January – Candidate Forum for Congressional District 18

RSVP by Jan. 20 with the following button,

or by email: info@gopclubpb.org
or phone: (561) 855-0749

Another election year begins and our Club is kicking off the new year with a roar. Congressional District 18 is going to have an exciting primary race to determine who will be the challenger to incumbent Democrat, Patrick Murphy. After the closely fought race against Allen West in 2012, he will be facing a difficult time keeping his seat given his support of Obamacare and his left of center voting record. District 18, with almost 480,000 registered voters, has 38% Republican voters and 36% Democratic voters, meaning the remaining 24% of voters will be critical in determining the outcome.

Ellen Andel, Carl Domino, Beveryl Hires, Ilya Katz, Alan Schlesinger and Calvin Turnquest have all committed to participate in a panel to answer the questions posed by the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches to gain support for their campaigns, explain why they are running, and explain how they plan to beat the incumbent in the fall general election.

Winning back this seat is of critical importance so that Palm Beach County can be part of a wave of new Republican incumbents in Congress who can help turn things around, and work with what we hope will be a Conservative Republican majority in the Senate.

You won’t want to miss this event as we kick off our 2014 series of luncheons. Make sure you invite a few friends (other Republicans, Independents, and even Democrats) to join you and learn more about these candidates. We are going to need a coalition of conservative voters to assure a victory regardless of how they might be registered.

Place of Hope CEO Highlights our December Lunch

Befitting the time of year when people think about those less fortunate, our December guest represented the needs of those children in the foster care system in Palm Beach County, and an example of meeting a need that government has not managed well.

Place of Hope CEO Charles Bender talked about breaking the cycle of dependency among neglected or abused children by providing a nurturing, family-based environment. While the government has the overall responsibility for those that find themselves in the foster-care system, it is non-governmnental organizations like Place of Hope that provide the personal touch that can make a difference in a child’s life.

It was Jeb Bush as Governor who advanced the concept of “commuity based care” and groups like Place of Hope move the ball by providing alternatives to the “family first” policies of DCF. “Family first”, which gives priority to keeping family units together can cause problems for the children when the family unit is dysfunctional in some way. Moving foster kids into family structured group or individual homes where positive values can be taught is a viable alternative that Place of Hope provides.

For more information about Place of Hope, please visit their website.

In other business, we heard from candidates Beverly Hires (CD18), Henry Colon (CD21), and Pat Rooney (FH85).

Some pictures from the event:

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Place of Hope Executive Director Charles Bender at December Meeting

Please join us for a presentation by Chares Bender, CEO of Palm Beach County’s own Place of Hope, a community-based child-care agency for abused and neglected children. With his extensive background in government and private initiatives, he will share insights with us about how the private sector can work effectively in dealing with social issues, and partner with government programs where appropriate to address the needs of low-income individuals and families, the homeless and at-risk/dependent children and youth.

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Charles is the Founding Executive Director of Place of Hope, a faith-based and state-licensed family-style residential child-caring agency for abused and neglected children, located in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He earned his B.A. degree in Sociology from Florida Atlantic University and also studied at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.

Charles came to Place of Hope in 1999 following many years of work with various housing, social, and human services organizations throughout Palm Beach County. He has participated in numerous community committees, task forces, special initiatives, and boards. He has been a team member of several other local leading organizations including: Palm Beach County Housing and Community Development, Adopt-A-Family of the Palm Beaches, Inc., the City of Delray Beach Community Development Division. The majority of Charles’ work has involved low-income individuals and families, homeless and substance abusing populations, and at-risk/dependent children and youth. Prior to spearheading implementation of Place of Hope, Charles was a primary volunteer in the multi-year visioning and development processes while still a “vision” of Christ Fellowship (founding church).

Charles has significant experience developing and administering social programs and low-income housing initiatives, executing growth plans, implementing federal, state, and local funding programs, building organizational capacity and community coalitions, enhancing service delivery systems, raising capital and annual operating funds, and managing overall non-profit operations.

Ted Cruz Featured at Lincoln Day Dinner

We are quickly approaching this year’s Lincoln Day Dinner, which will take place on February 21 at Mar-a-Lago. We will be treated to a special appearance by United States Senator Ted Cruz, and will also be joined by many other Republican elected officials. This is the Palm Beach County GOP’s largest fundraiser of the year and it is sure to be a great event!

There are some very important races this upcoming election season and we need your help to make sure good Republicans go to Tallahassee and Washington DC to fight for the principles in which we so deeply believe. Will you please consider sitting with the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches to support both our Club and our Party? You can always buy your tickets by calling the Republican Headquarters directly, but we hope you will consider RSVP’ing through our Club instead so we can all sit together and show our support as a Club.

If you are interested in joining us, please RSVP to Sue Varey at svarey@bellsouth.net or by calling (561) 855-0749.

This year,the Honoree at the dinner will be RCPB Leader Fran Hancock, who has served the county party for 24 years as our State Committeewoman. Please consider purchasing an advertisement in the Tribute Journal this year to show your support for Fran. Click HERE for instructions. Please note that the deadline for ads is February 7.

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