| We would love to hear from you. Please contact us to talk about the things that are important to you and/or with any questions. President - Natalie Andre We are open to any and all suggestions and recommendations. President Natalie Andre - An activist since always, Natalie Andre settled into Palm Beach County in 1987 and joined NOW shortly after. After successfully campaigning with Vivian Burch and Jean Poleshuck for comprehensive sex-education while her children were attending public school, Natalie moved into leadership roles, including a stint as Membership Chair for Florida NOW. In 2004, she joined the March for Women’s Lives along with numerous members of South Palm Beach County NOW–Jean Poleshuck, Sheila and Bob Jaffe, Gloria Alpert, Maria Romero-Cuesta and her husband Skip Clements, Katie Dvorak and her parents, Joe and Barbara Dvorak, Allan Taylor, Gloria Stein, Roz Rothman, and several others.
Executive VP
In the 1970's she was an active feminist and a member of NYC NOW. She traveled for business, working in a mostly-male field - the Toy Industry. Ann was one of the first two women to become members of the Toy Knights of America in 1977. She began marching for Lesbian and Gay rights in the late 1970's and has been actively working to achieve LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL! Ann writes an email to her legislators (State and Federal at least three times a week) because there are SO many important causes. Ann is firmly against capitol punishment, and stands for immigrant rights. Every Monday night, Ann stands at the Delray Beach Peace corner (Swinton and Atlantic Avenues) from 5-6 PM to protest the unending, entirely useless wars our country is engaged in. In her personal life, Ann is a leader in the cancer advocacy field, founder of the Annie Appleseed Project whose website has been up since 1999 and receives 90,000 monthly visitors. Ann is married to Steve Wolman, a strong feminist and identifies as a bi-sexual activist. Email Ann Fonfa at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Communications Vice President
Email Adele Guadalupe at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Membership Chair
Email Joann Waitkevicz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Legislative Director Sheila Jaffe - Thank you for your patience while we update the website with the bios for the new board members.
Treasurer
Email Shirley Herman at
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Recording Secretary Les Rivkin - Moving to Rochester, NY with his second wife, he became active again in rights for the disabled and attended the "March on Washington" where he met with Senator Jacob Javitz toward overthrowing Nixon's veto of the Rehabilitation Act. Being a member of FIGHT, a Saul Alinski community development organization and a member of the Black and Hispanic political caucus Les spent 6 years working on an Outreach Program at the Association for the Blind. Albany, NY was his next stop. As the Executive Director of the Albany County ARC (Association for Retarded Children) and Orange County, NY, he recovered a program in receivership and turned it into a viable $4,000,000 program with Day Treatment and the 1st upstate community residence for adults with mental disabilities who were previously institutionalized. He initiated the building of 2 community residences for adults who were very low-functioning mentally disabled. Les served as the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood of Syracuse, NY and Director of FLACRA of Geneva, NY a drug and alcohol treatment agency which was barrier free community residence and had successfully created and implemented the first upstate Intensive Weekend Therapy Program for adults who grew up in alcoholic families. For 20 years Les worked in Oswego, NY where he was a counselor at the Mental Health Center specializing in drug and alcohol addiction and with persons who were sexually abused as children. He was the first in the county to run groups for and with sex offenders. In 2007, he retired to West Palm Beach.Les has been a member of: Planned Parenthood, NOW, PFAW, PFLAG, HRC, NAACP, Equality Florida and County/ State ACLU. Email Les Rivkin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . President Emeritus Meredith L. Ockman - Meredith Ockman is a native Floridian and grew up on Miami Beach. Born to a family wi Email Meredith Ockman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Email:
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Contact Us & Palm Beach County NOW Board
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Ann Fonfa - Ann E. Fonfa, born in NYC to Progressive parents. Learned union songs to sing on road trips. Entire family marched for an end to Nuclear weapons. Attending a meeting of SANE (nuclear policy) Ann shook Eleanor Roosevelt's hand - she was 12 years old. This was the same year she met survivors of Hiroshima. Little did she know that 40 years later she would go to Hiroshima and see the devastation for herself. Ann and her family became active in the Civil Rights movement - Ann led her high school boycott in 1963 (age 15) for Queens (NYC) CORE.
Joan Waitkevicz - Joan has been a NOW member since 2002. She is a lesbian feminist healthcare provider from New York City. She is a founding member of St. Mark’s Women’s Health Collective, the first lesbian clinic on the East Coast (1974), and of North Palm Beach County NOW (2002). She testified on a panel on lesbian health convened by the Institute of Medicine under DHHS Secretary Dr. Donna Shalala (1997). While clinic escorting in West Palm Beach, Joan witnessed an incident which led to an essay “Innocent” that was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2004). Joan and Shirley Herman, her spouse of 37 years, were married at the national NOW Conference in Boston (2010). Formerly Co-President of NPBC NOW, Joan is Membership Chair of PBC NOW.
Shirley Herman - Shirley is an accountant and financial planner, licensed in insurance and investments. She has been active in feminist politics since the early 70s. In 1979 she helped start Womanews, a lesbian feminist newspaper in New York. In the 70s and 80s she was a member of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, but also participated in NOW activities. She has been a member of NOW since 1990. In 2002, shortly after moving to South Florida from New York, she founded North Palm Beach NOW, together with her wife Joan Waitkevicz. She and Joan were married in July 2010 at the NOW Conference in Boston, after 37 years together.
Les grew up in Hartford CT where he began his advocacy for the disabled and civil rights. At the University of Connecticut where he led a challenge against AEPI rules and won the right of non-Jews to pledge the fraternity. After college he became a welfare case worker where he became sensitive to the ravages of poverty. He chaired a committee to facilitate coordination of services and became a social worker for the New Haven Regional Center for the Mentally Retarded where he became the chair of the Social Workers section for CT of the AAMD (American Association on Mental Deficiency). While in New Haven, he went undercover for the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith.
th Holocaust survivors, she is one of 4 children. She has been involved with several non-profits in her community including; the March of Dimes, Jewish Federation of Greater Miami Beach, Leukemia Society, Ryan White Foundation, AmericanCancer Society, Jewish Community Center and American Heart Association. 
