South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Philanthropist was always reaching higher, uplifting countless children and families
Rick and Rita Case worked to uplift countless children, families
“They are a really great family that cares about the community ... Rick Case was a great person to aspire to be.”
Larique Patterson
Whenever auto magnate Rick Case adopted a new line of cars to sell, he had one snap instinct: to be No. 1 in sales. But the same attitude applied to other parts of his life.
Case constantly wanted to achieve more for the charities he supported — whether they were on behalf of the thousands of at-risk children who were members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Broward County or low-income families seeking to buy their first homes through Habitat for Humanity.
Rita Case, his wife of 40 years and omnipresent partner in business and philanthropy, saw the trait play out time and time again. When her husband, who died last week at the age of 77, would sit down for the first time to help a charity launch a new campaign, he always exhorted them to beat the previous year’s results, she said.
That drive helped lift the Boys and Girls Club of Broward from a three-club organization in the 1980s to the dozen clubs in operation today. It’s helping dozens of families achieve the American dream of a first new home on a 10-acre tract of land in Pompano Beach through Habitat for Humanity. The Cases’ charitable foundation is underwriting full four-year scholarships for high school graduates who are members of the Boys and Girls Club.
“We joined the [club’s] board because we believed in helping disadvantaged children born into very difficult situations,” Rita Case said.
Collectively, the philanthropic efforts have fueled life-changing possibilities for incalculable numbers of Broward County residents in need of an economic lift.
Here are two of their stories.
Larique Patterson, Nova Southeastern scholarship student
Now a junior studying chemistry at Nova Southeastern University, Patterson said the school, his first and only choice, was out of reach until he applied and won one of the scholarships underwritten by the Cases. A Boys and Girls Club member, he recalled how the financial aid was the saving grace that took him to the next academic level.
“I knew I had the knowledge and skills,” he said. “It cost a lot of money. And I didn’t have the funds and my mother didn’t have the funds and I didn’t want to rack up debt. Getting into the school helped me get connections and a job. It made me more knowledgeable about the world. It was a great opportunity.”
Often, he thinks: “What would I had done if I hadn’t gotten a scholarship? What would I be doing right now?”
Patterson, who lost his father at age 11, says Rick Case “was like a father figure.”
“They are a really great family that cares about the community,” he said. “Rick Case was a great person to aspire to be.”
After graduation, he said, he intends to move on to pharmacy school, which he hopes will place him on a path to a career in research.
Theodore Lyons, Habititat for Humanity homeowner
On an undeveloped tract of land in Pompano Beach, “A Rick Case Habitat Community” is gradually morphing into a community of 77 single and two-story homes for lower-income families in search of their first home. There are 28 thus far.
The $18 million project is the largest Habitat has started in the county. Family home sponsors gift $80,000, which is applied to half of the home’s total cost. The balance is made up through smaller gifts and sponsorships and revenue from Habitat’s mortgage portfolio, according to the organization’s website.
Theodore Lyons, an Illinois native who works in maintenance for the Broward County School District, was among the first residents to move into the Pompano Beach development with his wife and three children.
“Obviously he and his wife helped build the infrastructure to get this movement going for myself and 76 other families that will live here,” Lyons said of Rick Case. “All of us who live in the community owe a lot to him and other sponsors like the Robert Taylor family who sponsored our home.”
“It’s just really a blessing,” he said.
“All of the families within this program are all deserving families who are all hardworking,” he said. “Thank God for people like Rick Case who reached out his hand. The world would be better if many of the people did what he did.
“When you get to the core of who somebody is what they do really defines who they are. That unselfish philanthropic spirit is tattooed on this community forever. It will never be forgotten here.”
Whatever it takes
To raise money, the Cases devised a sweeping series of fund-raising events designed to attract contributions from diverse demographic groups. There were western events at entrepreneur Ron Bergeron’s rodeo grounds in Davie and fundraisers on tony Fisher Island south of Miami Beach, In Boca Raton, the Cases spearheaded and helped underwrite the annual Concours d’Elegance, a three-day showcase of classic cars and motorcycles that raised $10 million for the Boys and Girls Club of Broward over 15 years.
For decades, the “Rick Case Bikes for Kids” program provided thousands of needy children with a bicycle during the holidays. Each year, employees who work for the Rick Case Auto Group formed up teams to raise money through the Broward Heart Walk for the American Heart Association.
“You can’t say ‘no’ to Rick Case,” said Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson, CEO of the Community Foundation of Broward, which helps the Cases with their charitable efforts, “I would say every person who encountered him in this community — whether buying a car or serving on a committee — he was one person you could not say ‘no’ to.”
Rick Case said ‘yes’ to Habitat for Humanity of Broward County when the organization acquired land in Pompano Beach to build affordable housing for low-income families but needed help to start building, said CEO Nancy Robin,
“Rick had the ability to see possibilities and think big,” Robin said. “He and Rita joined up with their dear friend, the late Ed Ansin, and gave the first million that ultimately lifted the largest opportunity for affordable home ownership in Broward County. Today the 77-home Rick Case Habitat Community is almost halfway home.”
Over the next year, Rita Case said last week, there will be a new initiative to help young people who are not college bound but who have the desire to learn a trade that will land them jobs through vocational training.
“Thank God for people like Rick Case who reached out his hand. The world would be better if many of the people did what he did.”
Theodore Lyons