Jerry Kaplan
Disabilities Nonprofit
Jerry Kaplan learned about JARC Florida over 10 years ago shortly after he and his late wife, Corie, and two children, Justin and Hayley, moved from New York.
JARC is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization in Boca Raton that provides residential, vocational, life skills and enrichment programs and services to educate and empower individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Kaplan is president of a Delray Beach company that sells spare and repair parts to the U.S. military in support of the warfighter.
Kaplan learned about JARC through his friends Carin and Scott Friedman. Their son, Gabe, who has autism, lives in a JARC group home, had recently been hired at a local restaurant and is JARC’s resident artist. One of JARC’s many programs is an Adult Day Training program, which teaches vocational skills to people with disabilities. Kaplan brought work to JARC for the program.
“It was good for us because we didn’t have enough people in our warehouse to do these large-volume jobs,” says Kaplan. He’d have JARC’s clients package and label many different materials. Kaplan’s company started to bid for contracts so that JARC could do the packaging.
“The more involved we became with the clients, the more we wanted to do for JARC as an organization.” This led the Kaplans to become involved in fundraising and volunteering for many JARC events.
Kaplan raves about the JARC clients. “I love watching the satisfaction they get having a sense of purpose and earning a paycheck,” he says. “They know what they’ll do with their money. It gives me a sense of accomplishment that I’m helping someone with a disability lead an ordinary life.”
In January, Kaplan hired one of JARC’s clients to do administrative and clerical work in his office.
“Just because someone has an intellectual or developmental disability doesn’t mean they can’t perform at a high level or that they can’t do a job. They may be unable to do it at the same rate as a typical person. But in certain instances, they can do it better than a typical person.”
JARC Florida, 21160 95th Ave. South, Boca Raton, 561-558-2550, jarcfl.org
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