Norka
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
As a new mom, I've been using Facebook for mom meetups and stuff. I think COVID has torn apart a lot of our community and a lot of the love and affection that Miami shows. For the baby's sake, I want her to grow up in a world where she has strong connections with people.
Matt
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
American Immigration Justice - AIJ reform. Also, our kids go to St. Stephens and we do a lot of things through their Helping Hands Group. And we've remained politically active, finding and supporting candidates who are of like mind and spirit and helping them navigate through what's going on right now.
Prashant
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
The Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a huge deal for me, both personally and professionally. They do a lot of good work for the community. There's a lot of income disparity in this country and the world and a lot of patients who have blindness or visual impairment don't have a ton of resources.
Jose
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
My wife does a lot with Jewish causes, helping older people, delivering medicine and food items, and a lot of her time to our temple, Temple Beth Am. For me, there's a local charity called Sebastian Strong. The mission of the charity is to try to find alternative and more cures for childhood cancer. Traditional methods, which are really invasive, make your hair fall out and wreak havoc on young children's bodies.
Maria
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
It's not local, but my sister runs a beautiful nonprofit in Venezuela. She's an architect and her thesis at MIT was about making public spaces better, especially for kids. She goes to low-income communities and works with the kids to choose a public place to make better. She has received awards from the UN her organization is called Tracing Public Spaces.
Stephan
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
I’ve loved playing at the Feast with the Beast event at the Miami Zoo. It is a fantastic event – it happens at night, after the zoo is closed. It’s a multi ethnic stroll with all kinds of entertainment and food from the cultures you find here in Miami.
Stuart And Shari
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
Beth Am is our number one community and where we dedicate ourselves. Shari oversees the Beth Am day school as well as the day school auction every year. Each year they raise enough to fund scholarships so that every kid can go to Jewish day school. She is also in charge of their summer camp. On a personal level, the one organization that we do a lot of work with is called the Victor Center – which raises money for the prevention of Jewish genetic diseases. Shari speaks all over town about getting tested to see if you have the gene. Technically, if two people with the same genetic mutation have a child, there is a 25% chance the child will be born with a potentially fatal disease. Sadly, insurance companies won’t pay for the expensive genetic tests, however they must pay for a child born with complications. The Victor Center raises money to cover the cost of tests to help parents know if they are a carrier of a genetic disease.
Saul
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
Coming up, the Learning Experience, which is a school dedicated to children with special needs like severe autism or intellectual difficulties, is having a fashion show to raise awareness and money. Students from the school get a chance to walk the runaway and they love it. I think is a really nice event.
Muriel
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
Chantelle Sookram, who works for Urban Oasis Project, cofounded Love and Vegetables, a vegan pop-up dinner series hosted at the Earth ‘n Us Farm. We're going to be doing one of the dinners. She uses all ingredients from the farm. About 30 tickets get sold and everyone has dinner, family style, together.
Alex
Are there any community events or groups that are important to you and your family?
I'm not too big into politics, but I'm thinking about all those Texas kids in the shooting and thinking about what can be done. It was just disgusting what happened. I have a young nephew and thinking about a kid going to school and thinking about him getting shot at or anything doesn't sit well with me.