031518 SWB DIGITAL EDITION
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Harris Rosen visits children at<br />
Tangelo Park Elementary School<br />
A SOUTHWEST ORLANDO<br />
ICON REFLECTS ON<br />
25 YEARS OF GIVING BACK 407.996.4890 | RosenHotels.com<br />
If home is where the heart is, then Harris Rosen’s home is global and his<br />
heart infinite. As a sea of homemade “We Love Harris Rosen” banners<br />
bobbed among crowds of eager Haitian children, clad in pristine blue and<br />
white school uniforms to thank the man who provided their brand new<br />
school, the recipient of the outpouring was overwhelmed. “I never get<br />
used to this type of attention,” said Harris Rosen, founder and owner of<br />
Rosen Hotels & Resorts. Rosen was recently in Haiti for the dedication of<br />
l’Institution Mixte Saint-Jean de Jonc l’Abeille-Harris Rosen school. And<br />
to greet many families who now – thanks to him – experience a rare sense<br />
of security in the impoverished country. Rosen’s team just completed<br />
the rebuilding of more than 100 homes devastated by 2016’s Hurricane<br />
Matthew. The new homes are hurricane- and earthquake-resistant with<br />
solar panels, bathrooms and more.<br />
For more than half of the 43 years Rosen’s now nine hotels have provided<br />
Orlando’s best “home away from home” and thousands of jobs for Orlando<br />
residents, he has been quietly, with intensity, creating better homes for<br />
others. He says he does this because “it’s the right thing to do.” Whether<br />
rebuilding physical structures such as in Haiti or entire communities such<br />
as in Southwest Orlando’s Tangelo Park, his first philanthropic endeavor<br />
25 years ago, or more currently in downtown Orlando’s Parramore district,<br />
the positive change is palpable. By providing free college scholarships<br />
(including room and board), free childcare (which also provides more<br />
than 10 full-time jobs) and parental support to Tangelo Park, high school<br />
graduation rates have soared to almost 100 percent and crime is nearly<br />
non-existent. All of this and more, because the community has united<br />
under Harris Rosen’s umbrella of hope and promise of a better life for its<br />
future generations.<br />
In Southwest Orlando, where Rosen has called home for more than 45<br />
years and raised his family including children Jack (28), Joshua (27),<br />
Adam (26) and Shayna (25), he has focused on families through building<br />
The Jack & Lee Rosen SW Orlando JCC and donating millions to refurbish<br />
the ailing YMCA Aquatic Center. He also funded the Rosen College of<br />
Hospitality Management at UCF and sponsors more than 20 charity<br />
galas at his hotels. “I’ve been blessed beyond my wildest dreams with<br />
my business,” said Rosen, “and most importantly with the fellowship and<br />
support of my own community. It is because of these blessings, I’m able<br />
to help others. And am so grateful to do so.”