For I've finally realized, that I could be infinitely better than before, definitely stronger. I'll face whatever comes my way, I'll savor each momen… - Gloria Estefan

We [Emilio and I] fell in love with the Old World Florida ambience, beautiful beaches and warm people. We discovered Vero Beach when we were looking for a vacation home that was close to Miami but gave us a different feel than what we were used to. We hope to increase the awareness of Vero Beach by highlighting the many wonderful things that made us fall in love with it. We want the rest of the world to realize what a gem this place is. We hope to welcome our friends from the entertainment world at the opening as well as members of the community. It will be a warm, special and intimate event. We will open our doors the same way that Vero Beach opened its doors to us.

We wanted to not just have a presence there [areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina] and raise awareness in the Hispanic community -- and anyone else who might be watching -- but leave them a little better than when we got there.

This is an opening gift that we are making in conjunction with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of half a million dollars.