The outstanding efforts of Warrior Homes teen volunteer Herman Kaufman on behalf of local veterans – and in honor of his late grandfather, a World War II fighter pilot – are being recognized by a regional coalition of nonprofits as among the top in Southwest Florida.
The Cape Coral-based Community Foundation has named Herman, a Community School of Naples junior, as one of three finalists for its Nonprofit Volunteer of the Year.
He’s one of fewer than 40 finalists among more than 300 nominees for the foundation’s Excellence in Nonprofit Performance Yearly (ENPY) Awards. Winners will be announced in early December at a Fort Myers ceremony.
Herman’s efforts on our behalf began years ago, after he and his family saw a TV news report about our early zoning battles with the city. He subsequently donated nearly $11,000 of his bar mitzvah money in 2022 to help end veterans’ homelessness – but Herman’s efforts didn’t stop there.
For many teens, their bar or bat mitzvah (for girls) marks the end of the journey, a culmination to be set aside in anticipation of starting high school, obtaining a driver’s license or other typical adolescent pursuits. In the case of Herman- it was only the start.
Joined by several classmates, he delivered $1,600 worth of grocery store gift cards for Delta House residents in the spring. The gift cards were collected during a two-week “Fueling Our Heroes” campaign at the Naples independent school and presented at a 90th birthday celebration for Delta House veteran Ron Fournier.
Herman never met his grandfather, who died in 2007 and for whom he is named. But he proudly wears his namesake’s dog tags – imprinted with an H for Hebrew to denote his Jewish faith.
This year, Herman and his classmates launched a new student group at their school. The Veterans Appreciation Club plans to hold quarterly fundraisers such as car washes and canned food drives, host a school-wide assembly and educational program on Veterans Day, and interview Warrior Homes’ residents and other local veterans as part of a multi-media, oral history project in collaboration with CSN educators.
Herman’s efforts have been covered in local media outlets including WINK News, Naples Press, Florida Weekly and ABC-7. We salute his volunteerism and applaud the well-deserved recognition.
