NSU Horizons Spring 2017

36 NSU HORIZONS Foundation Empowers Children, Supports Arts at NSU University School BY ELLEN WOLFSON VALLADARES ALUMNI PROFILE I t started four years ago with a sincere question from a concerned seven-year-old. Rebecca Bratter had just picked up her son, Logan, from his violin lesson at NSU University School and Logan wanted to know if all kids could take violin lessons. When she explained that not all children could afford to take lessons, Logan didn’t think that was fair. Bratter then asked her son: “So what are you going to do about it?” That was enough to get the ball rolling and that night, over dinner, the family started brainstorming about what they could do. Just two weeks later, the Bratters, together with four other families, created the Kids Can Foundation—a nonprofit organization com- pletely run by kids—where children plan and volunteer in their own events and make all the decisions about where the money raised will go. During the past four years, the foundation has held dozens of events, had more than 500 kids volunteer, and raised more than $100,000, which it donated to various local charities and causes. Recently, the foundation established The Kids Can Endowed Fund for the Arts at NSU University School, which will offer scholarships to NSU University School students pursuing arts. Giving back to the community is nothing new for this family, which includes two NSU 2003 alumni. Rebecca Bratter, J.D., graduated from the NSU Shepard Broad College of Law, and Jonathan Bratter, D.O., graduated from the NSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. Rebecca Bratter is a deputy managing shareholder at Greenspoon Marder and Jonathan Bratter is an ObGyn solo practitio- ner at Memorial Hospital in Miramar. Their two sons, Logan, 11, and Max, 7, attend NSU University School. Rebecca and Jonathan Bratter have supported numer- ous community organizations through the years, includ- ing NSU and the Young at Art Museum, where Rebecca Bratter sits on the Board of Directors. The creation of the Kids Can Foundation was a chance for them to not just set an example for their children, but to allow their children to get involved with the entire process. “We decided there would be two parts to the founda- tion, one in which the kids raise funds to help kids do the things we can do, and one in which they learn how to volunteer their time,” Rebecca Bratter said. That included having the kids run their own board meetings. At the very first meeting, the children from the five founding families dressed up and met in Rebecca Bratter’s office in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Logan even made a Power Point presentation. “We were sitting in this big board room and we were all discussing ideas for our first event,” Logan said, remembering their first meeting. “We came up with so many ideas.” Some of their first events included making sandwiches and assembling lunch bags for less fortunate children and working with Feeding South Florida to raise money to supply breakfasts for students who could not afford it. They also held several philanthropic events.