Community Conversations

Near and afar, NYC members make an indelible difference

As the oldest private club in Naples, the founders and members of NYC have played key roles in the evolution of this coastal gem on the Gulf of Mexico. There isn’t enough space to list past members’ accomplishments or current members’ contributions to the community, but Waypoints is highlighting the interesting and impactful activities of several of members in what will become an ongoing series.

Naples Historical Society

The future is bright for the Historic Palm Cottage since the next-door property was purchased to protect the street’s character and expand historical exhibits. The Naples Historical Society purchased the 1,530-square-foot, ranch-style home at 163 Twelfth Avenue South and its 1935 guest cottage after the owner offered the nonprofit the right of first refusal to purchase the spread in March 2021 for $4.2 million.

Mary S. Smith, chair emeritus of the society’s board of directors, and Past Commodore Stephen B. Smith provided a $1 million matching grant to kick off the successful fundraising effort. Society Chief Executive Officer Elaine Reed is thrilled that the total has been raised to extinguish the mortgage, though another $300,000 is being raised for redevelopment.

The acquisition of the property “was a feat that will protect Palm Cottage in perpetuity. We are tremendously grateful for all of those who have supported our endeavors, including many Naples Yacht Club members,” Reed says. “We profoundly appreciate all major gift donors who share this vision, especially Mary S. and Stephen B. Smith who led the effort with their $1 million match challenge.”

Other major donors for this initiative who are yacht club members include: Patrice “Treecie” Schoonmaker through the Schoonmaker Foundation; Lynne and Chip Shotwell; Sharon and Dolph von Arx; Vicky C. and David Byron Smith; Kathleen and former U.S. Representative Francis Rooney; and Tanya and Denny Glass. Many other yacht club members contributed, and NYC is buying an inscribed brick paver ($300) to support the project. The plan is to create 1,000-squarefeet of new exhibits in the new house—Smith Exhibit Hall—and an exterior pathway with the brick pavers featuring “stations” chronicling Naples’ history and the decades-old fruit trees gracing the property.

“The yacht club purchased a brick because we support the Naples Historical Society—as the oldest private club, our appreciation of the town’s history and the need to keep it alive is aligned,” says NYC Executive Director of Membership Brenda O’Connor.

Reed is thrilled that residents have come together to prevent the development of a dominating mansion on the adjacent property. “It is rare for a homeowner to buy an expensive parcel of land and not want to have their dream house built on it,” she says. “This project is a true community opportunity, a life-time legacy.” The project is expected to be completed by fall 2023.

Immokalee Foundation

A unique, 18-home subdivision rising in lmmokalee has the unexpected name of Career Pathways Learning Lab—which makes sense when you realize that it’s being developed to provide students with paid, onthe-job training to gain the valuable experience they need to enter the construction industry. They are learning about land development, home construction, marketing, and sales while working side-by-side with industry professionals.

It is part of The Immokalee Foundation’s Career Pathways program, hence the subdivision’s name, focused specifically on engineering, construction, business management and entrepreneurship. Working with lmmokalee Technical College (iTECH), BCB Homes, and Collier Enterprises, The lmmokalee Foundation developed the high school curriculum and internships that can lead to four industry-recognized credentials.

BCB Homes President Greg Brisson helped brainstorm the Career Pathways Learning Lab project with others from its inception and stepped up as the general contractor. “It turned into, ‘Oh, boy. We’re

going to build 18 houses’” which will take place over five years. “Hopefully, in that time, we’ll touch 500 students through The Immokalee Foundation and iTech and hopefully guide them into careers in the industry,” Brisson says. BCB Homes CEO Joe Smallwood is a Naples native and new NYC member who founded the construction company in 1993. Smallwood has worked with Brisson for 16 years, and gives Brisson all the credit for its involvement in the Career Pathways Learning Lab. To date, BCB Homes has donated more than $350,000 of in-kind contributions and has hired graduates of the program.

Says Smallwood: “The part that makes it special for us is the students. The development is taking shape but the rewarding part is the young people going through the course and getting the experience in the industry. We’re exposing young people to what we’re passionate about.”

Ukraine

Paul Fleming: On the Feeding Frontline

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Paul Fleming didn’t think twice about volunteering to travel more than 5,100 miles to help the Ukrainians refugees fleeing for their survival. Fleming is the successful restaurateur behind Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Pei Wei Asian Diner, P.F. Chang’s, and Lake Park Diner. Naturally, he thought he could help on the feeding front with the massive evacuations of Ukrainians spilling into Poland, a border country. Fleming carefully selected and connected with the nonprofit

World Central Kitchen, founded by Nobel Peace Prize-nominated chef José Andrés who’s been featured on 60 Minutes and received a $100 million donation from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, which the chef is funneling into World Central Kitchen.

Fleming wasted no time and arrived in Przemyśl, Poland, during the third week of the invasion. World Central Kitchen hires displaced restaurant employees and chefs so they can earn a paycheck while feeding vulnerable populations—in the face of other natural disasters, too, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and famines. While Fleming went in thinking he could lend his professional expertise, he says, the organization didn’t need it. With staging that began before the war, a warehouse filled with refrigerators and ovens could serve thousands of people per day and a pecking order had been established, with local chefs crafting large batches of paella, hearty soups, and stewed chicken. “He takes volunteers but he’s [Andrés] efficient because he pays local people. They show up on time and they work hard,”

Fleming explains. For 10-hour days, Fleming pitched in by cleaning, hauling garbage, transporting provisions, delivering sandwiches at a train station, and giving candy to children during lulls in tasks. Before leaving the States, he had to secure his own rental car and hotel in a town 45 minutes from the feeding site. “It’s a war zone. They can’t be driving you around. You’re taking your own risk and driving on your own,” Fleming says, adding “every day, they sent me somewhere different.” Fleming was moved by the fact that only Ukrainian women and their children, and frail seniors, were crossing the border into Poland. “The husbands turned around and went back to fight,” he says. “I heard a woman say, ‘This war is going to go on forever. Our kids will go back to fight when they’re 16.’ These were the bravest human beings I’ve seen in my life. The will of these people to stay and fight was touching. It changed my life.”

This page and at right: Naples restaurateur Paul Fleming volunteered with World Central Kitchen in Polish bordertowns during the initial weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to help feed refugees.

Photos by Paul Fleming

Rick Scott: Reaching Out and Denouncing Genocide

U.S. Senator Rick Scott visited Poland, Lithuania, and Ramstein Air Base in Germany in April to meet with American service members, community members, and high-level government officials to discuss the state of democracy in Europe. Upon his return, he sent letters to leaders of Poland and Lithuania thanking them for their commitment to democracy and wrote an op-ed that ran in the Washington Times. Here are some excerpts:

“I returned to the United States with the reassurance that our partners and allies’ commitment to defending freedom and defeating tyranny has only grown stronger. I am also returning from Europe with a challenge for our nation to lead the world in standing for human rights. “Following the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, the world pledged to ‘never again’ allow genocide to take the lives of innocent people. But today, Mr. Putin is choosing that path. Children are dying, families are dying precisely because they are Ukrainian and won’t do what the dictator Putin wants them to. This is genocide. ‘Never again’ was promised, but world leaders are failing.”

Courtesy of U.S. Senator Rick Scott Center: Desperate Ukranians line up for food. Above and below: U.S. Senator Rick Scott and his wife, Ann, attend a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Warsaw, and observe Easter with American service members at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. They also visited Lithuania and Poland.

The Naples Players, Naples Zoo, And Naples Botanical Garden Tanya and Denny Glass have embraced several local organizations since becoming full-time Naples residents in 2004. Their commitment is clear through the 9,144-square-foot Glass Animal Hospital at Naples Zoo, where they also support an education program that allows staff to study giraffes, giant anteaters, and other creatures from their African counterparts. (The Smith Animal Commissary, part of the hospital, was funded by Naples Yacht Club members Vicky C. and David Byron Smith.) The Glasses also are major supporters of the Naples Historical Society and Naples Botanical Garden, and are heavily involved with The Naples Players and its KidzAct theater program for children. The

Naples Players’ venue, Sugden Community The Naples Zoo’s Glass Animal Hospital and Smith Animal Commissary opened in November 2019. Theatre, is currently undertaking a $15 million capital campaign for an overdue expansion and renovation. When it’s complete, the revitalized complex will include the Tanya and Denny Glass Educational Theatre for KidzAct camps and performances. “We really believe in supporting children’s health and psychological wellbeing, and we believe the acting classes are very important to that,” Tanya says. They believe the zoo is also a positive learning experience for local children while the hospital provides critical veterinarian care—and ensured the zoo’s continuing accreditation. Denny serves on the board of The Naples Players, where he is immediate past president, chairs the zoo’s board, and is immediate past president of the Naples Historical Society. Tanya is on the Naples Botanical Garden Sustaining Leadership Council and the couple financially supports Audubon of the Western Everglades. Denny is the retired owner of Meridian Printing, a commercial art printing company based in Rhode Island. An avid golfer, he is the founder of the 17-year-old Terra Cotta Amateur Golf Tournament in Naples, which raises funds for Terra Cotta Golf Charities to distribute grants to local nonprofits such as Kids’ Minds Matter, Laces of Love, Fun Time Early Childhood Academy, and the Ricky King Fund. Denny spearheaded a similar golf tournament in Rhode Island. He also is the founder and chairman of the Ron Balicki Scholarship Foundation (administered by the Golf Coaches Association of America) and vice president of the Rhode Island Independence Trail Foundation. Tanya is a painter who creates many works inspired by nature primarily in pastel, though she has also worked in acrylics and mixed media. “I like to experiment and try new, fun things,” she says. She’s also an avid gardener and is propagating rare plants from the Naples Botanical Garden in her yard. She says “when you support the environment, it supports children, too. It’s all interconnected—clean A rendering of the future Sugden Community Theatre, home to The Naples Players air, good water, the whole shebang.”

Panther Refuge in the Wet Season by TanyaTrinkaus Glass Tanya and Denny Glass

NYC Members Nourish Naples Botanical Garden

Several NYC members have been generous donors and loyal supporters of the Naples Botanical Garden since the seeds for this 170-acre, worldclass facility were being sowed more than 20 years ago. Several areas or facilities are named in their honor, including the Eleanor and Nicholas Chabraja Visitor Center; Vicky C. and David Byron Smith Uplands; Mary and Stephen Byron Smith Family River of Grass; Evenstad Horticulture Campus; and Kathleen and Scott Kapnick Brazilian Garden. The Kapnicks have been lead donors to the garden, and Kathleen is chair of the board. The Kapnick Caribbean Garden and Kapnick Hall also honor the critical support of Scott’s father Harvey, an original catalyst and benefactor of the garden.

Many NYC members are members of the garden’s Sustaining Leadership Council, a group of key donors—all women—who provide nourishing financial support and their creative talents in planning the signature fundraising events Hats in the Garden and April Foolin’ in the Garden. These Naples Yacht Club members are on the Sustaining Leadership Council:

Photo by Darron Silva

Mary Ann Bindley; Joanne D. Brown; Grace B. Evenstad; Geren W. Fauth; Leslie K. Fogg; Donna S. Hall; Nancy H. Hamill; Barbara J. Hills; Jerrilyn M. Hoffmann; Manisha Kapani; Kathleen Kapnick; Melissa Keiswetter; Linda Koehn; Paula J. Malone; Jill M. Miller; Barbara L. Morrison; Donna D. Nelson; Kathleen C. Rooney; Wynnell Schrenk; Patrice Schoonmaker; F. Annette Scott; Karen M. Scott; Lynne Shotwell; Mary S. Smith; Vicky C. Smith; Shelly Stayer; Susan Stielow; Jenny W. Sutton; Connie Vandenberg; Carol A. Walter; Shirley Z. Welsh; and Kathy E. Woods 