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Women from Parkland and Coral Springs were among a dozen Broward County residents recently honored as “Hidden Heroes,” by the Community Foundation of Broward.

These “Broward Nonprofit Hidden Heroes” were selected for helping their organizations to continue to provide valuable services to their clients and the community during the pandemic.

Tina Cortez, of Coral Springs, was honored for her work as Director of the Wildlife Hospital at the Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital, which also is in Coral Springs.

“Tina’s dedication to the animals is evident by the exceptional wildlife care and rehabilitation she provides,” said Robin Reccasina, CEO of the wildlife hospital.

“Tina designed a contactless drop off for the public to drop off injured animals at our gate and responded to every drop off herself. Having no volunteers, she quickly cross-trained other staff to assist in animal care. She transferred many of the animals that were most critical to her home so she could give them 24-hour care.”

Samantha “Sam” Kelly, of Parkland, was honored for her work as Vice President of Rehabilitation Programs at Lighthouse of Broward for the Blind & Visually Impaired in Fort Lauderdale.

“Sam provided vision and leadership,” said Ellyn Drotzer, CEO of Lighthouse. “We knew we had to pivot to an online platform, but our clients’ fundamental lack of sight made this seem almost impossible. Sam led the creative plan to provide uninterrupted rehabilitative services. We closed the building on Friday and by Monday, all of our programming was transformed into an electronic format and services were constructed using a web-based platform.”

Cortez and Kelly and their organizations are featured in a virtual awards presentation video via YouTube here:

Other Broward Nonprofit Hidden Heroes are:
–Timothy Curtin, Executive Director of
Community Services, Memorial Healthcare System, Hollywood

–Rebecca “Becky” Gould, STEM Center for Education and Career Development Manager, Museum of Discovery & Science, Fort Lauderdale

–Tammy Holder, Teaching Artist-in-Residence, Broward Performing Arts Foundation, Fort Lauderdale

–Xenia McFarling, Vice President of Rehabilitation Programs, LifeNet4Families, Fort Lauderdale

–Natasha McFarquhar, Emergency Basic Needs Navigator, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Broward County, Lauderhill

–Alex Nesar, Director of Construction, Habitat for Humanity of Broward, Fort Lauderdale

–Belinda Paulicin, Director of Program Services, Gilda’s Club of South Florida, Fort Lauderdale

–Sandra Powell, Regional Laboratory Manager, Broward Health, Fort Lauderdale

–Patricia “Pejay” Ryan, Director of Marketing, Broward Education Foundation, Fort Lauderdale

–Elise Samet, Volunteer Program Manager, Canine Assisted Therapy, Oakland Park

Each of the winners received a $500 award and a prize package that included a 2-night staycation at the Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel and gift certificates from multiple restaurants. In addition, each of their nonprofit organizations received a monetary award of up to $25,000. For more information, visit www.cfbroward.link/HiddenHeroes.

A veteran player on South Florida’s golf courses and winner of an impressive array of trophies and honors, including Gold Coast Golf Association’s 2020 Player of the Year award, Elijah Ritchie says the game still has a lot to teach him.

And at just 11 years old, the Coral Springs sixth-grader already has the skills, focus, and work ethic to meet the challenges.

Among his most recent tests? On a recent weekend outing at Crandon Golf Course, competing in a U.S. Kids Golf tournament in what was only his fourth time playing a full 18 holes, Ritchie had to come to grips with what to do about lunch.

“I was hungry, but mostly I was thirsty,” Ritchie said after that Saturday’s brutally hot and humid round in Key Biscayne, where hesat in fifth place after Round 1.

His dad, Jeremiah Ritchie, said he keeps Pedialyte handy for Elijah during tournament play. Over a 9-hole round, that’s enough to keep his son hydrated and strong both physically and mentally.

Elijah Ritchie, at five years old, carries his bag at City of Lauderhill Golf Course, where he was part of the city’s Fore Life youth golf program.

Ritchie started playing golf at four years old. His dad, a veteran coach who has worked with many area youth teams, said he got Elijah some lessons “so we could have something to do as a family, something to do when I get older.”

Elijah, it turned out, had something of a knack for golf.

“He’s so resilient and very focused,” Jeremiah Ritchie said.

Ritchie enrolled Elijah in a local youth golf program in Lauderhill, Fore Life, founded and run by Paula Pearson-Tucker, the city’s lead golf pro and an LPGA Teaching and Club Professional.

“I think I learned as much about the game from Coach Tucker as Elijah did,” Jeremiah Ritchie said.

Youth golf in South Florida can be a dizzying sprint across three counties as kids play as part of numerous leagues and loosely affiliated teams. Elijah currently is among the 18 11-year-olds playing for a Boca Raton Local Tour team that also features Charlie Woods, Tiger Woods’ son.

Boca Local, affiliated with U.S. Kids Golf, plays a six-tournament schedule from Sept. 19 through Oct. 25. Elijah also plays Junior Golf Association of Broward County tournaments, competing against kids as old as 14. He captured his first JGA tourney win at age 10 and since then has finished in the top three six times, with two victories — one of them in the three-day JGA Championship. He finished the JGA’s most recent season, from June 22 through July 27, atop the Boys B division, making him eligible to move up to Division A next season.

Of Gold Coast Golf Association’s nine- tournament schedule, which opens in September and runs through the next August, Elijah came away with three wins, four runner-up finishes, and one third-place finish in the Boys 9-10 division.

Elijah Ritchie, at age six, asleep after winning third place at the 2015 Junior Golf Association of Broward County tournament.

“It was a long season,” Elijah told the Sun Sentinel’s Gary Curreri after winning Player of the Year. The honor, he said, “didn’t really surprise me because I trained for it. I had it in my head when I was practicing.”

Elijah practices at least two hours a day, whether at Coral Springs Country Club’s course, Osprey Point Golf Course in Boca, or at home, in the backyard.

“He’s surprisingly disciplined, and already has a good work ethic,” his dad says, explaining Elijah gets in strength training in the morning before school, then is ready to hit the links after his classwork is done in the afternoon.

What Elijah loves most about the game is shaping his shots, and drawing and fading his shots. But after the rainout in Key Biscayne, he was perfectly zeroed in and content to get right with putting, getting to Coral Springs CC’s practice green in the afternoon that Sunday and playing the greens on the first few holes until the skies began to purple and the groundskeeper rousted everyone still on the course out.

“We don’t know how far he’ll go (with golf),” his dad said. “But for right now, he loves the game. He’s pretty good, and is still hungry to learn more.”

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Broward’s ‘Hidden Heroes’ honored

Young Coral Springs golfer already a veteran