LEAH Names Yvonne S. Boice As Its 2008 Bridge Builder of the Year

For more information about LEAH and the Bridge Builder Award please contact:
Jon Kaye, Kaye Communications, Inc., jkaye@kcompr.com,
561-392-5166 (office); 561-756-3097

For more information about Yvonne S. Boice, please contact:
Kay Renz, Kayrenzpr@aol.com; 561-654-8151

The Board of Directors of LEAH announced that entrepreneur and philanthropist Yvonne S. Boice has been selected as LEAH’s 2008 Bridge Builder of the Year. For the past 12 years this coveted award has been given to community leaders who have emulated, in their business and personal life, LEAH’s mission and vision to help eliminate prejudice and hatred among children using lessons learned from the Holocaust and other inhumane events in world history . Boice will receive her honor at LEAH’s Annual Bridge Builder of the Year black-tie gala, which will boast an “international” theme, at the Boca Raton Resort and Club on Sunday, January 27, 2008.

According to LEAH President Robert Alrod, LEAH has selected Boice because she truly portrays our organization’s vision on an international level. He noted that during this past year alone, Yvonne was selected by the United States government to represent the U.S. at two global summits regarding women’s issues, during which she gave speeches addressing the core issues of humanity, tolerance, respect and dignity. Locally, Yvonne supports the community with her on-going efforts as Chair of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, Lynn University Chair of Board Overseers, and as a board member of the Centre for the Arts, the YMCA, and the Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia.

“It is this type of global awareness and relationship building leadership that supports the deep and far-reaching cornerstones of the educational platform upon which LEAH was conceived and built,” said Alrod. “We are delighted to honor the virtues of Yvonne’s international and South Florida endeavors, communications, and successes with those who join us at our upcoming gala.”

“I am truly honored to have been selected to receive this award,” said Boice. “LEAH’s educational focus is one I greatly support. Teaching our youth about current and historic inhumanities brings an awareness and insightfulness that will hopefully prevent future injustices. Through my worldwide travels I have witnessed some of the heartbreaking crises that many international communities face. Keeping the media focused on these tragedies, and encouraging the youth of the world to speak out at the first sign of injustice, is paramount if there is to be an end to genocide.

LEAH is delighted to have long time supporters Elyssa and Barry Kupferberg as Chairs of what promises to be a most successful Gala. Elyssa is a Senior Vice President and Director of Business Development with Mellon Private Wealth Management. She serves on LEAH’s Advisory Board and is active on 16 additional Boards. She won the “2002 Women of Distinction Award” by the Soroptimist International of Boca Raton / Delray Beach, “Volunteer of the Year for 2003” by Florence Fuller Child Development Centers, “Pillar of the Community Award for 2005” by LEAH & “Women of Vision 2007” American Committee Weizmann Institute of Science.

Barry Kupferberg is responsible for new business for the Health Care Market Place for Siemans Communication and just completed his 30 th year on August 4, 2007. They are the proud parents of two sons in which Barry takes a large interest with his sons in Boca Hoops.

LEAH is also proud to announce that Suzanne Klein has accepted the roll of Honorary Chair. Suzanne is partner and Vice President of Richland Investments and President of SKK Enterprises Gas and Real Estate Holdings. She has been a major supporter since LEAH’s inception.

”Founded in September 1996 as a nonsectarian not-for-profit funding organization, LEAH was conceived to support the Florida State Statute 233.061 that mandates Holocaust curriculum be implemented in all public schools throughout the state from grades K-12. The statute is essentially unfunded and depends on the private sector to raise the necessary funds to implement the curriculum. The organization funds and supports education, not only about the Holocaust, but curriculum and awareness of lessons learned from other genocides, including Armenia, Darfur, Rwanda, and Bosnia.

LEAH believes that only by taking a proactive role in education can we begin to promote a society of respect for all and tolerance of diversity. In using the Holocaust - a watershed event in world history - as an extreme reference point for teaching “tolerance,” children can truly understand the dangers confronting all of us when human rights are denied to anyone, and bigotry and hatred go unchecked.

Since its inception in 1996, LEAH has fulfilled more than $1.2 million in education grants, funded training at the U.S. Holocaust Museum for more than 400 teachers, and underwritten curriculum developed for the international March of Remembrance & Hope, the Boca Raton, FL stop on the worldwide tour of the international Co-Existence exhibition, programs and activities implemented by LEAH’s NEXT GENERATIONS organization of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who wish to maintain awareness of the Holocaust and its global impact through true accounts passed down through generations as the eyewitnesses to the witnesses of the Holocaust, etc. Most recently LEAH has partnered with FAU to give the Florida community, including faculty and students of grades K-12 and higher) access to video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses (3,000 Florida resident testimonies) from around the world by underwriting the equipment and staffing at FAU to present the University of Southern California (USC) Shoah Foundation Institute's Visual History Archive.

For information on LEAH and its 2008 Bridge Builder of the Year gala, visit www.leahforkids.org or call 561-393-9717.