Palm Beach County Perspective

Episode 80 spotlights the therapeutic use of horses in addressing the mental health issues of many of our children.  Horses Healing Hearts was founded in 2009 by Lizabeth Olszewski. As a child of alcoholic parents, Liz was eventually taken in and raised by a loving aunt who changed her life forever. Her unique story of a horse, mentorship and healthy emotional support became the inspiration for th...

Episode 79 is my opportunity to have my friend and fellow podcast personality, Paige Kornblue, join me. Our love for our community is quite evident from our activities throughout Palm Beach County. Paige, a Boca Raton native,  is an award-winning journalist who enjoys telling the stories and showcasing the brands that make a difference. After nearly two decades anchoring and reporting for top-rate...

Episode 78 ad dresses how our community is ensuring our veterans receive the respect and, where necessary, services they need. Too often, our veterans only receive our attention on Veterans' Day, Memorial Day or another day set aside to recognize their service to our country. However, the issues confronted by many of our returning veterans require more than a few days of recognition. One of my pri...

Episode 77 highlights the hamburger! Our first guest, Chef George Patti, began his love affair with food at the age of 14 when he prepared and smoked meats at his father's New Rochelle NY deli. He went on to attend Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts Institute in Rhode Island. His path to become a successful chef and business owner eventually led him to the Florida Keys, where he established MEAT Eatery...

Episode 76 begins with an overview of the services offered by the 211 Helpline. Our guest, Candi Spitz, is Director of Development and Community Relations at the 211 Helpline for Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast. They also double as the Suicide Hotline for residents in crisis who can reach out to caring professionals by dialing 211 or the new National Suicide Hotline by dialing 988. In addition t...

Episode 75 is an opportunity to see how nonprofit agencies can learn to work together, ignoring the initial fear of seeing their donor base supplanted by "competing" missions. My guest, today, is Lindy Harvey, executive Director of the Spirit of Giving Network. Regular listeners of my podcast know we have highlighted the exceptional work done by many of the non profit agencies operating in South F...

Episode 74 is my opportunity to discuss "Jewish memorabilia'' with Neil Keller. Long before Neil made his home here in South Florida, he became an avid collector of trading cards, autographs and other memorabilia of famous Jewish people. Over the past 37 years he has collected over 22,000 items which he claims makes it among the largest in the world. He has been a featured speaker at the Baseball...

Episode 73   is a bit of a departure from many of our conversations over the past two years. Chuck Forbes is our guest. He is Director of Brand Strategy at More Visibility. Back in 2000, my wife, Pamela, and I opened a durable medical supply company. Our primary market was mail order. We quickly realized there was a whole other world of online commerce available to us. We built a website and waite...

Episode 72   is your opportunity to hear about the services offered to our South Florida community by JAFCO. As we learn from Janet Epstein, Philanthropy Director at JAFCO, the original mission of this organization, established 31 years ago, was to act as a family preservation agency - offering hope and services to children in need of foster care and adoption services. From there an emergency shel...

Episode 71 is an opportunity to focus on an issue of great importance to me - literacy! "Learning to Read" occurs during the early years of a child's education – typically kindergarten through 3rd grade – and consists primarily of decoding and memorizing basic words. The focus is phonemic awareness and phonics. Children learn letters make sounds, and how to mesh those sounds together so d-o-g beco...

Episode 70 is  my opportunity to have another conversation with Rabbi Ruvi New. As regular listeners of our podcast know, conversations with the Rabbi have offered thoughtful perspectives on how religion can impact our lives. Today, Rabbi New and I began a discussion on Life, Death and the Rest in Peace. In our 30 minute conversation, we only scratched the surface on Jewish values and ritual as we...

Episode 69 is my opportunity to have a conversation about nothing in particular (sounds a lot like the premise behind Seinfeld, doesn't it ... "a show about nothing", often focusing on the minutiae of daily life). My guest today is Carlos  Romero . We are neighbors, friends and members of many of the same organizations. Today we're just going to have a conversation about what comes to mind and you...

Episode 68 is my opportunity to talk about ways to teach people not to hate thy neighbor. Jennifer Romanoff and I met last year as she was facilitating the "Hate Ends Now" tour which brought a freight car with a message to various venues in South Florida. The tour brought a World War II-era cattle car replica to our community. providing a 360-degree multimedia exhibit teaching about the method of...

Episode 67   is my opportunity to visit with Shana Ostrovitz, Shana is the Executive Director of a private members-only club called "1909." The club is a group of "community of leaders, entrepreneurs, creatives, and philanthropists who share a passion for excellence, a desire to connect with like-minded individuals, and a commitment to making a positive impact on the world." As Shana explains, the...

Episode 66 is the start of what I am hoping will be a continuing dialogue on religion and how it's embraced by our residents. My guest today is Australian-born Rabbi Ruvi New. Rabbi New and his wife, Ahuva, founded the Boca Beaches Chabad in 1999. He is the publisher and editor of Inside Out Magazine, a national publication dedicated to contemporary Jewish thought and is also currently working on...

Episode 65 circles back to a subject we have addressed before, the scarcity of decent, affordable housing and our need to care for the homeless within our community. As we have discussed, we are blessed to have multiple nonprofit agencies reaching out to the most vulnerable within our community. Be it Boca Helping Hands, Salvation Army, the Homeless Coalition of PBC or the organization we are spot...

Episode 64 introduces us to the Marine Education Initiative. The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface and is home to a diverse range of species that have yet to be fully explored and understood. However, the health of the ocean is in peril due to a range of human activities such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change. It is crucial that we equip the next generation with...

Episode 63   is our opportunity to meet Dr Jaimee Sabato, newly appointed Executive Director of Unicorn Children’s Foundation. Her enthusiasm for the Foundation and its programs shines through and she knows what it means to the participants, families, and community to make their Unicorn Connection Center a rewarding and comfortable place to work, grow, and learn.  Unicorn Children's Foundation, fo...

Episode 62 is an opportunity to spotlight the situation being faced by many children in our community .. caring for a family member while trying to focus on their studies. It's a situation more common than you might think. There are more than 3.4 million caregiving youth nationwide. The American Association of Caregiving Youth was established by Dr Connie Siskowski whose dream is for all family ca...

Episode 61 is an opportunity to spotlight the efforts of our community to act humanely to our pets. Jeri Caprio and Sharon DiPietro are committed to the abandoned pets (both dogs and cats) who are re-homed by the compassionate staff and volunteers at Tri-County Animal Rescue (TCAR). Jeri has established a non-profit to raise funds for this cause, Horses and Hounds Charitable Foundation. Originally...

Episode 60 allows us to focus on the abundant acitivities hanppening right here in Palm Beach County. From the South Florida Fair to spring training at two beautiful stadiums (one in West Palm Beach and the other in Jupiter)  there are abundant activities for the family to enjoy. Our guest this week is Brooke Robinson. She is the CEO at BAR Event Group and she is the founder of the West Boca Famil...

Episode 59 returns to a common theme of our podcasts, giving back. In south Palm Beach County we have not one, not two, but five Rotary Clubs. Each subscribes to the idea of providing "service above self." Each has identified a specific role; they have identified as their mission. Be it support of our educational institutions or mentoring and providing scholarships to our most deserving students,...

Episode 58 offers an opportunity to spotlight the work of an amazing couple, Esmeralda (Essie) and Malachi Knowles. I originally met Malachi while I was a member of the Board of County Commissioners. Malachi serves as a board member of the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The Commission  is a private, not-for-profit organization contracted by Palm Beach County to promote and market the County...

Episode 57 deals with how a community refuses to take cancer lying down! The Pap Corps, Champions for Cancer Research, has grown into one of the largest all-volunteer fundraising organizations in South Florida. With over 50 chapters and 20,000 members, it has dedicated itself to supporting research for all types of cancer at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. My guest on this installment of Pa...

Special Episode: This episode offers a slightly different format. We begin with an interview of a very talented young lady, Montana Tucker who, it turns out, hails from Boca Raton. Montana has an impressive list of artistic accomplishments including a career that began at 8, appearing in national commercials, as a dancer (where she won "World Hip Hop Championships") and several hit singles. She is...