The country’s largest free festival to celebrate diversity and inclusion for those facing challenges due to various disabilities has postponed its annual event. The Boating & Beach Bash for People with Disabilities, which was slated for Feb. 20 at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton, has been pushed to 2023 due to the surge in
Read MoreOver the past six years that Lifestyle has produced a special winter issue honoring the area’s philanthropists, it’s the impetus behind the giving that often stays with us. In 2018, William Kennedy, founder of the Kennedy Legal Team in Coral Springs, shared that there were times in his youth when the house in which he
Read MoreThe wife of Cecil Milton—CEO of United Property Management, the firm launched in 1976 by his late father, José, that oversees some 9,000 residential units—may lead a life with its share of blessings, but rarely does a day go by where she isn’t actively paying it forward. Indeed, the quest to better people’s lives is
Read MoreThe United Way of Miami had organized a bus tour of the city for a group of philanthropists who had donated $10,000 or more to the organization. Though it was a sightseeing trip of sorts, Ana ViegaMilton still couldn’t believe her eyes. “They showed us how I-95, instead of going straight, was designed to curve
Read MoreMonica McAfee Chief Marketing/Innovation Officer, John Knox Village Backstory: Giving back was baked into McAfee’s core being at an early age. Her parents always had a place at their table, and spare resources, for those who needed an act of kindness. It’s how she raised her own children. “It’s never about I or me,” she
Read MoreRaquel Case Director of community relations and business development, Rick Case Automotive Group Backstory: Rick and Rita Case never pressed their children, Ryan and Raquel, to join the family automotive business. Then again, they didn’t have to. Raquel recalls being intrigued as a child by the nightly conversation around the dinner table, the talk of
Read MoreGregory Fried President, Gregory’s Fine Jewelry Backstory: Though he’s been in the jewelry industry since 1991, the native of New Jersey didn’t strike out on his own until purchasing the Delray Beach-based store in 2005 (from the prior owners; Fried was manager there at the time) that now bears his name. However, it was a vacation
Read More1) Thanks, Texas: What started in Austin as an insatiable thirst for knowledge about a Japanese tradition that few would associate with the cattle-crazed Lone Star State is now the culinary equivalent of the student becoming the sushi master. By the time Tyson Cole opened Uchi in 2003 out of a renovated home in south
Read MoreMarla Garchik Founder, Peace Love Solve Backstory: Son Jack was a mid-life blessing for Marla and Steve Garchik; Marla was 42 when he was born; Steve was 50. But at an early age, Jack was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified, a condition that’s on the autism spectrum. Around that time, Marla was chairing
Read MoreVictor George Spirits, the Fort Lauderdale-based business behind VG Vodka, moved closer toward its goal of becoming “the largest Black-owned spirits company in the world by 2025” by purchasing a majority stake in Palm Beach Distillery. Launched by Summer Piep in 2017, Palm Beach Distillery has the distinction of being the first female-operated distillery in
Read MoreMike Linder Owner/CEO, Silver Lining Inflight Catering Owner, Jet Runway Café and Yot Bar & Kitchen Backstory: The Florida State graduate was working at Bennigan’s in Tallahassee when the unthinkable happened on Christmas Day 2000. An infection that spread to his heart—with nary a symptom—created an embolism and life-threatening inflammation of his heart’s inner lining
Read MoreCindy Friezo Founder, Cindy & Robert Friezo Foundation Chief People Officer, Verity Partners Backstory: The native of the Dominican Republic moved with her family in 1992 to a challenged neighborhood on the outskirts of Boston. She soon found her benevolent voice as part of a youth council comprised primarily of high school students that advocated
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