A sold-out crowd of hundreds packed Boca Grove Golf & Tennis Club last Friday for the annual Battle of the Bartenders, a costumed fundraising competition that pulled in $70,000 for foster and at-risk students in Boca Raton. Teams of local business leaders traded in their usual attire for themed costumes, competing for bragging rights based on ticket sales, tips, and online donations.
The event, held to benefit Best Foot Forward, has taken place annually since 2010 and has evolved into a competitive tradition of themed costumes and public fundraising tallies, according to The Boca Raton Tribune. This year's gathering sold out at Boca Grove, a private Boca Raton club established in 1982 with an 18-hole Karl Litten-designed course and fewer than 450 member families, according to GOLF Course Finder.
Tony Ruberg and Ben Firestone, the latter affiliated with Blueprint HCRE, were named battle champions after competing against Dan Davidowitz, a Best Foot Forward board member, and Tyler Ross of LVL UP Fitness. Trisha Ramundo of Eleve Law and Caroline Johnson of Johnson Ritchey Family Law Firm took home the award for best bartender costumes, dressed as blue avatars, after facing off against Dr. Nathan E. Nachlas and Fran Nachlas, a former Boca deputy mayor. Fran and Dr. Nachlas went on to win the event's most supporters award. Neil Saffer served as emcee for the evening, per the same account.
A Roster of Local Business Faces Behind the Bar
The night's other matchups paired familiar names from Boca Raton's business and civic circles. Kali Williams and Callie Rucker, affiliated with Oceans 234 and The Break House, competed against Gina Harwood of The Keyes Company and Alana St. John of the Spirit of Giving Network. Troy McLellan, president and CEO of the Boca Raton Regional Chamber, teamed with David Eddinger to face off against Juan Awad of Florida Blue and Lauren Blosser of the Premier Group at Compass.
Dr. Nachlas brought additional civic weight to the night as co-founder of Men Giving Back South Palm Beach County, a Boca Raton-based membership organization that awarded more than $500,000 in grants to local charities in November 2025, according to North Palm Beach Life. The overlap illustrates how the same circle of South Palm Beach County philanthropic leaders regularly turns up across the region's charitable causes.
Why Best Foot Forward's Mission Matters
Best Foot Forward pairs foster and at-risk youth from kindergarten through college with dedicated Academic or Graduation Coaches who conduct weekly school visits and build customized educational plans, according to Best Foot Forward Foundation. The nonprofit was co-founded in January 2010 by former local PTA leaders Donna Biase, now the organization's CEO, and Debbie Ellman, after the pair discovered that foster youth aging out of the child welfare system lacked one-on-one educational guidance. Paul Kilgallon chairs the Best Foot Forward board, Lorraine Cross serves as secretary, and Frank Barbieri is a founding board member.
The stakes behind the coaching model are stark. Nationally, only 46% of youth in foster care graduate high school and fewer than 3% earn a college degree, according to the Boca West Children's Foundation. Best Foot Forward reports maintaining a 100% high school graduation rate among students enrolled in its individualized coaching programs, a gap the organization has spent more than a decade working to close. Federal tax disclosures for the fiscal year ending June 2025 show the foundation generated $3,844,032 in total revenue and employed 41 staff members operating out of Boca Raton, per Cause IQ.
Part of a Decades-Old Summer Giving Tradition
The Battle of the Bartenders was staged as part of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce's Festival Days, which reached its 49th annual edition this month. Festival Days, established in 1977, was designed to keep community engagement alive during South Florida's summer lull by pairing local businesses with nonprofit causes, and this year's calendar included 21 separate events such as trivia nights, casino nights, and what organizers describe as cocktail parties with a purpose. Best Foot Forward's local business ties run beyond a single night of fundraising, too: in September 2024, the organization recognized the Boca Raton office of law firm Nelson Mullins with its annual Anchor Award for sustained volunteer work, holiday gift drives, and corporate sponsorship, according to a release from Nelson Mullins.
Best Foot Forward's next major fundraiser, the annual Sole Mates Luncheon, is planned for October 28 in Boca Raton. Organizers will look to build on the momentum of the sold-out Battle of the Bartenders as they continue funding the weekly coaching and academic planning that the foundation says has kept its enrolled students on track toward diplomas and degrees.
