People are brought together for a reason

Back in 2011, L&H Partners Realty & Construction had the opportunity to participate in the construction bidding process for Royal Palm Tennis Club’s new clubhouse. The final design and engineering represented culmination of a 20-year adventure of study, discussion and finally, approved plans. L&H was ultimately awarded the contract to build the project.

During the construction process, we developed a professional relationship with Tom Weinkle, who at the time was Chair of the Building Committee. Once the project was completed, our business relationship grew to be a strong friendship. We learned that only a few years ago, Tom’s father, Julian Weinkle, like many others, had lost his battle with cognitive decline and memory loss due to Vascular Dementia. Dementia is a broad category of memory related illnesses that include Alzheimer’s.

Three weeks ago, unbeknown to us, Eric Hechtman, Director of Tennis at Royal Palm was approached by a USTA consultant Andres Pedroso about developing a fundraiser to benefit Ricardo Acuna. Ricardo had coached both Eric and Andres early in their careers. Eric and Andres rallied a group of tennis professionals to participate in an exhibition at Royal Palm on March 30.

Eric approached L&H Partners Realty & Construction with the opportunity to participate. Seeing from our own eyes how the condition touched people close to our own family, and as playing members of Royal Palm, we were thrilled to help underwrite the event and join club members in supporting such a worthy cause.

Yesterday evening, with Eric and Andres’ help, ATP Men’s Tour Professionals Brian Baker, Robby Ginepri, Fernando Gonzalez, Brian Gottfried, Giovanni Lapentti, Nicolás Massú, Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul, Raleigh Smith and National USTA Tennis Coach Diego Moyano and National USTA Tennis Coach Diego Moyano came together with played exhibition matches to benefit Ricardo. The turnout was great and L&H Partners was proud to be a part of the event.

We hope our participation will help provide relief to all those who have been touched by Alzhemer’s and Dementia. Our thoughts are with them.