Page 8 - Boca Exposure - June '22

Page 8, Boca Exposure
Boca Teen Twins Collect 7,600 Pounds Of Cereal

For Boca Helping Hands

Boca Helping Hands (BHH) has received more than was started by 14-year-old twin
7,600 pounds of cereal this year, from collection drives brothers Jett and Luke Justin,
organized by Cereal4All, a nonprofit organization that Boca Raton residents who
attend Don Estridge Middle
School. This donation means
that Boca Helping Hands will
be able to provide clients with
about 72,000 bowls of cereal.
The annual drive launched
on March 7 to celebrate National
Cereal Day and concluded
in May. A record number of
18 schools and organizations
participated this year, including
Calusa Elementary School, J.
C. Mitchell Elementary School,
Florida Atlantic University’s
Community Service Club,
Morikami Park Elementary Morikami Elementary
School, St. Joan of Arc Catholic
School, Plastridge Insurance,
West Boca High School, and
FAU Community Service Club Whispering Pines Elementary
School.
Breakfast food is one of
the least donated items to
food banks across the country.
Unfortunately, that means not
all families have daily access
to breakfast in their homes.
Like most kids, Jett and Luke
consider cereal to be one of
their favorite foods.
“We want to live in a world
where every kid and family has
daily access to breakfast food
in their home,” Luke Justin
said. “We want to be part of the Coral Sunset Elementary
fight against food insecurity.”
St. Joan of Arc School Having volunteered at Boca Helping Hands with their “Cereal is about breakfast, but it’s also about
parents, Jett and Luke organized their first cereal drive happiness,” Jett Justin said. “We couldn’t stop thinking
for BHH in 2016 at Calusa Elementary School when they about the families in our community who couldn’t fill
were just 8 years old. The brothers have since expanded their bowls, and we wanted to do something about it.”
the program, now called Cereal4All, to more schools in
the area, including Florida Atlantic University. Boca Teen Twins Collect on page 9

Fuller Center Expands Its Services

To Include Job Training, Health

Care, And Literacy Education

The Fuller Center – founded
over 50 years ago – has been
primarily known as a childcare
center, but it is so much more. In
addition to quality early childhood
education and after-school/out-
of-school programming, they
now offer mentoring and on-
the-job training for parents and
adults. Their Family Support
Teams provide an array of wrap-
around services including case
management; crisis intervention;
Dr. Lebrun Nestor Dr. Siperstein-Paul
Cornell University Yale University developmental, cognitive, health,
and behavioral assessments and Kids at Fuller Center
Dr. Mackay-Wiggan Dr. Micciantuono-Meran
Columbia University On-site Mohs Surgeon early interventions; empowering
family-centered workshops; ESOL classes; access Additional services provided by the Fuller
Dr. Lipman Dr. Gold
NYU Medical Center Albert Einstein Med Ctr to affordable housing and transportation; and other Center include a partnership with local colleges and
resources to keep families safe, stable, and healthy. universities in which students of medicine and nursing
Dr. Waintraub
Dr. Mathew
Dr. Mathew Dr. Waintraub
Duke University Cornell University The Fuller Center employs a multidisciplinary train at the center by working with local children.
model that uniquely positions them to achieve better “We have truly evolved into an impact center
Dr. Anna Kurayev Dr. Anu Parameswaran
Tufts Medical Center NYU Medical Center outcomes for their children and families and strengthen and a cornerstone of the community,” said Okrent.
the community they serve. “Our mission is to support hardworking families, and
“Keeping essential workers’ children healthy and quality childcare is just one aspect. Strong, healthy,
educated ultimately prevents so many of society’s ills, and stable families result in strong, healthy, and safe
such as poverty, child abuse, teen pregnancy, substance communities.”
abuse, domestic violence, crime, and chronic disease, The Fuller Center’s programs help children realize
which all cost us much more in the long run,” said their full potential, empowering them to start school
Ellyn Okrent, CEO of Fuller Center. prepared, succeed academically, and to break the
Fuller Center also offers a teen leadership and generational cycle of poverty.
mentoring program, and recently opened a new private For more information contact us at info@
Choice Program elementary school on its West campus. fullercenterfl.org.