Humanitarian dinner to honor Mindy Solomon, Tampa Bay Rays

Matt Silverman Community activist Mindy Solomon and the Tampa Bay Rays will share the honors at the 26th Annual Humanitarian Award dinner, sponsored by the combined Jewish Community Center of Pinellas County and the Golda Meir/ Kent Jewish Center.

The dinner will be Wednesday, Jan. 27 at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. The evening begins at 6 p.m with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by a sit-down kosher dinner. Solomon is being honored as a proponent of volunteerism and personal involvement in social service organizations, educational and art institutions, and the Jewish community at large. In addition to being a practicing artist, collector and now gallery owner, she has been a tireless volunteer at numerous Jewish and secular non-profit organizations, ever since she, her husband Dr. Michael Solomon, and their family moved here in 1994. She has been honored several times for her community activities.

Mindy Solomon Active in the Jewish Federation of Pinellas and Pasco Counties, Solomon has been the president of Women’s Philanthropy and the cochair of the Lions of Judah Endowment Fund. She is a board member of National Women’s Philanthropy, an arm of the Jewish Federations of North America, and, until a few months ago, was co-chair of the Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival. She still serves as a committee member.

Solomon is the current corresponding secretary of the combined Jewish Community Center of Pinellas County and the Golda Meir Kent Jewish Center. Previously she served in many board positions at the Golda Meir/Kent Jewish Center including president.

She was the art teacher and Outreach Coordinator at the Pinellas County Jewish Day School through the 2008 – 2009 school year when she left the school to follow her dream of owning and operating an art gallery. She opened the Mindy Solomon Gallery last year in downtown St. Petersburg.

With her passion for art, Solomon serves on the Arts and Culture Committee for the City of Dunedin and the Advisory Board at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. She is also on the Board of the Florida Craftsman Gallery and supports art programming at the Florida Holocaust Museum.

The Tampa Bay Rays are being honored for the significant charitable contributions, made through the Rays Baseball Foundation and Rays in the Community programs.

At the dinner, Rays’ President Matt Silverman will represent the Tampa Bay Rays. He serves as a board member of the Rays Baseball Foundation Board, the Hillsborough Education Foundation, the Tampa Bay Partnership’s Council of Governors and Starting Right Now. As one of the youngest team presidents in the history of Major League Baseball, Silverman is responsible for the team’s day-to-day operations and improving the total Rays fan experience.

Key contributors to the Foundation include Rays players, owners, sponsors and fans. The Rays Baseball Foundation has invested over $1.2 million in the region over the past two years.

The Rays Baseball Foundation provides funds to the community in three ways:

• assistance to local non-profits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast, Girls Inc. and Devereux Kids.

• assistance to programs for Tampa Bay at-risk youth.

• provides new or renovated youth ball fields in underserved neighborhoods

The Tampa Bay Rays also are involved in outreach initiatives through their Rays in the Community program in partnerships with the United Way of Tampa Bay, Moffitt Cancer Center, the Heart Gallery, Earthwatch Institute and local foundations that support

education.

Cost to attend the 26th Annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner is $180 per person. Contact Vivienne MacDonald, (727) 736- 1494, for event information, to make a reservation or request an invitation. Contact Todd Malberg, (727) 321-6100, to discuss sponsorship opportunities.

The Jewish Community Center of Pinellas County and the Golda Meir Kent Jewish Center have recently combined efforts to serve the needs of Pinellas County countywide.

The Humanitarian Dinner is the major annual fundraiser for the JCCs. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit the combined organizations and Camp Kadima.

The South County facility is located at 5023 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL the North County facility will relocate to 2075 Sunnydale Blvd., Clearwater in the next few weeks.

For information on programming at both centers, call (727) 321-6100 or visit www.pinellasjcc.org.