Good News - June 2021

OUT AND ABOUT 42 JUNE 2021 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition Florida CEOs showed up to give time, funds, and voice in support of affordable workforce housing during Habi- tat for Humanity of Broward’s 2nd annual CEO Build on Sat- urday, May 15. The landscap- ing work took place at Habitat’s historic 76-home community in Pompano Beach. “These CEO Build partici- pants collectively lead more than 430,000 employees,” said Nancy Robin CEO and Execu- tive Director of Habitat for Hu- manity of Broward. “They understand the critical need for affordable workforce housing and are determined to work to- gether to find a solution.” Event co-chairs Brent Burns, President and CEO of JM Family Enterprises, Inc. and Keith Koenig, CEO of City Fur- niture, led the build that took place at A Rick Case Habitat Community and brought CEOs of leading national and local companies to cooperatively re- spond to the important issue of affordable housing for Broward County’s workforce. "Now, more than ever, we are in desperate need of af- fordable housing, as families get back on their feet following the global pandemic," said Burns. "Thanks to Habitat for Humanity of Broward for creat- ing an opportunity for business leaders in our community to work side-by-side with peers who also believe in this incred- ible cause. We are excited to help welcome these families to their new homes." The pandemic has demonstrated the need for safe, decent, and affordable shelter is greater than ever. In- vestment in affordable work- force housing helps families build wealth and stimulates growth necessary for a healthy, equitable society. Before COVID-19, one in seven households spent more than half of their income on housing. Today, that number is esti- mated to be one in four. Habitat for Humanity of Broward offers working families a way to earn an affordable mortgage kept to 30 percent of household in- come through the sweat equity they invest. The success of the Habitat Broward model has provided hundreds of families with the economic empower- ment that comes with home ownership. Chip LaMarca, Florida House of Representatives also took part in the event along with corporations such asAdvanced Roofing, Amerant Bank, BDO, Burdette Beckmann Inc., Cas- tle Group, Celebrity Cruises, Chen Moore and Associates, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Col- liers International, Denison Yachting, The Festus & Helen Stacy Foundation, Inc., GA Telesis GL Homes, Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, Health Business Solutions, HEICO Corporation, Holy Cross Health, Hudson Family Foundation, Kaufman Lynn Construction, Keith and Asso- ciates, Memorial Healthcare System, Merrimac Ventures, Mesirow Financial, Miami Dol- phins, Miller Construction Com- pany, Multi-Bank Securities, Inc., Pirtle Construction Com- pany, PNC Bank, Ranger Tech- nical Resources, Rick Case Automotive Group, Right Man- agement, Rogers, Morris & Ziegler LLP; Seawood Builders, Seminole Casino Co- conut Creek, Seminole Classic Casino, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood FL, SIXT rent a car, South Florida Business Journal, Stiles Corpo- ration, Structural Wood Sys- tems, Summit Advertising, The Kitchenworks, Walter Duke + Partners andWSVNChannel 7. Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Hu- manity of Broward brings peo- ple together to build homes, communities and hope. Habi- tat Broward offers a “hand up” not a “hand out” to low to very low-income families who are unable to qualify for conven- tional financing but are willing to work hard to improve their family’s lives and break the in- tergenerational cycle of poverty. For more information visit habitatbroward.org South Florida CEOs Pitch In At Habitat Broward’s 2nd Annual CEO Build. s Brent Burns and Rita Case with your book because it is written in a language which is inaccessible to me. The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weak- nesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends. No in- terpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this. These refined interpretations are naturally very diverse, and have virtually nothing to do with the original text. For me the unadulterated Jewish religion is, like all other re- ligions, an incarnation of primitive superstition. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and in whose mentality I feel profoundly anchored, still for me does not have any different kind of dignity from all other peoples. As far as my experi- ence goes, they are in fact no better than other human groups, even if they are protected from the worst excesses by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot perceive anything "chosen" about them. In general, it pains me that you claim a privileged position and try to defend it by two walls of pride, an external one as a human being and an internal one as a Jew. As a human being you claim to a certain extent a dispensation from the causality which you otherwise accept, as a Jew a privileged status for monotheism. But a limited causality is no longer a causality at all, as indeed our wonderful Spin- oza originally recognized with absolute clarity. And the animistic conception of nat- ural religions is in principle not cancelled out by monopolization. With such walls we can only attain a certain self-deception; but our moral efforts are not furthered by them. Quite the opposite. Now that I have expressed our differences in intellectual convictions com- pletely openly, it is still clear to me that we are very close to each other in the es- sentials, that is, in our evaluations of human behavior. What divides us is only intellectual padding or the "rationalization" in Freudian language. So I think that we would understand each other very well if we conversed about concrete things. With friendly thanks and best wishes, Yours, A. Einstein “*1 in English in the original”. (continued from page 4) ALBERT EINSTEIN and “The God Letter”