Jonathan Bowman Young Leadership Award winner

Jonathan Bowman, tje Edward N. Ludin Young Leadership Award winner, with (L-R) grandmother Selma, wife Melanie, and mom Judy. The Joint Annual Meeting was “a celebration of our community and its accomplishments over the past year – and all the individuals and agencies who work together to fulfill our collective mission: to provide social services, education, rescue, relief and support to our Jewish neighbors both locally and overseas,” said emcee Brian Rolfe, Federation Vice President, and Chair of Strategic Planning.

By tradition, the emcee is always the winner of the previous year’s memorial Edward N. Ludin Young Leadership Award, and this year was no exception with Rolfe presenting the Ludin Award to Jonathan Bowman.

Biographical information indicates Bowman’s insight into the senior health care industry is based on personal experience. He always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, Steven, a doctor of internal medicine, after seeing what a difference he makes in people’s lives every day.

A native of Clearwater, he was in high school when he got a first-hand lesson in the need for home care services. His mother, Judy, battled breast cancer and the in-home caregivers assigned to help take care of her made a tremendous difference in his family’s life and his mother’s well being.

Bowman was born and raised in Clearwater, and has always been interested in personal and leadership development.

Immediately after receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of North Carolina, he pursued his dream to build an in home health care company to serve seniors. so that seniors could maintain a high quality of life and get the help they need, when they need it. The result, Harmony Home Health, is growing rapidly and changing the lives of seniors every day.

He is also very active in the community, a legacy he says was passed down from his late grandfather, David Bowman. Jonathan has served as an Executive Board Member for the Jewish Federation since 2006, is the Young Adult Division Chair, and along with his wife, serves as Super Sunday Chair.

Bowman is also an alumnus of Leadership Pinellas and the Sandler Sales Institute, and is the forum chair for Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

Replant, Renew, Revive

The Federation’s Young Adult Division, led by Jonathan and Melanie Bowman, spearheaded the Replant, Renew, Revive initiative to help rebuild after the devastating fires in December in Israel’s Carmel Forest. They raised enough money to purchase more than 1,100 trees — a full grove. Jewish National Fund board member Byron Kolitz of Tampa was on hand for the presentation of a special certificate for this effort.

PJ Library

Prior to the Annual Meeting, a special guest Rosalie Eisen, Community Development Director for the P.J. Library, a national Jewish children’s book program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, met with religious school directors and other leaders to encourage participation in the progam. Pinellas and Pasco counties, through the Federation, participate in the national program which provides age-appropriate storybooks to Jewish children monthly. Eisen said the PJ Library is a way of ensuring a Jewish community’s future.