Philanthropy: Lifting Others Up

Isabel Anchin Becker & the Campus of Caring

When Isabel Anchin Becker decided to leave her 28-year career as a realtor in New York and head to the Sunshine State, she knew just where to go. While her friends mostly chose the East Coast, she knew about Sarasota because her parents relocated here when they retired. “I visited them a few times and loved the cultural opportunities it offered, as well as the friendly spirit,” Isabel says. It wasn’t long before she made the switch from snowbird in 2010 to fulltime resident in 2015.

When Sarasota became her new home for good, Isabel chose to get involved. She checked out a lot of the local organizations and nonprofits, then heard good things about The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center. So, she set up a tour to see what many call the Campus of Caring. “When I walked in the front door,” she says, “I saw my mother’s art hanging on the walls.”

While it was a pleasant surprise to see her artist mother’s work displayed, what impressed Isabel most was the good work being done there. “I was thrilled to see how they supported other organizations.” She loved how the not-for-profit philanthropic proprietor of the five-acre human services campus provided affordable space for 20 nonprofits to work, meet, and interact on a daily basis.

“I soon became more than just a donor,” Isabel explains. Among other things, she served on the committee for the April 2018 Collaboration Celebration at Selby Gardens that honored three agencies nominated by the campus community for their “collaboration, growth, and engagement”—Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County, More Too Life, and Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness. Last year, she stepped up as co-chair of the event. Because Isabel is an artist like her mother, she was able to contribute her talents in helping with design work, collaborating with staff to create the look and feel of the invitations, program books, and beyond.

“I do art differently than my mother,” she admits, explaining that her mother, Anne Anchin, was an accomplished painter. “She had unlimited patience that I don’t have. I like to sew and quilt, and that’s how I really got started.” These days, Isabel creates framed works of fabric art made from photos that she’s taken, which get printed directly onto fabric that she then sews. A collection of this work entitled “Fabric Play Arts” was exhibited in 2015 at the USF College of Education David C. Anchin Center in Tampa. More of Isabel’s work is now available for sale at the Selby gift shop, she proudly adds. “I’m so fascinated by the amazing orchids there,” she says.

When asked where her sense of philanthropy comes from, Isabel notes how, at one time, her father was on 13 different boards here in Sarasota. “And at age 85,” she adds, “he was given an award by the superintendent for his work in education.” As a retiree, her father created projects that became mandatory at teacher programs at colleges, where they learned how to impart important life skills to kids. “He felt they didn’t know how to cope with living in the world,” she says, so he built that education into school programs. During her father’s extensive volunteering, he met Dr. Kay Glasser, founder of The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center, a kindred spirit who also believed in finding ways to effectively help others. “A strong ideal can capture an imagination and control a life,” Dr. Glasser once said, which both Isabel and her parents believed, as well.

Isabel doesn’t serve on 13 boards like her father did, but like her mother, she remains consistently active in philanthropy. While she’s a member of the National Council of Jewish Women, Isabel also serves as a trustee on the boards of the Aviva senior life campus and The Sarasota Ballet. But Isabel continues to be drawn to the work done at the Center. “I care about people having healthy minds and bodies. I want the elderly to live well and have a positive frame of mind. I want the people who need it to have the wherewithal to get the services they need.” She points out that Glasser/Schoenbaum recently helped tenant partner CenterPlace Health expand their services by installing a new dental facility for young children. “It’s so exciting to see organizations such as that be able to thrive there.”

Isabel herself continues to thrive, too. What’s her secret to success? “I keep a positive attitude and I keep busy. If things need fixing, I go fix them. I don’t dwell on ‘should we do this?’ or ‘what about that?’ where three months can go by and nothing happens. I jump in and do it.” Part of that person-of-action mentality surely comes from raising four boys who’ve gone on to become successful men, including an artist working in virtual reality and a best-selling author. “They’ve all done so well,” she says about all four children.

One thing Isabel hopes for is that Glasser/Schoenbaum becomes better known in our community. “It’s kind of hidden,” she says. “But the leadership there is made up of wonderful, wonderful people. And anyone who hears about the campus immediately understands its value. We just need more to hear that important story.”

For more information on The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center, please visit GS-HumanServices.org or call 941.365.4545.