Florida’s Children First (FCF), the state’s premier child advocacy organization, has been presented $10,000 by financial executive Darran Blake, on behalf of the Estate of the Rosemary Duffy Larson Trust.
“It is because of the generous support of our donors and sponsors that we are able to continue our fight to protect society’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Howard Talenfeld, FCF President and Managing Partner of Talenfeld Law. “Darran has been involved with children’s charities in our community for many years, and we are grateful she thought of FCF for this wonderful contribution.”
Rosemary Duffy was the widow of JD Duffy, a lawyer and municipal judge from Columbus, Ohio. The Duffy’s moved to Fort Lauderdale in the 1970s and were very philanthropic, contributing to numerous charitable causes. Ms. Blake, who manages the Estate, suggested FCF because, as a former lawyer, Mr. Duffy wanted to contribute to causes with a legal focus on children.
Ms. Blake, Senior Vice President of Wealth Management at UBS Financial Services Inc., has long been a supporter of local charities. Recently, she raised more than $10,000 to help the more than 800 elderly people at the poverty level in Broward County with a new Goodman Jewish Family Servicesfood bank. She is a Broward Commissioner appointed member and Public Relations Chair of the Broward Cultural Council, which promotes and funds the public arts in Broward County. She also serves on the Board of the Broward Women's Alliance (BWA), raising scholarship money for women returning to school. She serves on the Nova Southeastern University Ambassadors Board and is on the board of PACE Center for Girls in Broward County and recently co-chaired the Empowerment of Girls Luncheon, which is held annually for more than 400 business leaders in the community. The South Florida Business Journal also recently selected her as a 2017 Influential Business Women Honoree.
Currently, Ms. Blake is leading an effort with United Way of Broward County and Nova Southeastern University called Take Me Seriously. The program aims to educate teenage girls on how to help their peers deal with issues like depression, bullying and avoidance of drug addictions through promoting leadership.
Earlier this year, she presented a donation of $10,000 on behalf of the Estate of Rosemary Duffy to Legal Aid Service of Broward County (LAS) and Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida (CCLA) at the 15th Annual For the Public Good fundraiser. These funds are used to support Children’s Advocacy Programs including the Tracey McPharlin Pro Bono Dependency Project. The goal of this initiative is to recruit, train and support attorneys who will carry on Tracey's work by representing at-risk children at all proceedings affecting their safety, permanency, health and well-being.
Florida’s Children First is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the rights of at-risk children and youth, especially those in foster care. Uniquely positioned as Florida’s premiere independent advocacy organization, the organization’s mission is to seek full representation of children and youth and obtain meaningful and sustainable improvement in Florida’s child serving systems. To learn more about FCF, please visit www.floridaschildrenfirst.org.
