Community and Philanthropy

From the outside, everything at 10812 Buttonwood Lake Drive in the gated Hidden Lakes community in Boca Raton appeared normal. The three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot, two-story house was well-maintained, the lawn was mowed, the hedges trimmed. The tenants, Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 46, and his wife, Sophia Manuel, 41, were a friendly couple who owned a successful staffing

Photos courtesy of Honor Flight South Florida The singing started about 5:30 a.m., just as the chartered Spirit Airlines Flight 1941 taxied down the runway at Fort Lauderdale International Airport. The impromptu rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” began softly, with a few warbled baritone voices rising from the back of the plane. Slowly, more and

Pictured above: Creek celebrated 30 years as a Tree City USA in 2018; Vollmer is pictured far left, holding a special award from the foundation With its standing as home to Butterfly World, events like the Butterfly Festival, and a butterfly garden at City Hall, most people can see why Coconut Creek is known as the Butterfly

Photo by Eileen Saavedra   Chickens. It was thousands of chickens that started Coconut Creek resident Brook Katz on his crusade of rescuing animals. Before moving to South Florida in 2006 to care for his aging parents, Katz lived for 10 years in Maui, Hawaii. There, he noticed huge metal sheds on a site where

Though youth remain at the heart of the formidable work being done throughout the state by Children’s Home Society of Florida, it’s the family core that’s driving the esteemed nonprofit organization’s bigger intentions. Since its inception more than a century ago in Jacksonville, CHS has been one of Florida’s most prominent and persistent voices when

Pictured above: Festival founder Kate Reed, host chef Angelo Elia, and festival vice president Phillip Marro   Bringing in celebrity chefs from Los Angeles and New York to draw crowds is a recipe that works for other food festivals. But as the framework for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival began to take shape,

When Samantha Novick remembers Jaime Guttenberg, she thinks of the way she interacted with others during programs run by The Friendship Journey, an organization that promotes fostering relationships with individuals with special needs and developing a more thoughtful understanding of that community. Jaime’s friends, Novick says, couldn’t wait to see her every week. “She had

For years, Coconut Creek staff has looked for a way to share current and upcoming projects with residents. They experimented with tables and online portals, but, says Sustainable Development Director Sheila Rose, they were never user-friendly. Recently, the city introduced a solution: a web application from ESRI, a digital mapping company whose software is used

Runners who live in Coconut Creek recognize North Creek Presbyterian Church as the site of the annual North Creek Explorer 5K (pictured above), a race that benefits the Coconut Creek Police Department Explorers. But the church, which has been a Creek staple for more than 20 years, also reaches out to the community through other

Just west of Wynwood, near Miami International Airport, one of Florida’s tallest murals stretches more than 13 stories high. Artist Rey Jaffet spent nearly four months hand-painting the piece—splashed in vibrant red, purple and yellow hues and titled “We Are One”—onto the eastern façade of Pinnacle Heights, an affordable housing community created by Pinnacle Housing

It’s Wednesday morning at Liberty Elementary School on the Margate-Coconut Creek border, and fifth-grade teacher Keri Carrow is reviewing a science lesson with her students. Next to one fifth-grader is someone you usually wouldn’t see in a fifth-grade class: Stephanie Vargas, a senior from Monarch High School. While the class takes the science test on

The Margate-Coconut Creek Kiwanis Club has raised money and hosted events for children in the community for 45 years, and its president and soon-to-be lieutenant governor, John Francis, has memories for more than a quarter of them. Though Francis has plenty of memories of helping children during his 16 years with the Kiwanis Club, there