Anyone who spends time with contemporary news channels will be convinced that Philadelphia, PA, the city we all grew up calling the City of Brotherly Love, is no longer deserving of that title. Well maybe it’s the media channels looking to boost their ratings via the propagation of sensational news. From our perspective in Broward County, we are fortunate to have many folks who have emigrated from that City and most of the ones I have met are a shining example of the motto. One such special person is Bill Feinberg, the CEO of Allied Kitchen & Bath. Bill exudes brotherly love and propagates that to our community by giving back each and every day.
Bill was born and raised in Philadelphia and as a teen worked in his father’s hair salon for women. He believes that experiencing the daily dialogue between customers, his father and other clients, influenced his life forever. His dad was a kind and positive person and it resounded with his clientele. It also resounded with Bill who adopted a respectful, friendly and polite persona directed at all people and, in his business today, toward his community. Essentially, what Bill refers to is emulating only positive thoughts. It was this attitude that formed the culture of his newly formed company in 1984, then called Allied Kitchen & Bath. In fact, Bill came to grips with knitting together his guiding life principles with his business plan. He believed that good business comes from being a good person or, as he says, “You can’t be hesitant about who you are.” Good people do good business and owe a debt of gratitude to their community, so it is incumbent upon them to pass it on or, to quote another of Bill’s mottos, “pay it forward.”
In 2008 Bill, who was now in business with his three brothers, Joe, David and Rob as well as his daughter Kara, decided to create a reimagined place for residents of Broward to experience a new way of envisioning the possibilities of how they
could live. His idea was to build a 15,000 Sq. Ft. showroom which would welcome customers and industry professionals while simultaneously functioning as a venue for charitable organizations. The decision was to locate the facility on Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. This would be a wonderful way to be successful and also “pay it back to the community.” The only thing he had not anticipated was the deepest recession we had experienced since the 1970s. True to his beliefs, he relentlessly continued on with his vision, leveraged every penny he and the family could muster, and opened fully believing that giving back combined with honest business would prevail. Well, as I write this article, I am proud to say Bill Feinberg was more than correct. He has provento be a true entrepreneurial visionary. Since 2009, when they first opened, Allied Kitchen & Bath has hosted over 300 events for charitable organizations all of which received 100% of the proceeds of each event. In fact, at the grand opening in 2009 (remember this was during a major recession), Allied had over 300 people show up to the new showroom. It would be impossible to name all of the organizations that have benefited financially from his efforts but, as an example most recently, the Allied Team hosted “Decor for the Cure” which raised over $40,000 for the Broward Health Foundation supporting their efforts to find a cure for cancer. However, the event that is most dear to his heart is the fundraiser they hosted for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was to this disease that his father eventually lost his battle for life. The first event raised over $100,000 and by the fourth year they were raising over $300,000 to help fund research toward curing this disease.
It is typical for people to ask Bill how he can stay on top of his business life and participate in so many philanthropic endeavors. Well, those that ask miss the point. Bill would simply say they are one in the same. Giving Back and living an active business life go hand in hand. Together they are the business plan. This unique business culture was noticed by the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship and for the past five years Bill has annually told the story about how he has built his business based upon philanthropy as a core value of the company.
Within the Broward Community Allied, through Bill, maintains a presence in key trade as well as community-based organizations. Bill is a Board Member of the Broward Workshop, Habitat for Humanity, The Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, The US Army Advisory Council of Broward County, and the Economic Advisory Council of Broward County. He has served as Past President of the South Florida Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Past Chair of Habitat for Humanity and Past Chair of the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce. Within his professional world he has been a member of the National Kitchen and Bath Association for over 25 years.
Maintaining his drive and status has made Bill no stranger to recognition. He was the recipient of the Sun Sentinel Excalibur Award in 2013, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s prestigious De Villiers International Achievement Award in 2006, The Heart of Humanity Award from Habitat for Humanity in 2018, The Broward Business of the Year Award by the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce in 2021, and the Father of the Year Award by Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies in 2023.
All this from the simple belief that a person should always have positive thoughts, be kind, respectful and give back to their community. Perhaps a few weeks in Philly and some time spent in a hair salon would do us all some good. City of Brotherly Love, thank you for sending us this angel of a man.It is good to know that what we hear daily on the news is not really the way it is.