The G-Star Victory Canteen Cultural Educational Learning Center will be part of G-Star School of the Arts and will be constructed on the school’s property.  It will be a 6,000 sq. ft., 20 ft. high building constructed as an educational and cultural facility.  It will be a dining/meeting place and a theater that will seat up to 400 patrons.

There is a synergistic need for a state-of-the-art cultural facility in this area.  Two of the most important needs that this building will satisfy are: 1. It will house the student exhibits telling our American Heroes and Holocaust Survivors personal stories as seen through the eyes of a student (Senator Dole being one of them).  These are stories you will never read in a history book; they are a part of history that you will only be able to learn in The Victory Canteen.  2. This facility will be used for no charge as a training center by the Jewish Education of Palm Beach County to teach all of the history teachers in the county how to teach Holocaust history to our 180,000 Palm Beach County students. 

G-Star’s programmatic vision for the new facility was cast in a series of professionally conducted planning sessions that included the Board of Directors of the school, the Foundation Board of Directors, and key staff of the school.  Once the vision was established, it was introduced in a second planning session to the staff, students, and parents for their input.

The third planning session included presenting the vision to key constituents in the community.  The presentation sessions included meeting with 45 key constituents individually, conducting a series of survey questions, and soliciting their views on the needs of a facility like this.

The findings indicate the region believes the project is meaningful to their needs and interests.  The market driven programs presented to the public in the new facility will be accessible to all audiences.

The facility will be offered to Veteran and Holocaust organizations to utilize for no charge.  It will be used for our school functions and rented out to the community for fees.  From a fiscal stability perspective, the earned/contributed income produced by the Victory Canteen will make it a self-sustaining entity (please see “Sustainability”). 

Among the uses for the Victory Canteen will be:

• Community venue for art exhibits, history exhibits, personal showings, fund raising events, theatrical shows, business seminars, conferences, weddings/bar mitzvahs, lectures with guest speaker, etc.

• Holocaust training for teachers in Palm Beach County

• Meeting venue for Veterans organizations

• Extra multi-purpose facility for our school

The G-Star School of the Arts is a financially secure entity.

The Victory Canteen will be a permanent memorial to local WWII Veterans and the Holocaust.  It will encompass the “Adopt a Veteran, Fallen Hero or Holocaust Survivor” program.

Current facilities of this cooperative nature between education, Veterans and Holocaust organizations do not exist in Palm Beach County.

The G-Star Victory Canteen Cultural Educational Learning Center is the first phase of a three-phase project titled “Into the Past: The World War II Experience”.  The World War II Experience project in its entirety will consist of three newly constructed buildings and one renovated building totaling 60,000 sq. ft. under roof.  The project will be a walking tour of “experiences” into World War II and the Holocaust (please visit www.atagency.net)

What is the urgency to raise these funds for this building?

We have nearly 100,000 WWII veterans and Holocaust survivors in Palm Beach County who want to see this building built before they pass on.  They want to be able to walk into this building that is here to honor them and they want to be able to see their World War II experience up on the wall, done by their student who will be the teacher of their story.  They want to be certain that they and their sacrifice to our country will never be forgotten.  They want to know they will always be known as a true American Hero.  There is not only a community need for The Victory Canteen Cultural Educational Learning Center, but an urgency to give back to an unselfish generation... The Victory Canteen: a place of honor for the Heroes and Survivors of World War II and the Holocaust.  

We are currently fundraising for Phase 1 The Victory Canteen Cultural Educational Learning Center.  To donate please contact Dawn Hauptner at 561-818-6534 / dawnhauptner@gmail.com or Greg Hauptner at 561-386-6275 / greghauptn@aol.com

Give back to a generation that gave so much... our veterans and Holocaust survivors of World War II.