Behind the bar at Vi at Bentley Village in Naples, Federlin Jean is known to serve his cocktails with a side of encouragement.
"You know about today, you don't know about tomorrow. If you can do something today, do it. Don't wait for tomorrow," Jean said.
Jean immigrated from Haiti in the 1990s and started bartending at the senior living facility.
Thirty-five years into the gig and he's earned himself the nickname, "Father Fed."
"I take it because I can be like their dad. I always tell them to go to school. You have to go to school and keep going," Jean said.
It's the same wisdom he imparts on his own children, who have taken advantage of the Bentley Village Foundation's scholarship program, "Bentley Wings." The program provides scholarships to eligible full and part-time employees of Vi at Bentley Village and their family.
"If you are an educated person all of the doors open for you," Jean said. "When you are less educated, you have a limit."
This advice has rubbed off on his co-workers in different ways.
"He helped me a lot on English," said Miranda, a co-worker of Federlin who is from Albania. "When I started, I took some basic classes with the residents here. For everything I needed he helped me."
Jean has touched the lives of the residents that meet him, too.
"I can't think of anybody I know who would think of not liking him," said resident Blanche Coffey. "He's just super, he really is."