FLITE Center (Florida Independence, Training & Education Center), a nonprofit organization dedicated to guiding vulnerable youth and those transitioning out of foster care towards independence through housing, education, employment, and comprehensive care coordination, will host its eighth annual Heroes Luncheon on Friday, April 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Local 10\u2019s Eric Yutzy returns to emcee the special event at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort (321 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale).<\/p>\n
FLITE Center\u2019s Heroes Luncheon is a tribute to the organization\u2019s partners, funders, and frontline staff who support and dedicate their lives to impacting youth in South Florida\u2019s Transitional Independent Living (TIL) System of Care.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s honorees and their respective award categories are: <\/p>\n
\u2022\tAlbert & Beatriz Miniaci Lifetime Hero Award – Cara Malave (posthumous)<\/p>\n
\u2022\tCara Malave Legacy Award – Christine Frederick<\/p>\n
\u2022\tGore Foundation YouMatter Award \u2013 Ladies Fish Off<\/p>\n
\u2022\tMemorial Healthcare System Collaborators of the Year – Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/p>\n
\u2022\tChildren’s Services Council TIL System of Care Hero Award – Mark & Tiffani Dhooge<\/p>\n
\u2022\tUKG Ultimate Acts of Kindness – Joel Smith<\/p>\n
\u2022\tRipple Effect Award – Mavericks Host Committee: Dan & Susan Ahearn, Premier Aircraft, Stefanie Title, and Dr. Heidi Schaeffer<\/p>\n
\u2022\t2026 TIL System of Care Unsung Heroes:<\/p>\n
o\tShayan Dunkley \u2013 Camelot Community Care<\/p>\n
o\tSarah Demetrius \u2013 Gulf Coast JFCS<\/p>\n
o\tAsia McMillon \u2013 HANDY Inc.<\/p>\n
o\tRachel Vital \u2013 Henderson Behavioral Health<\/p>\n
o\tKayla Shoats \u2013 Memorial Healthcare Systems<\/p>\n
o\tJasmine Bethell \u2013 PACE Center for Girls<\/p>\n
o\tLaQuasha Montgomery \u2013 Children’s Harbor<\/p>\n
o\tChristina St. Juste \u2013 4Kids of South Florida<\/p>\n
o\tAnthony Harris, Jr. – ChildNet<\/p>\n
o\tStaci-Ann Lewin \u2013 SOS Children\u2019s Village<\/p>\n
o\tChloe Campbell \u2013 South Florida Wellness Network<\/p>\n
o\tDavid Alan Waldrep \u2013 FLITE Center<\/p>\n
o\tAngel Torry \u2013 FLITE Center<\/p>\n
FLITE Center is where all transitioning youth and young adults who have faced trauma come seeking ways to become successful adults within a safe, nurturing environment. <\/p>\n
FLITE Center is Broward County\u2019s one stop resource center, reducing barriers by offering all supportive services within one location. FLITE Center offers comprehensive and seamless service delivery for youth and young adults ages 10 to 23 involved in the child welfare system, including youth with special and behavioral needs, youth from the LGBTQ community, survivors of human trafficking, youth from the Department of Juvenile Justice, youth who have no high school diploma, those who are unemployed, homeless, or facing any other unfortunate circumstance.<\/p>\n
FLITE Center\u2019s Heroes Luncheon is sponsored by The Vegso Family Foundation, Memorial Healthcare System, UKG, Jennifer Whittington, Lesser Landy Smith & Siegel PLLC.<\/p>\n
Tickets are $150 per person ($100 for government agency employees) and are available for purchase online at flitecenter.org\/heroes-luncheon.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact Jenna Feliciano at (954) 995-7021 or jenna@flitecenter.org or Maria Vo at (954) 540 7825 or maria@flitecenter.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLITE Center (Florida Independence, Training & Education Center), a nonprofit organization dedicated to guiding vulnerable youth and those…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250,54815],"class_list":["post-234779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-workshop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}