Look out, Hallmark! A growing number of South Florida charities now offer their own holiday cards.
Here's a sampling:
* United Way of Dade County enlisted the talents of local artists -- among them, such well-known painters as Marcie Ziv, the Coconut Grove artist noted for her three-dimensional animals, and Juan Carlos Urquiola, the United Way's art director. The United Way also recruited some unheralded artists, such as two young children in the Notre Dame Day Care Center and Coconut Grove Cares' The Barnyard, whose work is unsigned, and Belinda Rodabaugh, a young artist in the Big Sisters program.
* The Hebrew Academy Women, the fund-raising arm of Miami Beach's Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy, also looked to student artists, such as Shelly Varon, a senior there, and Rena Bunder, a junior, to illustrate its cards. The greetings are printed in English and Hebrew, and the illustrations depict the
artists' interpretations of Jewish symbols and Old Testament architecture. This year's assortment also features a Mazel Tov "good wishes" card by Joy Levine and a birthday card by Isaac Mamane, both seniors at the Hebrew Academy.
* Lighthouse of Broward County (formerly called Fort Lauderdale Lighthouse for the Blind) goes
recyclable paper cards one better. Volunteers collect used greeting cards year-round and then rebuild them. In the decade it's been doing this, Lighthouse has raised more than $30,000 for its programs for the visually impaired.
And, from Monday to Jan. 31, Metro-Dade's Recycling Management Committee and the Environmental Advisory Task Force will collect used holiday cards to benefit the Superintendent's Scholarship Fund, Arise Foundation's Enviro-Cops and the Dade public school system's mentor program. The cards will be reassembled by kids who are being held at Metro-Dade corrections and rehabilitative facilities. They will be sold next year by Dade County public school students.
Drop-off boxes for used cards will be set up at Metrorail stations and Dade schools, among other locations. Metro-Dade garbage pickup customers will also be able to place their cards inside paper bags and leave them in their recycling bins for pickup.
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