South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
‘Hometown Heroes’ awarded for making a difference
Honoring those who have made a difference in the community, the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce recently revealed the winners of its annual “Hometown Heroes of Delray Beach” awards.
Celebrating its award recipients at Arts Garage in Delray Beach on Dec. 9, the ceremony was streamed on the chamber’s Facebook page. Following the ceremony, the chamber had an in-person, socially-distanced “Meet the Heroes” reception at the Sundy House in Delray Beach.
Receiving over 250 nominations, the selection committee and Chamber President and CEO Stephanie Immelman opted to increase the number of categories from four to eight.
“Every year, the Delray Beach Chamber does our annual business awards,” she said. “So, the four awards that we give every year are our Business of the Year, Business Person of the Year, Nonprofit of the Year, and the Crystal Palm Award for Community Service... But this year, which has been a difficult year and unusual, we felt like it would be great to honor all of the heroes in our community.”
Opening nominations in early
November, the chamber put out its initiative to its membership base as well as the community.
The committee used to narrow down the nominations included winners from last year’s contest: Community Greening, Bella Reina Spa, Roots and Wings and Dr. Marcie Young of Young Dentistry.
“I feel that the Delray Chamber is not just made up of businesspeople. We have an entire community to serve,” Immelman said. “So, it was important to recognize the First Responder of the Year, the Educator of the Year, the Medical Professional of the Year and the Inspirational Leader of the Year. Those were the other new four categories that we added for this year.”
The 2020 winners are: Emanuel Dupree Jackson
Jr. and Marcus Darrisaw, EJS Project (The Crystal Palm Award for Community Service)
Arts Garage (Nonprofit of the Year)
Amanda Perna, The House of Perna (Business Person of the Year)
Death or Glory (Business of the Year)
Latoya Dixon, Village Academy (Educator of the Year)
Javaro Sims, Delray Beach Police Department (First Responder of the Year)
Nursing teams at Bethesda Hospital and Delray Medical Center (Healthcare Professional of the Year)
Jeff Periman (Inspirational Leader of the Year)
Visit delraybeach.com/ hometownheroes/.