Beach resident's team raises $25K in MS walk

BY DEBRA K. LEIBOWITZ

adsetcinc@the-beach.net

Miami Beach resident Michael Ortega spent a recent Sunday walking 10 miles -- with 110 close acquaintances.

Ortega, president of Miami-based CDC Builders, urged family members, friends and business associates to join him in the Multiple Sclerosis Walk on April 13 in Coral Gables to raise funds for the South Florida Chapter of the National MS Society. Ortega and his group were among about 1,000 participants in the event.

Ortega, 33, was inspired to support the cause after his 29-year-old sister Nicole (twin to Christine, a Plantation resident who works with autistic children) was diagnosed with MS five years ago. MS is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

Ortega says that Nicole, a public school teacher in Washington, D.C., has had recent ''flare-ups'' but thanks to medical treatment, including steroids, is doing well.

This is the third year Ortega and his family participated in the Coral Gables MS Walk. In 2006, their contingency raised about $10,000; last year they raised $15,000. This year -- with efforts including team T-shirts and hats, a team banner and CDC employees distributing water and fruit -- the CDC Builders group raised about $25,000.

''I was incredibly pleased by everyone's willingness to come out and support this event, not only by donating money but with their physical presence, especially at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday,'' Ortega said. ``Yes, they want to help the MS cause, but a lot of them were there to support my sister.''

Ortega says his sister, who did not attend the event, was pleased with the support in her honor.

Up next for Ortega: On Saturday, he will wed fiancée Meredith Clark in Houston. Sisters Nicole and Christine will both attend, as will other family and friends from South Florida. The newlyweds will honeymoon in Hawaii.

To learn more about the MS Society, visit www.nmssfls.org.

BUSINESS PLAN AWARD

Longtime South Beach residents Dr. Mark and Millinda Sinnreich couldn't be prouder. Their son Matt Sinnreich is scheduled to graduate from University of Miami School of Business on Friday.

On April 21, Matt was named a winner in the school's sixth annual Leigh Rothschild Entrepreneurial Business Plan Competition.

Matt, 22, placed first in the Small Business Category and was awarded $8,000 during a luncheon held on the university's campus. His winning plan, selected from over 100 entries, is for We Wash LLC (www.wewash.com), an innovative laundry pickup, wash, fold and delivery system featuring online registration and RFID (radio frequency identification) technology.

Matt and his business partner, Rasheed Ali, plan to implement the service first at universities, then at office and apartment buildings.

A Miami Beach native who now lives in Coconut Grove, Matt says he came up with the idea for We Wash while attending Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he played on the football team.

''I never wanted to do laundry, so I'd always pay girls to do it,'' Matt said. ``Then I figured, why don't I just offer the service to the whole university?''

In addition to wewash.com (a finalist in the current Miami Herald's Business Plan Challenge competition), Matt has two other ventures in the works: LuxuryIndex.com, a travel, rental and sales website, and Oculi.com, a global peer-to-peer news network.

Matt's family has deep roots in Miami Beach: dad Mark is an orthopedic surgeon at Mount Sinai Medical Center; mom Millinda is clinical director of his practice. Sister Shakira, 31, is a hair colorist in South Beach.

''It's pretty funny that Matt never did his own laundry when he lived at home,'' Millinda said. ``We had no doubt that he would somehow, some way, get his laundry done.''

THE BIG SELL

Leonard Lauder, chairman of the board of Estée Lauder Companies, will speak Friday night -- not about cosmetics, but about another of his passions: collecting and preserving propaganda arts.

The event is at 7 p.m. at The Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach.

Born in 1934, Lauder first began collecting Art Deco postcards at the age of 6, while vacationing in Miami Beach with his family.

Today he's one of world's foremost art collectors and benefactors.

Earlier this year, Lauder's art foundation donated $131 million to the Whitney Museum of American Art, where Lauder has served as chairman since 1994.

Lauder recently donated 50 U.S. World War II posters to The Wolfsonian-FIU. A selection of these works is currently on display in the museum's fifth-floor gallery.

Another of Lauder's contributions to museum: ''Scratch-and-sniff orange blossom fragrant postcards,'' says museum director Cathy Leff.

Estée Lauder Companies produced and donated the postcards -- at Leff's urging -- for insertion into a special 1997 Florida edition of The Wolfsonian-FIU Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Art.

Copies are on sale in the museum's gift shop.

The Propaganda Art program is open to the public. Admission is free for Wolfsonian-FIU members; $10 for nonmembers. RSVP required: 305-535-2645 or rsvp@thewolf.fiu.edu.

Beach Buzz runs every other Thursday, and focuses on people and businesses throughout the Beaches, Aventura and Northeast Miami-Dade. To reach Debra K. Leibowitz, call 305-531-7887 or e-mail adsetcinc@atlanticbb.net.