JARC Florida

Disabilities Nonprofit

Thursday is the best day of the week for Harriet Levine. That’s when the Boca Raton resident volunteers at the library at JARC Florida.

Three hours a week, she dedicates her time to the organization. An aspiring novelist dictates his words to her and she records them. She reads cookbooks to an elderly man. She does something different with each client depending on their needs.

“I’m like their bonus mother,” she says. “They hug me. If they’re upset, they talk to me.”

She always leaves with a smile on her face.

“I walk in there and I go into a zone,” she says. “I never thought I would be this way. I love every minute I’m there. It’s rewarding seeing them come up to me and smile because I’m there that day.”

JARC serves nearly 200 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in its group homes and independent living arrangements in Boca Raton and Delray Beach. They also offer apartments for those who don’t need 24-hour supervision. JARC hosts job training programs and helps their clients get jobs within the community to help give them a sense of independence, purpose and empowerment. JARC was created in the mid-1980s to respond to the needs of families with adult children who have developmental disabilities.

Levine raised her kids on Long Island and practiced family law for many years in New York City. Her and her husband, Ed, have always been active in charities like Birthright, United Jewish Appeal (UJA) and Jewish Family Services (JFS).

When her husband retired, they moved to Boca Raton. She wanted to spend her time doing something worthy.

“I live in a world where canasta and mahjong do it for a lot of people,” says the mother of three and grandmother whose family lives locally. “They haven’t done it for me.” Her husband is active with his own charities. “But I wanted to do my thing.”

Levine hopes to expand her volunteer time at JARC by working as a tutor in a training room next year.

JARC Florida, 21160 95th Ave. South, Boca Raton, 561- 558-2550, jarcfl.org

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