Michelle Kaplan

Surfing become healing, growth for these children

For Michelle and RJ Subrani, of Royal Palm Beach, living life with a child who has Asperger’s is not always a walk in the park, but since discovering a special program, they’ve found it can sometimes be a day at the beach. Surfers for Autism teaches children who have autistic disorders how to surf. Parents [...]

Annual food and wine festival on tap Friday

Some of the best culinary creations in town will be served this Friday in a competition to see which local vendor has the most pallet-pleasing recipe as part of the 10th annual FLAVORS of Wellington Food and Wine Festival. Winners will be selected from four categories: best taste, best plate presentation, best dessert and best [...]

FAU students spend break helping Martin Habitat

While some college kids were soaking up the sun in Cancun over spring break, a group of students from Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus were pounding nails, laying sod and tearing down concrete walls to provide a needy family with a safe, affordable home by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. The volunteer effort is [...]

Palm Beach Gardens High spreads word about Hands-Only CPR

Palm Beach Gardens High School students learned first hand about Hands-Only CPR when more than 380 students were trained in the lifesaving method in early January. The school’s Pre-Medical Magnet Program and the American Heart Association have teamed up to raise awareness about Hands-Only CPR in an effort to train students in the procedure prior [...]

March 15 is deadline to apply to charter school

The deadline for students to apply to the western communities’ newest charter school is nearing. Renaissance Charter School at Palms West, in the former Albertsons at Southern and Crestwood boulevards, is slated to open this fall, and open enrollment ends March 15. Colleen Reynolds, spokesperson for Charter Schools USA, which runs the Renaissance charters, said [...]

Palm Beach Gardens woman stays active, sharp on the pickleball court

Betty White has nothing on Sally Wilks. As White is known for her spunk and boundless energy, Wilks could show her a thing or two. While most 86-year-old women can be found up at their clubhouses playing bridge, you’ll more likely find Wilks running around on the pickleball court at the North Palm Beach Community [...]

Bonding experiment unveiled woman’s passion for street painting

Chalk it all up to dumb luck, but when Jennifer Chaparro and her daughter Mercedes were enjoying the annual Street Painting Festival in Lake Worth, she had no idea that she would stumble across an art form that would bring her and her daughter closer together and eventually take her around the world. “We were [...]

Center for abused women gets Avon grant

The Florida Resource Center for Women & Children Inc., has once again received a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women, to help it continue to provide services to victims of domestic violence and abuse in Palm Beach County. The FRCWC provides food, rental, utility, legal and health care assistance to victims and their families, [...]

Coach goes extra mile for baseball player

It’s often said that baseball is a lot like life. For 8-year-old Patrick Cerasuolo and his Wellington little league team the Yankees, they learned that when life throws you a curve ball, you’ve got to come out swinging. Patrick, a die-hard Yankee’s fan impressed his coach, Scott Lefante, right out of the gate. “Patrick was [...]

Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Wellington wants dogs to have home for the holidays

  The holiday season is all about giving. Opening up our homes to our family and friends. This year, the Big Dog Ranch Rescue is hoping that people will think about taking that one step further. The Ranch, a no-kill, 28-acre shelter in Wellington, is looking for volunteers to participate in their Home for the [...]

Premature Hoiday Elation

The holidays are fast approaching. The signs are all around us; one has only to look for them. Well, not really, they’re being shoved down our throats. Take the media, for instance, which insists on letting everyone know just how many days are left with the “Countdown to Christmas” – but as a non-partisan person [...]

Man with cerebral palsy driven by his passion for music

Some may say that Korey Soderman dances to a different beat. The 23 year-old music fanatic who was born with cerebral palsy has always been restricted to a wheelchair, but that has never stopped him from rock’n and roll’n. Through rounds of therapy and difficult surgeries, Soderman has always had his music. He is unable [...]

The Hanley Center – The Art of Healing

Sewing circle teaches skills for life

Sometimes all it takes is one good idea to change lives. Mary Pat Donaldson, a volunteer at El Sol in Jupiter, had one. Donaldson a volunteer at El Sol, Jupiter’s Community Resource Center, a place that helps mainly Mayan immigrants from Guatemala and Southern Mexico with language and literary skills, job training and connecting people [...]

Cooking class teaches kids about healthy options

  Chef Beverly Romear-Doukwah is at war. Armed only with a spatula, she takes her battle to the kitchen commanding an army of kids in the fight against childhood obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention childhood obesity had more than tripled in the past 30 years. Romear-Doukwah and her allies, Molina [...]