Letters: Women's Board marks five decades of service to pediatric patients at Wolfson

The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital is celebrating its Golden Jubilee and 50 years of community service.

The Women’s Board raises awareness and funds for Wolfson Children's Hospital — the only dedicated children’s inpatient health care facility in the region — and supports its mission to provide the highest quality of advanced pediatric health care regardless of ability to pay. Since 1973, The Women’s Board has raised more than $35 million in support of Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Two annual fundraisers, The Winter Design Show and Florida Forum speaker series, enable the board to donate more than $1 million a year to Wolfson.

This year marks a new beginning for The Winter Design Show, a reimagining of the Art & Antiques Show of years past. The Winter Design Show: Flaunting the First Coast will feature the work of top designers, artists and antiques. There will be special guest speakers, including TV personality Ty Pennington, and a Children’s Fashion Show featuring current and former Wolfson patients. The show runs Dec. 2-4 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center.

The Florida Forum speaker series returns with the world’s most decorated track and field athlete, Allyson Felix, on Jan. 18. Since 1992 the Florida Forum has been honored to host renowned speakers from across the world.  

The Women’s Board is in its final year of a $4 million pledge to endow programs, services and equipment for the state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Center inside the newly opened Borowy Family Critical Care Tower at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. The Women's Board is also beginning a campaign to raise $1.5 million for a new neonatal and pediatric critical care transport ambulance.

Please join The Women’s Board in supporting Wolfson Children’s Hospital to ensure the best health care for every child who comes through the hospital’s doors.

Robin Albaneze, president, The Women's Board of Wolfson Children's Hospital  

Storm victims turn to Habitat

More than 18,000 homes across Southwest and Central Florida were reported to have been destroyed or suffered major damage in the wake of Hurricane Ian. Damage estimates by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration exceeded $50 billion, making Ian one of the costliest hurricanes in Florida’s history.

Previous experience has demonstrated that recovery from a storm like Ian is likely to take many years. As communities begin the hard work to build back, Hurricane Nicole likely set some of those initial efforts on their heels.

Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the state have been actively engaged in efforts to help Florida communities in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ian’s landfall, but also long-term recovery through the assessment and repair of damaged homes, and planning for the construction of new affordable homes.

Storms like Hurricane Ian tend to most adversely impact the lower-income populations that Habitat serves. As one of the largest nonprofit housing organizations in Florida, Habitat is uniquely positioned to help those most in need rebuild stability through safe and resilient shelter.

To build back the place we all call home, Habitat calls on the greater Florida community to support our efforts to ensure that everyone — at the end of the storm — has a safe place to call home. Together, we can do that.

Though we are unlikely to know what impact Nicole will have on our communities for days to come, we know for certain that there is a need now for your continued support.

To help fund recovery efforts related to Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole, visit the Habitat for Humanity of Florida Hurricane Fund. These resources will be allocated to Habitat affiliates in communities across the state where recovery efforts are and will be taking place.

Roxanne Young, executive director, Habitat for Humanity of Florida  

The post-Trump era begins

Regardless of one's political sympathies, Ron DeSantis performed a blowout for re-election, especially after barely eking out a win for his first term.

So often I hear comments from both sides of the aisle that DeSantis has a similar agenda to Trump's, but without the drama. Polls are starting to show that is a prevailing sentiment after at first looking like it would be a hard slog to outshine the former president.

Many of Trump's endorsed midterm candidates didn't win their contests. So, along with the spiteful and lengthy diatribe he issued trashing DeSantis soon after the election, it is beginning to appear that many registered Republicans are ready to move on — without Trump.

For so long, Trump was seen as a counter-puncher, but this time he took the offensive. I'm willing to bet he knows his time is almost up and he won't go down gracefully.

The next two years, in all things relating to politics, will be an eternity. It will be interesting to see where we go from here.

Rob Richardson, Jacksonville Beach

Support for DACA urgently needed

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) is in peril, and Congress must act before the end of the year to create permanent protections for the hundreds of thousands of people who were brought to this country as children, making it the only place they have ever called home. Many DACA recipients — also known as “Dreamers” — hold essential jobs that strengthen our communities. Ending DACA could leave labor market sectors already experiencing shortages in even worse conditions.

Without permanent protections, families will be separated. According to the Center for American Progress, roughly 300,000 U.S. children have at least one parent who is a DACA recipient. These children could lose their parents to detention or deportation.

This is an opportunity for bipartisanship in Congress to support Dreamers and keep families together. Americans have supported a legislative fix for nearly a decade. It is long overdue and critical to our community.

Nadine Hughey, St. Augustine

Some schools follow mask evidence

Thank you to the school board members around the state who followed the best available evidence to keep the mask mandate and protect our students. A recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine shows that masks do work to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

School board members must answer to all taxpayers and to all the parents of the district-run school students.

I hope the majority of the Duval County School Board will again follow the evidence and approve the evidence-based curriculum for sex education. Parents who prefer to teach this valuable information to their kids at home can out of the course taught at the district-run school.

Susan Aertker, education committee chair, National Organization for Women — Jacksonville

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Letters: Women's Board marks 50 years of service to sick children