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Philanthropists of the YearBy: StaffNine outstanding people and organizations. |
This year’s honorees include a fundraising couple with an impressive track record for helping our region’s children, a large company that spreads its good works throughout the community, and an active fundraising group sharing its good fortune with the needy across the area. Our list also celebrates a community icon who has never shied from sharing what she terms her "enchanted life," a small-business owner with a flair for spreading goodwill and good manners, and a philanthropic couple helping numerous causes and making record-setting contributions to the arts.
Those recognized were nominated by their peers and selected by the area Philanthropy Day Leadership Council, which includes members of the Community Foundation of Collier County, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation and the Naples chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
We hope you’ll join us as we honor these dedicated givers at the fourth annual National Philanthropy Day "Honored to Give" awards luncheon, to be held on Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Estero. For more information, call (239) 449-4130.
Jay and Patty Baker
Outstanding Philanthropists
It only took one night in the little slice of paradise called Naples for Jay and Patty Baker to decide they would call it home. Their one-day visit to the home of family friends slid into four, which has since turned into 13 years of residence and counting. "We just fell in love with it," Jay says.
Since their arrival, Patty and Jay, the former president and co-founder of Kohl’s department stores, have generously supported the community by volunteering their time and donating to numerous organizations both in Southwest Florida and out. Most recently, their gift of $10 million to the Naples Museum of Art became the largest contribution ever received in Collier County.
It’s no secret the Bakers are great givers. But what are some of the greatest gifts they’ve received? Patty immediately thinks of gifts from her husband—her two gold-and-white Shih Tzus, Kizzie and Coco, referred to collectively as "the girls," who, as she speaks, tussle over a stick of rawhide at her feet. For Jay, a devoted New York Yankees fan, two baseballs from the Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig era that Patty gave him come to mind (though her team of choice is the Baltimore Orioles).
Married for 18 years, the pair also has a penchant for travel. London is a particular favorite for its "very cosmopolitan" feel and thriving theater district. For the past 10 years, they’ve made it a family affair, taking trips to Italy, Great Britain, Ireland and Africa with their children, Stephen and Stephanie, and their families.
But after their travels, they always return to Naples, which they love for its small community feel and its ease of access—"Whatever you want to do here is 20 minutes away," Jay marvels—to all the golf, great restaurants, theaters and museums they could ever want.
Bonita Bay Residents
Outstanding Volunteer Fundraisers
When new residents move into the bonita bay development, chances are they’ll receive their welcome packet along with an invitation or two. During season, the calendar stays full with galas, golf tournaments, 5K races and a slew of other events and projects aimed at helping others in surrounding communities.
Former U.S. Open champion Lou Graham and his wife, Patsy, moved from Nashville to Bonita Bay in 1986, and Patsy joined a volunteer group in the soup kitchen at the Guadalupe Center in Immokalee.
"I have never, ever seen such grinding poverty," Patsy says. "It just cut my heart. I just thought, I’ve got to do something." So she volunteered for the Bonita Bay-based Maynard Cup Auction and Charity Golf Tournament, an event she has now chaired for the past eight years. Since its inception in 1992, the tournament has brought in $2.5 million for the Guadalupe Center.
"If you can help, you’ve got to," she says. "What I can’t do financially, I can do by working. And I think that’s true of most of the people who live in
Bonita Bay."
Patsy estimates that 75 percent of Bonita Bay residents are involved in charity work for projects like Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Habitat for Humanity, the Bonita Springs Community Foundation, Hope Hospice and the Renaissance Group, which helps improve affordable housing in Bonita Springs. Many of these efforts were launched locally by Bonita Bay residents. In addition, Bonita Bay residents have contributed more than $4.7 million to United Way since 1999.
"I have never found a group of people so philanthropic," Patsy says. "Whatever needs to be done, someone at Bonita Bay will step up and get it done."
Berne Davis
Outstanding Philanthropist
B
erne Davis has been an avid gardener and philanthropist her entire life. Now her good deeds are blossoming much like the bougainvillea in her back yard. "To plant something and see it grow, and see it develop, the beauty that it gives off; to me, it’s just the power of life," she says.
Ninety-three-year-old Davis gave new life to the old federal building in downtown Fort Myers last year when she donated $1 million towards its restoration, renaming it the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. She wants to see the building return to its original glory and host arts and civic events. "I’ve done something that I feel selfish [about]," she admits. "I wanted to see that building saved. I was so afraid of it just going to ruin; it means so much to Fort Myers."
Davis would know. As one of Fort Myers’ most illustrious citizens, she shares a long history with the city. She befriended Mina and Thomas Edison back when her husband, Sidney, owned the top men’s clothing store in Fort Myers just a block away from the federal building.
When Sidney died in 1987, Davis carried on with the philanthropic work that he had encouraged her to engage in since she was 25 years old. "The day I lost him, I think I lost half of my life," she says. "He always had great faith in me, and it is because of him and my mother, I guess, that I ever did anything worthwhile."
She continues to give back to the city that, she admits, has given so much to her and Sidney. She donated $250,000 to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates for their restoration and thousands more to other organizations around town.
She sits on numerous local boards and never misses a meeting. But when you bring up her selflessness, she humbly dismisses the praise. "It’s been 93 short years," she says in response. "I feel like I’ve had an enchanted life."
Jim and Linda Malone
Outstanding Philanthropic Fundraisers
As a young girl, Linda Malone watched her mother volunteer with families of cerebral palsy patients. It instilled in her the desire to help others. Over the years, she and her husband, Jim, have focused their philanthropic efforts on improving the lives of children.
"Helping those who can’t really help themselves will only help all of us in the future," Linda says.
Linda completed the Leadership Collier Masters class in 2000. It is there she learned about the 40,000 Collier County children who live under the poverty level. She joined a number of local boards to offer her time, ideas and fundraising talents. In 2000, the Malones teamed up with several other couples to create what has become one of the nation’s most successful fundraising weekends, the Naples Winter Wine Festival. In 2007, the Malones became chairpersons of the event, which brought in a total of $15.6 million for the Naples Children and Education Foundation.
In chairing the event, Linda watched over the creative elements and day-to-day details while Jim supplied what Linda calls the emotional quotient. "He’s really able to keep things in perspective," she says.
After the record-breaking year for the wine festival, Jim will continue as chairman of the NCEF as well as serving as a board member at Florida Gulf Coast University. Linda has joined the Children’s Museum of Naples’ capital campaign task force.
"In order to raise funds you have to believe in the project whole-heartedly and put your own time, talent and treasure into the project," Linda says. It’s also a mission they hope to instill in their four children.
"I hope our kids see and realize they have a responsibility that goes past their own existence," says Jim. "There is a sense of duty and privilege of being able to do it."
Preferred Travel
Outstanding Small Business
There are many sides to Wilma Boyd. There’s Wilma Boyd: president, CEO and founder of Preferred Travel of Naples Inc. There’s also Wilma Boyd: founder of the Boyd School, a professional school based in her hometown of Pittsburgh. She’s also a wife, a mother of four, an etiquette coach for children and a former pageant contestant, to boot.
There’s another thing Boyd is: a devoted philanthropist. Backed by her Preferred Travel team of 35, whom she treats more like close friends than employees, Boyd has donated several cruises and raised money for charitable organizations including the League Club, Naples Community Hospital Foundation and the Philharmonic League,
among others.
While still in Pittsburgh, Boyd began teaching etiquette classes at the local YMCA. Now she coaches children from 13 to 17 years on everything from poise and grace to which silverware to use first at a fancy dinner, which she says is one of the most common etiquette blunders among children. "I would be busy doing that every day if I had the time," she says.
In the extra time she does have, Boyd confesses she loves to shop (especially when she gets to do so with her three daughters) and read (favorite authors include Danielle Steel, Sidney Sheldon and John Grisham). Not surprisingly, she also loves to travel, citing London, Paris and Hong Kong as her destinations of choice.
Though she says her team at Preferred Travel takes more trips than she does, that’s OK with her—she’s just as happy at her home base in Naples, making sure everything runs smoothly. "Whatever I do, I always want to do my best," she says.
Chico's
Outstanding Large Business
With most corporate giving, the charitable philosophy of the organization can often be traced to its leader. And so it is with retail clothing powerhouse Chico’s, where the professional and personal convictions of company president and CEO Scott Edmonds (above) drive the company’s very impressive culture of giving.
"Once you achieve a certain level of success, the only way to keep it—and to deserve to keep it—is to give back to the community," says Edmonds.
Chico’s indeed gives back to the community in a number of ways. The company received high praise from a variety of public service organizations including the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, Literacy Volunteers of Collier County, the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way in Lee, Hendry and Glades counties.
Ronald McGinty, a trustee for the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, says he sold Edmonds on becoming a sponsor of the Naples organization four years ago during a flight from Atlanta. "And this was not just idle talk," says McGinty, who nominated Chico’s for this year’s philanthropy award. "He gave us the financial support he promised, but he also had his staff visit the shelter and get actively involved with us."
That hands-on response is common for Edmonds, who regularly appears as a speaker and a volunteer among the diverse groups Chico’s helps to support.
While Edmonds says Chico’s does its best to distribute its charitable efforts across the community, there is a thread that connects much of the company’s giving.
"We’re a women’s retail clothier. And of our 11,000 associates, the large majority are women," Edmonds says. "As a result, our main focus is on women’s and children’s issues and on education. Within that framework, we try to help as many as we can with our philanthropic work."
