Because It's Nice

Car Wash Hires 35 Autistic Employees; Rising Tide Opened Last Week in Parkland

By Deirdra Funcheon Tue., Apr. 9 2013 at 7:05 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
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Stellajo1976 via Flickr
John D'Eri wanted to create a business where his autistic 21-year-old son, Andrew, could work and thrive. So John, along with his other son, Thomas, founded the Rising Tide Car Wash in Parkland, which opened last week. With 35 autistic employees, the company claims to be the "largest single-store retail employer of individuals with autism in the U.S." and one of the largest overall employers of people with autism, according to a news release.

Autism Works says unemployment among adults is hard to quantify since the disease has spiked only in the past two decades, but in 2010, the proportion of people with disabilities aged 16 to 65 who were working was less than one-half that of people without a disability (29 percent versus 64 percent), based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And in 2009, the percent of young adults with autism who had a job was about half that of all young adults with disabilities.

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Because It's Nice

Should Broward County Require Government Contractors to Hire Locals?

By Deirdra Funcheon Tue., Mar. 12 2013 at 8:35 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
Dale Holness.jpg
Commissioner Holness
Bullying is bad, right?

Well, what if the bullying comes from a bunch of pastors and church leaders who are trying to bully / prod / embarrass / force county commissioners into doing something good for the community?

BOLD Justice (Broward Organized Leaders Doing Justice) is a group comprised of members from 20 different congregations in Broward County. Each year, the group chooses one community problem -- in the past, it has tackled drug rehabilitation and public housing -- then spends the year devising potential solutions. Once a year, the group hosts a big meeting and invites all the congregants from its various churches -- several thousand show up. They also invite politicians and put them on the spot as they ask them publicly: Are you going to support this measure or not?

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Because It's Nice

Gentle Carousel, Florida Nonprofit, Brought Mini Horse Therapy to Sandy Hook Survivors

By Deirdra Funcheon Thu., Jan. 17 2013 at 5:59 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
peanut.jpg
The Ridge Equestrian Center
Catherine riding Peanut. (How can anyone look at this picture and still believe that guns are good?)
Let's stop wasting our attention on the crazy mofos insisting that the Sandy Hook massacre didn't happen and direct our precious mental energy over to a group that is doing something positive for Newtown.

Gentle Carousel is a Florida-based nonprofit organization that brings miniature therapy horses to visit and cheer up people in need -- such as elderly people in hospices or nursing homes or kids sick with cancer or other terminal illnesses or at-risk kids who need a little incentive to learn how to read. As far as owner Debbie Garcia-Bengochea knows, there's no other similar organization operating at a scope like this -- with 32 horses, that runs 100 percent on a volunteer basis, that never turns down a request, and that serves 18,000 people a year.

Two days ago, Garcia-Bengochean and her team returned from the horses' first trip to see snow -- in Newtown, Connecticut.

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Badassery

International Space Station Visible Over South Florida for Six Minutes Today

By Deirdra Funcheon Wed., Jan. 2 2013 at 10:26 AM
Categories: Badassery, Because It's Nice, Science
space_station.jpg
Commander Chris Hadfield
Astronauts overshare and tweet pics of their bathroom.
Start off the new year right by nerding out and impressing your friends today at 6:03 p.m., when the International Space Station will be visible over South Florida for about six minutes.

Yes, the station is visible to the naked eye as it cruises 200 miles above the Earth. NASA says it's the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon, and it has been described as looking like a star (at night) or like a fast-moving plane (in the day).

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International Space Station, NASA
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Activism

Got a Camera for Christmas? Donate Your Old One to Women in India

By Deirdra Funcheon Thu., Dec. 27 2012 at 8:37 AM
Categories: Activism, Badassery, Because It's Nice
Nicole Jaquis 

In 2001, twentysomething Nicole Jaquis, who'd grown up down here in Wellington and then moved to Boston, left her job and joined some friends who were making a documentary in India about the Kumbh Mela -- one of the biggest gatherings on planet Earth, which you've probably never heard of. 

After living there for about four months, and watching about 70 million people come down to bathe peacefully together in the Ganges River for the purification ritual, Jaquis was hooked. Though she came back to the States, and worked in New York City as a web designer and teaching multimedia to kids, she kept venturing back to India. 

About three years ago, she headed over again -- it was supposed to be for a year, but she hasn't come back since. She's volunteering as a teacher and started her own organization, Ascetics with Cameras, that gives cameras to women who often have no documentation of their families or culture. Some have never seen a photo of themselves. They are often photographed by tourists and National Geographic shutterbugs, but until now, never had the power to create or control images for themselves. 

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ascetics with cameras, donate used camera, India, kumbh mela, nicole jaquis, wellington high school
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Because It's Nice

Donald Trump and Company: South Florida Celebrity Christmas Tweets

By Terrence McCoy Tue., Dec. 25 2012 at 9:21 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
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How the celebrities tweet in the new year.
Christmas Day. Now is the time to spend time with family, read a book, listen to Christmas jams, open gifts, and, if you're a South Florida celebrity living in a postmodern age, reach for your Twitter feed to dispatch the good tidings.

Because apparently it's not Christmas unless it's an Instagram Christmas.

Bron Bron has been has loquacious as always. He's sent out four separate Christmas tweets, one of which informed us he won't be returning our holiday well-wishes -- because, well, he's just TOO POPULAR and that would take TOO MUCH TIME.

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Celebrities, Christmas, Donald Trump, LeBron James
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Because It's Nice

Wayne Huizenga Gets a Boulevard Named After Him in Fort Lauderdale as a Birthday Gift

By Chris Joseph Wed., Dec. 5 2012 at 11:01 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
Wayne Huizenga 125.jpg

When you celebrate a birthday, your friends buy you a Hallmark card and make fun of you for being old and then take you out for drinks.

But when rich people celebrate a birthday, their friends name a whole street after them.

Business magnate; Waste Management and Blockbuster founder; onetime owner of the Florida Marlins, the Florida Panthers, and the Miami Dolphins; and all-around super-rich guy H. Wayne Huizenga is having SE Ninth Street between Federal Highway and Cordova Road named after him as a gift for his 75th birthday.

His birthday is on December 29.

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Wayne Huizenga
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Because It's Nice

Why MTV's Real World Needs Local Party Animal Anthony Crapella

By Chris Sweeney Wed., Jul. 18 2012 at 5:00 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
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Anthony Crapella
It's easy to hate Anthony Crapella. He's loud and sarcastic and has a penchant for dropping his pants and streaking through crowds.

"My goal is to get famous before I'm famous," he boasts.

At first glance, the unemployed 25-year-old Coral Springs party bro looks like he just stepped off the assembly line of a guido factory. Gauges in each ear, an off-centered chin piercing, and shaved head accent his Italian complexion.

"You either love me or hate me," Crapella says. "I'm a good character. I'm a good face for reality TV."

And that's his ambition.

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Anthony Crapella, MTV, Real World
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Because It's Nice

Fourth of July Fireworks: Your Broward County Guide to Explosions

By Rich Abdill Tue., Jul. 3 2012 at 9:15 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
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NICHOLAS, PUT THAT BACK!
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July! A glorious celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by our founding fathers some 236 years ago. It is a day of great historical weight, and there is no better way to commemorate the occasion than to sit in a field and watch things blow up.

And when it comes to watching things blow up, you rather obviously have two options: Do it yourself or watch somebody else do it. We've got you covered in either case.

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Fourth of July
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Because It's Nice

Hector Picard Fights Through Beryl Rains, Flat Tires, South Carolina, and a Bruised Butt

By Chris Sweeney Tue., Jun. 5 2012 at 5:00 AM
Categories: Because It's Nice
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On Monday morning, while most of you were sucking down coffees and lamenting the Miami Heat's near comeback, Hector Picard, a double-arm amputee, set out for a 103-mile bike ride from North Carolina to somewhere in Virginia. 

A few weeks back, we told you about Picard, a local legend who had the majority of both arms amputated after an accident sent 13,000 volts through his body. To mark the 20-year anniversary of the accident and raise awareness of the I Will Foundation, Picard decided to ride his bike from Fort Lauderdale to New York City. 

Here's a quick update on his journey thus far, based on Facebook updates Picard has been posting throughout the trip. Spoiler alert: South Carolina seems terrible.

 

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Hector Picard, I Will Foundation
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