Palm Beach Perspective

Talked with Owen O'Neill, Matt Lincoln and Messiah Boisson from Clinics Can Help. Clinics Can Help is "a nonprofit agency based in Palm Beach County, Florida that collects used durable medical equipment so that it can be distributed to those who need it most. We are proud to be Florida’s largest not-for-profit organization that recycles and re-uses medical equipment." They work with local agencies and volunteers to provide greatly needed medical equipment including cribs for babies so they have safe space to sleep. They have a Cribs for Kids Luncheon, Friday November 10th at Sailfish Club Palm Beach. And they are adding another fundraising event called Clays for Kids at Quail Creek Sporting Ranch, February 23, 2024. Matt is the chair for this year's golf tournament. It's their 10th Annual Golf Tournament and one of their big fundraisers benefiting the Kinder Project. The registration is on their website www.clinicscanhelp.org. While there, listeners can make donations either financial or equipment, become a volunteer, sponsor an event and find out how to get help. Their 10th Annual Golf Classic will be on Friday, October 27 at The Wanderers Club in Wellington, FL 33409 and is sponsored by: Gil Martinez Agency ~ State Farm plus many more that are on the website. There are still sponsorship opportunities available. For more info, listeners can call 561-640-2995.

Talked with Colleen Smith, Founding Artistic and Executive Director of Ballet Palm Beach and Elizabeth Dashiell, PalmBeachPR about their 2023-2024 season. They are currently in rehearsals for their upcoming show at the Kravis Block Party on October 14th. It's free and open to everyone. They'll be performing Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet as well as Peter Pan & Tinkerbell this season at the Kravis Center. Listeners can get tickets at balletpalmbeach.org or kravis.org. Ballet Palm Beach is the only professional ballet company in Palm Beach County and offers a variety of programs including, "Ballet in the Balcony", "Ballet by the Book" as well as "Ballet Ambassadors". Listeners can find out more about the academy, programs, performances, buy tickets, make donations at. www.balletpalmbeach.org.

Talked with Michelle O'Boyle, Founder, Kid's Cancer Foundation. "Kids Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity founded in 2001, whose mission is to provide hope and support to local children and families battling childhood cancer. We accomplish this by providing compassionate, easily accessible supportive care services." September is kid's cancer awareness month. They offer a wide variety of services/programs including: Pedicatric Oncology Patient Care Navigator, Child Enrichment, Education Advocacy, Counseling & Bereavement, and Community Outreach & Events. Two of their events are coming up in October: 16th Annual Kids Cancer Foundation Golf Tournament on October 6th at Banyan Golf Club and Kids Cancer Foundation's 5k Walk/Run on October 28th at Common's Park in Royal Palm Beach. Listeners can sign up for the events, become a volunteer/sponsor by going to www.kidscancersf.org.

Talked with Vanessa Moss, Dir of Communications, Palm Health Foundation. Palm Health Foundation's vision is to provide all Palm Beach County residents the opportuites to reach their full health potential by inspiring and funding solutions for better health in the county via community collaboration. They are working on a brain health initiative to advance brain health in PBC. Towards that goal they designate October as "Train the Brain Month" and this year have 3 free events promoting the Neuroarts. They are: The Art of Learning A Cross-Curricular Art Show and Symposium Thursday, October 19th 5:30p-7:30pm at A.D. Henderson University School 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton; The Power of Public Art: A Lunch and Learn on Tuesday October 24th 11a-1pm at Boynton Beach Arts and Cultural Center 125 E Ocean Ave Boynton Beach; The Science of Singing Thursday October 26th 5:30p-7:30p at Cox Science Center and Aquarium 4801 Dreher Trail N. West Palm Beach. Listeners can register online at www.palmhealthfoundation.org and get more info about volunteers opportunities as well.

Talked with Phala, Oscar and Charlotte from the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. They have a great 2023-2024 season lined up. Kravis on Broadway includes Chicago, Mean Girls, Beetlejuice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Six, and Hamilton is returning for a two week run. They also have the fun crowd pleaser, Mamma Mia in the Summer of 2024. There will be celebrity shows such as Candace Bushnell author of Sex and the City, Mandy Patinkin, and Chazz Palminteri with his one man show, A Bronx Tale. For the dance lovers, they have Ballet Hispanico, Hideaway Circus: Beyond Babel, MOMIX/Alice, Step Africa, Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Lots of comedy this season including Fortune Feimster on New Years Eve. They've updated the classical series into evenings and matinees and are featuring the debut of Vienna Philharmonic and patrons can enjoy the return of Itzhak Perlan with "In The Fiddler's House" Klezmer band. Music from The Commodores kicks off the season. The Kravis a great family fare line up including sensory friendly shows. Listeners can get more info/tix at www.kravis.org

Talked with Gabby Barbarite McHenry, Ph.D., Director of Outreach & Engagement, Florida Atlantic University, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. "FAU Harbor Branch prioritizes solution-oriented research that addresses critical issues affecting coastal zone, oceans, and human well-being." As part of their outreach, they've created a boat tour on a floating lab, Discovery. On this educational tour listeners can learn about the Indian River Lagoon and it's importance in the ecosystem. The lagoon reaches 156 miles along Florida's east coast and has more that 4,000 plant and animals species (50 are threatended or endangered). It's offered 10:30am on Fridays and Saturdays and again at 1pm on Saturday. To book a boat tour, listeners can go to www.fau.edu/hboi/bookatour or by calling 772-242-2293. They also have a campus tour, volunteer opportunities, upcoming events at IRL Science Festival in November, Ocean Science lecture series, Marine Science Friday lecture series, speakers bureau, ocean science art contest, citizen science projects - one includes dolphin spotting. For more info, listeners can go to fau.edu.

Talked with Megan Harris, Interpretation & Stewardship Coordinator, Oxbow Eco Center. Oxbow Eco center is "both a nature preserve and an environmental learning center in Port St. Lucie, Florida, situated on 225-acres along the North Fork of the St Lucie River. It is the Environmental Education and Community Outreach Division of St. Lucie County’s Environmental Resources Department. Their mission is to cultivates knowledge, nurtures a sense of wonder and inspires stewardship for the natural world through education, artistic expression, collaboration, volunteerism & celebration." They have a lot of cool programs to engage all ages. The Little Acorns Toddler program is starting in September. It's designed to foster developmental skills, contribute to cognitive, emotional and physical development and enhance critical thinking and creativity. Listeners can pre-register by call 772-785-5833 or email oxbow@stluciecolorg. Oxbow has added a new backpack program that contains items a family can use to check out one of the trails/preserves, such as binoculars, birding guide. They can pick it up at the center in the morning and need to return it by 4pm. They can also find lists of other programs, sign up to be a volunteer, or make a donation by going to www.oxbowecocenter.com.

Talked with Charlie Birnbaum, Film Director, Stonzek Theatre Manager, LDub Film Festival and Elizabeth Dashiell, Swede Fest Palm Beach. Swede Fest Palm Beach is premiering opening night of this year's LDub Film Festival on September 22nd at the Lake Worth Playhouse. Then the LDub Film Festival continues September 23rdn and 24th at the Stonzek Theatre. Listeners can create their own Swede. A "swede" is a 3 minute "no-budget, laughably bad remake of a hit Hollywood film." A term that comes from the 2008 comedy, "Be Kind Rewind". It's the 9th annual Swede Fest Palm Beach and listeners can reach out to [email protected] to find out if the movie they want to spoof is available. So far, CLUE, TITANIC, SCREAM, LITTLE MERMAID, STEP BROTHERS, MONTY PYTHON DEAD PARROT, AND GHOSTBUSTERS HAVE BEEN CLAIMED. Anyone with any type of camera may submit a swede for free. All films must be under three minutes and PG-13, even if the “source material” is not. This means finding creative ways to get around any violence, objectionable language, and nudity. Open call begins now; the deadline is Sept.1. All films must be submitted to [email protected] via Dropbox or similar digital transfer platforms. For those interested in sweding a film, email [email protected] and call dibs on the film title first. Examples can be found at vimeo.com/swedefestpalmbeach. The ninth annual swede fest palm beach takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22 at the Lake Worth Playhouse, at 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach. Info: swedefestpalmbeach.com. It's the 11th annual LDub Film Festival and they air a wide variety of films. "The LDUB Festival seeks exciting new features and shorts, narratives and documentaries, music videos, animations and experimental works to delight our audiences. While the festival has no geographic restrictions we encourage works from S. Florida filmmakers and invite accepted filmmakers to attend the festival and meet other artists and the audiences. Submissions will be judged by a panel of critics and filmmakers as well as our audiences." Listeners can find out more at Lakeworthplayhouse.org/ldubfilmfestival and submit films at filmfreeway.com/ldubfilmfestival.

Talked with Benji Studt, Public Outreach Program Supervisor, Dept of Environmental Resources Managemnt (ERM) Palm Beach County. "Benji Studt is a scientist, conservation photographer, nature communicator, and explorer. For the last 7 years, Benji has led ERM’s public outreach team with the goal of inspiring real connections between the residents and visitors of the Palm Beaches, and the incredible public lands system that makes this area so special." PBC has 34 Natural Areas, 28 with public use facilities-listeners can find them at pbcnaturalareas.com. There are mutli-use trails, 4 main trails connect over 160,000 acres of public land and can be found at jeagawildways.com. PBC ERM on a 7th and 10th grade science curriculum in partnership with Discover the Palm Beaches - listeners can check it out at www.hiddenwildfilm.com. With this Summer being so hot, early morning and evening outings are the best times to enjoy paddling at some of the natural areas... Loxahatchee Slough, Pine Glades, Winding Waters, Snook Islands, South Cove, Peanut Island, Munyon Island, MacArthur Beach, Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, Sawfish, Fullteron Island, and Wild & Scenic Loxahatchee River (lots of these have kayak/canoe rental facilities). Activities that may be good for folks with mobility issues: Frenchman's Forest and Delray Oaks. For families with young children two natural areas are great, Pondhawk (which includes "Storywalk") and N Jupiter Flatwoods (certified Autism friendly). The next event is August 19th - Night for the Natural Areas at Twisted Trunk Brewing in Palm Beach Gardens. $25/person venmo/cash. Listeners can sign up to participate in programs, become volunteers and get info at www.pbcerm.com.

Talked with Shawn Berry and Holly Stewart from Young Singers of the Palm Beaches. Their mission is to "transform the lives of young singers in our community by:
breaking down social barriers, developing life skills, providing an outlet for creativity, and fostering good citizenship." Young Singers of the Palm Beaches (YSPB) is "Palm Beach County's award-winning community-based children's choir. They teach life skills through music by giving children an atmosphere of artistic excellence in which they develop teamwork and leadership skills, form supportive friendships, and serve as ambassadors in their community." The singers range from 2nd grade to Seniors in Highschool. The performance choirs rehearse and perform at the Kravis Center. They also have a Choir in the Glades elementary and middle school choirs and yspb produces after-school choirs at Title 1 elementary schools with funding from Prime Time Palm Beach County, Inc., which receives funding from Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County. YSPB offers summer camp, south county choir and music lessons (a PrimeTime resource). YSPB does two big performances at the Kravis Center, Winter Tapestry and Spring Concert. Students will be working with opera and older students taking a trip to perform in Carnegie Hall in 2024. They are always looking for volunteers and donations. Students who are interested need to audition and can sign up at www.yspb.org