p><strong>Celebrations mark milestone for Toastmasters</strong></p>
<p>The Bill Gove Golden Gavel Toastmasters Club of Boynton Beach recently celebrated its 20th anniversary along with the birthday of its namesake.</p>
<p><br />Mr. Gove, who died in 2001 at age 89, was a charter member of the local club, which has earned Toastmasters International President’s Distinguished Club status for 17 of its 20 years. He also served as the first president of the National Speakers Association.</p>
<p><br />The mission of the Bill Gove Golden Gavel Toastmasters Club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment for members to develop communications skills. For more information, call 561-737-7388 or visit billgovetoastmastersclub.com.</p>
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<p><em>Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net.</em></p></div>Celebrations: Gratitude Luncheon — The Seagate Country Club, Delray Beach — Nov. 7https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gratitude-luncheon-the-seagate-country-club-delray-beach-nov-72019-12-03T22:00:00.000Z2019-12-03T22:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960902298,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960902298,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="7960902298?profile=original" /></a><em>Ernie Simon with Allerton. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The Crossroads Club benefited from the annual event, which raises funds for people suffering from addiction. More than 200 attended to support the nonprofit safe haven and honor Tony Allerton, its executive director. Guest speakers were State Attorney Dave Aronberg and best-selling author John Lipscomb. ‘The Crossroads Club provides a solution to help clients discover and maintain sobriety,’ said Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia, honorary chairwoman of the luncheon. ‘This nonprofit helps empower individuals to re-emerge as positive contributors to our city.’</em></p></div>Celebrations: Taste of Recovery - Old School Square, Delray Beach — June 1https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/celebrations-taste-of-recovery-old-school-square-delray-beach-jun2019-07-30T20:47:44.000Z2019-07-30T20:47:44.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960878881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960878881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960878881?profile=original" /></a><em>Jennifer Smith and Hillary Moore.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960878487,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960878487,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960878487?profile=original" /></a></strong></em><em>David Duran, Ira Fox and Madison Fox.</em> <strong><em>Photos provided by Russell Levine</em></strong></p>
<p>The third-annual benefit featured savory bites from a variety of area restaurants along with live entertainment. More than $75,000 was raised for the Crossroads Club, a nonprofit 12-step-based meeting center that supports an average of 900 men and women a day who are pursuing recovery. Delray Beach City Commissioner Bill Bathurst presented the Vision of Hope Award to Marc Woods. The People’s Choice award went to Louie Bossi’s and the Critic's Choice award went to Proper Ice Cream. Each of them donated their $2,500 winnings back to the Crossroads Club.</p></div>Coastal Star: A brush with drunken-driving death uncorks a life of helping millionshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/coastal-star-a-brush-with-drunken-driving-death-uncorks-a-life-of2018-10-03T15:30:00.000Z2018-10-03T15:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960817898,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960817898,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960817898?profile=original" /></a><em>Tony Allerton of Delray Beach directs the Crossroads Club, which helps people beat addictions. A coin reminds him of the day he stopped drinking (below). <b>Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</b></em></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><em><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960818071,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960818071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960818071?profile=original" /></a></b></em></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>By Rich Pollack</b></span></p>
<p class="p2">Tony Allerton remembers a day he could have easily died.</p>
<p class="p3">It was Sunday, May 9, 1982, and Allerton was driving back from West Palm Beach to his home in Delray Beach along State Road A1A. He’d had a few drinks earlier and dozed off for a few seconds. He was awakened as his tires left the pavement and, had he not jerked the steering wheel to stay on the road, he would have plunged into the Boynton Inlet.</p>
<p class="p3">The next day, Allerton went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and, although he had been to meetings before, this time he would stick with it. “I didn’t want to die,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">“I wanted to live.” And that’s what he has done — for more years than most.</p>
<p class="p3">Last month, to celebrate his 90th birthday, he drove to Rochester, N.Y., to visit an old Navy buddy before heading off to West Dover, Vermont for a family birthday celebration.</p>
<p class="p3">The annual vacation is a break in Allerton’s busy life, which includes his job as executive director and general manager of the Crossroads Club, a 7,200-square-foot facility that hosts about 160 meetings a week for organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous.</p>
<p class="p3">A fixture at the club since its first meeting in 1982, Allerton is there at 7 each morning for a meeting and stays until noon, when he heads out to lunch.</p>
<p class="p3">For most of his 35 years at Crossroads, he has been a driving force behind the club’s success, having served as president of the nonprofit that oversees Crossroads and led the effort to build the club’s current home in Delray Beach.</p>
<p class="p3">He remains a key figure in the day-to-day operations of the organization, which sees about 750 people a day. He’s also one of its most active fundraisers, tapping into the strong relationships he’s built in Delray Beach, his home since the 1950s. </p>
<p class="p3">Allerton serves on the board of the Delray Beach Playhouse, where he is a past president, and on the boards of Wayside House and the Drug Abuse Foundation of Palm Beach County. He has been chairman of the Delray Beach Drug Task Force and president of the Delray Beach Rotary Club.</p>
<p class="p3">But Crossroads is his strongest passion. Over the years, more than 7 million people have come through its doors and in some way been touched by Allerton’s efforts.</p>
<p class="p3">“Probably 98 percent of those have no idea who I am,” he said, adding that he’s perfectly fine with that.</p>
<p class="p3">Yet for all that he has done for Crossroads, Allerton says he still owes a tremendous debt to the club. “I could never do as much for Crossroads as it had done for me,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Crossroads, I wouldn’t be here today.”</p>
<p class="p3">Ask Allerton how he has managed to live to 90, despite some tough years in the rear-view mirror, and he shrugs.</p>
<p class="p3">“I guess whoever is in charge has decided that he, she or it isn’t through with me yet,” he replied.</p>
<p class="p3">His daughter Tracy had another explanation.</p>
<p class="p3">“I think the secret to his longevity is that he has found his true calling and has been able to fashion a life for himself that fulfills that calling on his own terms,” she said. “I watch him and marvel at what a difference one person can make in so many lives.”</p>
<p class="p3">Tracy Allerton is a designer and editor at <i>The Coastal Star</i>. He also has another daughter, Mimi, and a son, Colby.</p>
<p class="p3">Allerton, who is divorced, lives a healthy lifestyle and wakes up every morning to a routine and a purpose.</p>
<p class="p3">“I don’t smoke and I don’t drink,” he said. “My doctor says if I keep doing what I’m doing, I’ll live another 15 years.”</p>
<p class="p3">His day begins at 5:30 a.m. when he gets up and says a prayer before doing 15 to 20 minutes of stretching exercises. He then eats a mini-breakfast of cereal with low-fat milk or yogurt. “If I’m feeling reckless, I might have an English muffin,” he said.</p>
<p class="p3">Some ask why he doesn’t just relax, sleep late and enjoy a retirement.</p>
<p class="p3">“I don’t want to die yet because I’m loving life,” he said. </p></div>