Warehouse Watch

Meet the Project Team

Dean Borg: A BHH Board member since 2012, Borg is the founder of Ascend Properties and has overseen commercial real estate and construction projects for 30 years locally. When he first moved to Florida from New York, he joined developer Tom Crocker’s firm, which built Mizner Park and the building now referred to as the Boca Center. He helped negotiate BHH’s successful acquisition of this project building, formerly known as the Warehouse Pub. 

Richard Holt: Richard is a principal at Holt-Lee Construction, the firm contracted to transform our building into much-needed food storage space. Borg has worked with Holt for more than 25 years, having known him and his partner, Grant Lee, from when both were young construction managers. 

Meeting Needs During COVID and Beyond

Since the COVID-19 crisis, BHH has seen a doubling in the demand for its food programs, with more than 4,000 new families now signed up to receive pantry bags. Most of these are working families who have been undone by circumstances outside their control, like client Rick C. 

When the pandemic began, Rick's hospitality business "was ravaged" and "a lot of people were laid off." His wife works in the medical industry and also had mandatory shutdowns, so she wasn't able to work. "We are very proud people and we have never looked for assistance from anyone - we were always the ones giving. But now we had nowhere to turn," he said. 

"Boca Helping Hands helped us keep our dignity,” Rick said. “The entire staff makes people feel comfortable and wanted, like, 'We are here for you' and 'Don’t feel ashamed because there is no reason to feel ashamed; we are here to help and we will always be here to help.' 

With the completion of this new Warehouse space, BHH will have the capacity to feed an additional 27,000 clients over the next five-to-tend years – doubling the potential number of people we can help in the aftermath of this crisis and beyond. For more information about how you can help support this project, contact Development Manager Karen Swedenborg at karen@bocahelpinghands.org or 561-417-0913 ext. 202.