For nearly 40 years, Virginia and Harvey Kimmel have been creating and supporting cultural arts and education programs for children and teens in south Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
This story first aired on Monday, June 16, 2025 on CBS12
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — This week’s ‘Hometown Heroes’ have made it their life’s work to bring new opportunities to students in the community who need it most.
For nearly 40 years, Virginia and Harvey Kimmel have been creating and supporting cultural arts and education programs for children and teens in South Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
Locally, they have supported more than a dozen organizations, including Arts Garage in Delray Beach.
With the help of a generous grant from the Virginia and Harvey Kimmel family fund of the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Arts Garage in Delray Beach was able to create an immersive summer theater camp called ‘Set the Stage.’
Local kids from underserved communities are given scholarships so they can attend the camp where they write, design, and perform an original play.
“And parents will come up to you and say, thank you, that it’s affected their work at school, and their behavior at home, so it is incredible,” Harvey adds.
Thanks to the Kimmel’s, Arts Garage also started what they call a ‘Family Series’, which is an opportunity for kids to come and watch different shows throughout the year.
“When we came to the performance with the young children, they were perfectly behaved,” Virginia recalls. “They were attentive to everything, and they asked the most intelligent questions, their vocabulary was wonderful, and it was rewarding to see how much they got out of the show.”
President and CEO of Arts Garage, Marjorie Waldo, says all the students coming in for their ‘Family Series’ are from high-need schools where the arts take a back seat because state funding goes towards reading, writing, math, and science.
Arts Garage is able to supplement that with the help of donors like the Kimmels.
“Imagine 300 kindergarten, first, and second graders in the room, and they were on the edge of their seats asking all kinds of questions, squealing when it was appropriate, laughing and clapping when it was appropriate, it was amazing, and the Kimmel’s did that.”
She says Virginia’s background as an elementary school teacher and Harvey’s business experience make them incredible mentors who are also setting the example for other donors.
“One of the things the Kimmel’s do brilliantly is that they are interested in their donation not being the last dollar that funds a program for an organization,” she explains. “So at Arts Garage, they created matching grants so that we were pushed to raise additional funds from new donors, perhaps or existing donors who stepped up and gave more.”
Harvey and Virginia say not only is it something that they feel strongly about, but it’s also critical to their survival as an organization.
“We want other people to do the same thing that we do,” Virginia admits. “Whether it’s a large contribution or not, they all add up, and that’s what we need, more people helping.”
Arts Garage delivers innovative, diverse, meaningful, and accessible visual and performing arts experiences to Delray Beach and the South Florida community.
Their next ‘Family Series’ will start in October.
If you’d like to learn more about Arts Garage or how you can get involved, visit their website.
