Please Join The ARCHway Institute for the Inaugural
Lee County Area ARCHway Institute Fundraising Dinner and Auction
 
Through collaboration with local treatment and recovery providers in Lee County, the ARCHway Institute is committed to providing resources and financial assistance to individuals with substance use disorders and co-existing mental health disorders. Your participation will help support these efforts now.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
(Business Casual)
               
Pelican Preserve Golf Club
9802 Pelican Preserve Blvd
Fort Myers, FL 33913
 

• Sponsorship opportunities are now available at all levels
• Tickets are $50 per person or $500 per table of 10

• Treatment and Recovery providers will be on hand to offer valuable recovery information

 
Enjoy an evening that includes a reception, dinner and an exciting silent auction. An inspirational program will be presented by Ken Brown, Specialist for Florida Dept. of Children and Families, and Dan Stuckey, founder and Board Chairman of the ARCHway Institute.
 
100% of the donations raised from this event will support
the ARCHway Institute’s efforts in Lee County.
 

For more information please contact:

Debbie Strobl
314-348-0711
[email protected]

For more information:

www.thearchwayinstitute.org

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Oct. 3, 2019 – Pushing the Envelope, Inc. (PTE) is seeking drop-off locations for their 9th Annual CAN IT! Campaign food drive slated to launch on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Designed to help area residents in need, PTE coordinates the food drive through Community Cooperative (CCI) and is trying to collect 1,000 non-perishable food items this year. The more businesses that participate as drop-off locations, the more food can be collected and ultimately donated.
With the holiday season quickly approaching, becoming a CAN IT! drop-off location offers an opportunity for local businesses to give back to their community. In order to serve as a drop-off location, businesses are simply asked to allow the public to drop off non-perishable food items at your location between Tuesday, Oct. 15 through Friday, Nov. 15 during their normal business hours. As a CAN IT! 2019 partner, PTE will recognize your business as a supporter and drop-off location in all publicity, social media posts, and on the website. There is no cost associated with participating in the campaign as a drop-off location.
Participation is easy. If desired, PTE will provide wrapped collection boxes and flyers for participating businesses to display at their location, as well as content to share online. PTE coordinates the pick-up of all donations or they can be dropped off at the PTE office located at 9111 W. College Pointe Drive, Fort Myers after Nov. 15.
Kicking off the ninth year of the CAN IT! Campaign, more than 10,000 items and many thousands of pounds of food have been collected for local needy.
If your business is interested in donating or serving as a drop-off location to help PTE ‘put hunger in its place’ this holiday season, please call (239) 221- 2858 or email [email protected].
ABOUT PUSHING THE ENVELOPE, INC.
Pushing the Envelope, Inc., is a strategic marketing communication firm. Based in Fort Myers, the firm services clients both regionally and nationally. For more information, please call (239) 221-2858, visit www.getpushing.com or email [email protected].
ABOUT COMMUNITY COOPERATIVE
Community Cooperative is an innovative nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization made up of social service entrepreneurs fighting to end hunger and homelessness in our community. The agency provides more than 14,000 meals each month through its Community Cafés and Marketplace and Meals on Wheels programs and offers homeless and comprehensive case management services through its Social & Education Resource Centers.
A proud United Way partner, Community Cooperative serves Fort Myers and the greater Lee County area, including Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres and Fort Myers Beach. Community Cooperative works in close partnership with The Harry Chapin Food Bank and The School District of Lee County as well as collaborating with fellow community and service groups, churches, businesses and community support organizations.

NAPLES, Fla. (Oct. 3, 2019) – Stevens Construction has won a Sand Dollar Award from the Collier Building Industry Association for best healthcare project, announced Dan Adams, principal and vice president, South Florida.

In a ceremony held on Sept. 28 at the Ritz-Carlton Tiburón in Naples, Stevens Construction earned a Sand Dollar Award in the under $1 million healthcare category for Longevity Performance Center, located at 1000 Immokalee Road in Naples. Stevens Construction converted two retail spaces of an occupied commercial building into one, 4,449-square-foot wellness and fitness facility. Longevity Performance Center offers blood testing to measure biological age and creates a custom fitness and nutrition program specific to blood biomarkers. Longevity Performance Center is designed for clientele looking to live longer and increase energy.

Stevens Construction has earned seven Sand Dollar Awards since 2015. Sand Dollar Awards are presented annually to building, design and marketing professionals who have demonstrated excellence within the building industry in Collier County. Entries are judged on unique features of the project, unusual constraints, and how the project addresses the needs of the target market.

About Stevens Construction

With offices in Fort Myers, Tampa and Orlando, Stevens Construction specializes in providing construction management, general contracting and consulting services to clients and design professionals. Other services include site and design team selection, budgeting, project scheduling, permitting, cost and quality control and warranty service. The company builds healthcare, commercial and hospitality facilities. For information, visit www.stevensconstructioninc.com or call 239-936-9006.

At its meeting in Cape Canaveral, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved several draft rule changes for spotted seatrout. Based on public comment at the meeting, the Commission also directed staff to continue considering public input and update the proposal as needed prior to bringing this back at a future meeting for final approval.
Approved draft changes include:

• Splitting the Northwest spotted seatrout management zone into two separate zones including the Western Panhandle (Escambia County through most of Gulf County, not including Indian Pass/Indian Lagoon) and the Big Bend (Franklin County, plus Indian Lagoon, through Fred Howard Park Causeway in Pinellas County).
• Moving the boundary between the southern management zones to create the newly-renamed South Florida zone (Fred Howard Park Causeway in Pinellas County near the Pasco County line through Broward County) and Central East zone (Palm Beach through Volusia counties).
• Reducing bag limits
  • Western Panhandle: five to three fish
  • Big Bend: five to four fish
  • South Florida: four to three fish
  • Central East: four to two fish
  • Northeast: six to five fish

• Modifying the recreational slot size limit from 15-to-20 inches to 15-to-19 inches total length.
• Allowing one seatrout over 19 inches per vessel (currently, per harvester).

• Changing the current daily commercial limits to 50 per harvester and 100 per vessel.
• Prohibiting captain and crew from keeping a bag limit on a for-hire trip.
• Re-establishing the February recreational closure in the Western Panhandle zone and the November-December recreational closure in the Central East zone.

Staff will bring a final proposal to a future Commission meeting that will incorporate public feedback gathered at today’s meeting and through other input gathering processes.
Provide online comments about these draft changes at MyFWC.com/SaltwaterComments.

FORT MYERS, Fla. (October 2, 2019) – At the Annual NAACP Freedom Fund Gala on Saturday, September 21, 2019, Master of Ceremonies Lee Pitts presented Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Executive Director Michele Hylton-Terry with the Lee Pitts Live Economic Development Person of the Year Award for 2019.
Mr. Pitts noted that he chose Ms. Hylton-Terry for her unwavering effort in leading the City of Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency in creating jobs, housing and economic growth in our under-served communities.
“As head of the Fort Myers CRA, Michele Hylton-Terry is one of the most important people in Fort Myers as it relates to the economic development of the City, which is in full growth mode,” states Lee Pitts, host and executive producer of Lee Pitts Live on FOX 4. “She is already balancing the process of using tax increment funds to bring improved housing and business growth to the MLK CRA and making sure the community is informed and shares in the renaissance,” concludes Pitts.
Ms. Hylton-Terry has led the way as executive director since July 2018. During this time, she has implemented several new programs:

• TIF Guidelines and Application was adopted by the CRA Board of Commissioners and became effective October 1, 2019. The Guidelines streamline the application process and provide a consistent method to analyze each project.
• A Job Creation and Talent Attraction Program targeting specific industries to bring higher-paying jobs to Fort Myers. This program incentivizes the creation and retention of full-time employment within Fort Myers redevelopment areas by offering a grant payment to companies that create or relocate high-wage, full-time jobs within the Downtown Area. As funding becomes available, the program will expand to other redevelopment areas.
• TIF rebates have been approved in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (MLK) Redevelopment Area for Seaboard Waterside Apartments, an eight-story, 420-rental-unit development on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Seaboard Street. This project will generate approximately $4.5 million in tax increment that will be reinvested in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard Redevelopment Area.
• St. Peter Claver Place Apartments, which will include 120 apartments of a 214-unit affordable housing development to be built on Michigan Avenue. Both apartment projects will provide needed housing, and help to revitalize the east side of Fort Myers as the entire city continues to grow.

About Community Redevelopment Agencies
Community Redevelopment Agencies have proven historically to provide distressed communities with a better economy through improved infrastructure, job opportunities, and housing. Their mission is to make housing and urban areas safer for residents, to preserve and grow business, and to provide a sense of place for all who live there. CRAs have demonstrated that the use of Tax Increment Funding (TIF) dramatically improves the economic and social outcomes within their targeted areas. These outcomes benefit both cities and counties and, more importantly, the taxpayers.
About the Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency (CRA)
The Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency was created in 1984 by the City of Fort Myers, Florida, under Florida Statute Chapter 163, to formulate a plan and strategy for the revitalization of the downtown River District. The Fort Myers CRA has continued to grow, and redevelopment areas have been added throughout the city. Today, the Agency oversees 12 different redevelopment areas within the Fort Myers city limits. The Fort Myers CRA, along with the City’s Community Development Division, prepares plans for the revitalization of each area and coordinates the implementation of the plan’s recommendations. Tax Increment Funds (TIF) generated by each area, combined with other funding sources, are used to upgrade the public infrastructure and to stimulate redevelopment in the same area where it was generated. The Fort Myers City Council members, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, oversee the Agency’s divisions and their operations. The Fort Myers CRA office is located at 1400 Jackson Street in the Downtown River District. Contact: 239-321-7100
About the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Founded February 12, 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, campaigning for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization. The NAACP Lee County Branch is located at 3903 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in the MLK redevelopment area. Contact: 239-936-2352
About Lee Pitts Live
Lee Pitts Live is the longest-running local television talk show in southwest Florida. The award-winning show, now in its 28th year, broadcasts Sundays at 8:30 a.m. on FOX 4. Over the air, it reaches over 750,000 households in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, Glades, Desoto and Sarasota counties. It streams worldwide on FOX4now.com and has a strong social media platform. The YouTube channel has thousands of interviews. The show casts a wide net in its guest selections and topics. Entertainers, politicians, educators, children and athletes are among the many guests who have appeared on the show. Its producers are committed to maintaining diverse programming. To date, over 8,500 guests have appeared on the show. Veteran host Lee Pitts is executive producer and creator of Lee Pitts Live. Lee Pitts Live is located at 8765 Azalea Court, Suite 103, in Tamarac, Florida. Contact: 877-830-0391
 
 

2020 Travel Abroad Open Houses

CopyLady, Inc. Hires New Marketing Director
FORT MYERS, Florida – CopyLady, Inc., the leading dealership in Southwest Florida for copiers and printers, is pleased to announce and welcome Amy Turner to the company’s executive team in the role of Marketing Director.
Turner will be responsible for marketing, communications, and public relations activities, further raising the profile of CopyLady, Inc. and the services it provides.
“We are so excited to welcome Amy, and part of what makes her such a great fit is that she brings a really broad set of skills and experiences that gives her a well-rounded view into all aspects of marketing,” said Cynthia Duff, founder and President of CopyLady, Inc. “Amy’s role will help CopyLady, Inc. strengthen connections and nurture relationships with prospective clients and communicate success stories of the value we deliver.”
Prior to joining CopyLady, Inc., Turner held the role of Community Relations Coordinator in the non-profit sector, where she guided and expanded strategic brand awareness, public relations, fundraising, and community outreach. A member of the Rotary Club of Fort Myers, Turner serves on the Board of Directors for Rotary, Keep Lee County Beautiful, and on the Advisory Board of the Above Board Chamber of Commerce.
About CopyLady

Established in 2002, CopyLady, Inc. is a locally-owned, factory-authorized dealership for copiers, multi-functional printers, and other office technology equipment to meet all document solution needs.  The mission of CopyLady, Inc. is to deliver high-value products and exceptional service to clients and ensure the best ownership experience in America. CopyLady, Inc. is located at 1949 Dana Dr., Fort Myers, FL 33907. For more information, visit www.CopyLady.com or call (239) 939-5383.
###

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Sept. 25, 2019) — A trailblazer is someone who envisions a pathway to positive life-changing experiences for others. Andrew Banyai never set out to be a trailblazer, but his work as executive director of the Lee County Legal Aid Society, Inc., is changing lives.
 
For his work, the business arm of the Daily Business Review is honoring Banyai with the Florida Trailblazers Award, which recognizes those who have “made significant marks on the practice, policy and technological advancements in their sector.”
 
Lee County Legal Aid Society is a not-for-profit agency, which provides advice, counsel and legal representation on a pro bono basis. Banyai’s mission is straight-forward and focused: “What we are trying to do is make the weak equal to the powerful in terms of access to the justice system,” Banyai said.
 
It’s working. His team, which includes himself, three other staff attorneys and other volunteer attorneys, regularly helps about 1,000 people a year, through an application process and walk-in clinics, where clients are screened through the Lee County Clerk of Courts and directed to the right legal advice. That partnership was key because Clerk of Courts Linda Doggett was searching for someone to provide free legal services through the Self Help Center and Banyai and his team stepped up.
 
Michael Healy, general counsel for the clerk’s office, said in the nomination letter Banyai “hears out their problems and quickly works to find a solution or, if the matter is too complicated to resolve in such a brief time, issues guidance for taking the next step.”
 
“There is no way I could do this myself,” Banyai said. “I need an entire team. We have volunteer attorneys who come in every single week. They have smiles on their faces. They hear stories and help people.”
 
There is something “pure,” Banyai says, about helping someone, who knows they can count on the right legal advice and representation without the financial stress. “There is so much negative sentiment in the legal practice in general, sentiment that lawyers are only out for the cash,” Banyai said. “We can say ‘we are not charging you a dime.’ There is a genuineness because you are trying to help them.”
 
Much of their work protects the rights and safety of children, who could be victims of custody battles or other difficult circumstances. “Somebody who is weak, being exploited or taken advantage of by a powerful person, a family can suffer,” Banyai said. “We are making a difference in people’s lives.”
 
Banyai and other honorees will be featured in a future issue of the Daily Business Review.
 
Learn about Banyai’s background and his work with the Lee County Legal Aid Society at leecountylegalaid.org.
 
About Lee County Legal Aid Society Inc.
 
Lee County Legal Aid Society Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides free legal aid to low income residents of Lee County. Established on March 27, 1967, it is a community-based agency with a team of professionals who act as legal representatives, counselors, community supporters and educational providers. The Legal Aid Society seeks justice for those who need it most by collaborating within the legal community and with for-profit and nonprofit agencies to improve access to justice, education, health services and more. Visit leecountylegalaid.org to learn about the help available.
 
 
 

Huntley “Bud” Hornbeck II, Dan Lavender to be inducted into Business Hall of Fame

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Sept. 30, 2019) – Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida has announced the sponsors for its sold-out 2019 Business Hall of Fame, Collier County event, which will induct Huntley “Bud” Hornbeck II, area chairman for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., and Dan Lavender, president and CEO of The Moorings Park Institute, Inc., into Junior Achievement’s Business Hall of Fame.

Encore Urology is the presenting sponsor for the event. Structure Medical and Title Professionals of Florida are diamond sponsors, and Arthrex and Moorings Park are platinum sponsors. Gold sponsors include Naples Daily News and Stock Development.

The prestigious award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who serve as role models for youth through their professional accomplishments and commitment to the community. Hornbeck and Lavender will join a distinguished group of individuals who have been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame since it was founded in 1988.

The laureates will be recognized during a dinner and awards ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 24 at The Ritz-Carlton, Naples Beach Resort in Naples. While the event is sold out, Junior Achievement is still accepting sponsors to support student admission, which is $125 per ticket.

To learn more, visit www.JASWFL.org or call the Junior Achievement office at 239-225-2590. Proceeds from the event will benefit local Junior Achievement programs.

About Junior Achievement:

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. Junior Achievement programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches more than 4.8 million students per year in more than 107 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.2 million students served by operations over 100 other countries worldwide. Locally, Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida partnered with more than 270 classroom business volunteers during the 2018-2019 school year to provide nearly 70,200 hours of instruction to nearly 12,500 students in 520 classes throughout Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties. For more information on Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida, visit www.JASWFL.org, call 239-225-2590 or email [email protected].

– END –

Media Contact:

Emily Golden, Priority Marketing, [email protected], 239-267-2638 or 239-565-1595 (cell)