More than 200 guests gathered for the The Melissa Institute’s annual fundraiser on Mar. 16 at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens. Named after Melissa Aptman who was murdered in St. Louis in 1995 just after graduating college, the Miami-based nonprofit is dedicated to the preventing violence and promote safer communities. Board members and guests pictured are (l-r) Etiony Aldarondo, PhD, Provost at Carlos Abizu University; past president of The Melissa Institute Suzanne L. Keeley, PhD; Melissa’s mother, Lynn Aptman, MEd, president and founder of The Melissa Institute; executive director of The Melissa Institute Heather D. Winters, LMHC, MSEd.; vice president of The Melissa Institute Karyn I. Cunningham, UTD Government and Community Engagement Specialist and District 1 Councilmember Village of Palmetto Bay; Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia of the Eleventh Circuit’s GRACE Court (Growth Renewed through Acceptance, Change & Empowerment); Daniel A. Santisteban, PhD, Psychologist/Professor and director, Dunspaugh Dalton Community and Educational Well-Being Research Center, School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami. The Melissa Institute is based at the University of Miami’s Max Orovitz Building, 1507 Levante Ave., #331, Coral Gables, FL 33146. Contact the organization’s offices at info@melissainstitute.org or call 305-284-2930.
(Photo courtesy Kress Communications)
