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Ocean Ridge resident Rich Mascolo has been pouring his efforts into volunteer work at the Soup Kitchen of Boynton Beach since his retirement. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The fact that 12% of Palm Beach County residents live below the poverty line probably doesn’t come as a shock to most people. But Ocean Ridge resident Rich Mascolo has a statistic that is more of an eye opener.

“There’s an acronym that’s come about called ALICE households, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, which identifies all the people who have a hard time making ends meet,” said Mascolo. That’s 32% of the population.

“These are people that if the car breaks down, they get a rent increase, the spouse loses their job or they have a big medical emergency, they’re in really tough straits,” he says.

One place they may turn for help is the Soup Kitchen, just off Boynton Beach Boulevard west of Florida’s Turnpike.

Mascolo, 70, a retired marketing and communications expert who in years past has been lauded for his work with the YMCA, has more recently turned some of his philanthropic efforts to the Soup Kitchen. The nonprofit is the No. 1 daily distributor of meals and groceries in Palm Beach County and possibly in all of South Florida, according to Mascolo.

“In the last two years since the pandemic, the Soup Kitchen’s demand has grown 40%, from 1,000 hot meals a day to 1,400,” Mascolo said.

Having only six full-time employees means the operation relies on volunteers, but Mascolo said those six employees “could run a master class in volunteer-driven organizations.”

Unlike other charities that have their “guests,” as the Soup Kitchen calls them, line up in cars and do a drive-through pickup, the organization has people park, enter the building and not only pick up meals but also receive a box filled with supplies such as chicken and vegetables to hold them longer.

“It’s remarkable how it works,” Mascolo said.

Donations come from grocery stores such as Publix and restaurants, but also resorts such as the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. Feeding South Florida, another nonprofit, helps make many of the connections.

Mascolo’s career in marketing has helped the Soup Kitchen get the word out as it embarks on its inaugural fundraising drive.

“They’ve punched so far above their weight class in terms of community impact, so we’re trying to sort of take their seat at the big philanthropic table of Palm Beach County,” he said. “Because they are there, and people need to know they are there.”

Mascolo, who has served on the board of the South County YMCA for the past nine years and the board of the Soup Kitchen for seven months, enjoys playing guitar, going to concerts and taking beach walks with his wife of 16 years, Bebe.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: My wife, Bebe, and I grew up on Long Island. We were high school sweethearts. I was lucky, growing up there was wonderful: near the water, almost idyllic. Then for college, I went to Penn in West Philadelphia, where I quickly saw that other people’s lives — especially in the inner city — were very different from mine. Where my wife and I grew up was pretty insular; I didn’t have a lot of exposure to how the less fortunate lived, what people had and most notably didn’t have. I grew up wanting for very little, and there were people living within a few blocks of this university that had very little. It was a shock to me.
 
Q: What professions have you worked in? What accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I had a double major in marketing and anthropology at Penn, and obviously took the right career path with marketing and communications. I was a senior executive at a global ad agency, Grey, in New York City, that is one of the largest in the world. I then founded a consulting firm that served prominent Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, General Motors, Coca-Cola. The kind of work I was doing was attractive to the big agencies. I was working directly with the people at what you would call the top of the house: CEOs, CFOs. I later sold that firm to a different global ad conglomerate.  

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: One’s first job is likely not a career. But do the best job you can, no matter how mundane, and good things will come your way. And secondly, smarts and background don’t make you a success. Focus and drive do.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
A: Bebe knew people who lived in the area and we had visited many times. So, when we became empty-nesters in 2013, we were happy to move down and make a life in Ocean Ridge. We still spend our summers with family in New York.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
A: It runs along A1A, so of course it’s beautiful. But it’s the neighborliness that stands out most to me. That’s great.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I’m rereading To Kill a Mockingbird. In addition to being a classic, it’s a parable about the need to protect our community’s most vulnerable. That’s become an important theme for me, especially later in life. 
  
Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: To relax, I usually listen to jazz and to be inspired, it’s classical. But as an aging boomer, I’m also a diehard rock ’n’ roll fan. I’ve even been to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. We planned to spend an hour or so there and we were there several hours. It’s fantastic. As for groups, the usual ones like the Allman Brothers, of course the Beatles, and the Who.   

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: It would have to be my parents. It’s a cliché but true. They were teachers. My mom taught K-6 and my dad was a high school teacher, then superintendent of schools. It’s like the movie My Cousin Vinny. My uncle was a teacher (awarded Teacher of the Year by Bill Clinton) and my aunt was a superstar reading teacher who shaped the New York state curriculum. They wanted to help everyone. I was the black sheep that went into advertising. 

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Matt Damon. Not the megawatt action hero in The Bourne Identity but the introspective, problem-solving Matt Damon from The Martian. 

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: I love the New Yorker magazine cartoons, but I’m a total sucker for silly humor, especially if it’s a little edgy. The TV show Modern Family was one of my faves.