by Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
Debra Gianoulis says Delores Weaver doesn’t know how to turn down a child in need.
Weaver, the co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, was named the 2007 Children’s Champion on Wednesday at a ceremony at the University of North Florida.
For the second year, Episcopal Children’s Services (ECS) presented the award to a community member who donates time and money to the city’s neediest children and families.
Under the Episcopal Diocese, ECS provides early education for about 15,000 Northeast Florida children, many with economic and social struggles.
“Thankfully, Delores Barr Weaver has never, and will never, say no,” said Gianoulis, the former local TV news anchor who is now with ECS.
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, who won last year’s award, said programs and activism are improving literacy among the city’s children.
“I really like the way we’re transforming child care in Duval County,” said Peyton. “For the work that Delores Barr Weaver has done, our community has been changed for the better and I think (it) will continue to be changed. She is a champion of children. That is the common thread that runs through all of her work.”
Weaver’s Jaguars Foundation has donated close to $10 million dollars to area charities which serve the underprivileged.
MaliVai Washington thanked Weaver for time she spent with one of the children in his Kids Foundation.
“There’s going to be something you’ve said to him that’s going to come back and make a difference,” he told Weaver. “Without her in this community, we are a very, very different community.”
UNF Senior Aquilla Smith thanked Weaver for the scholarship she provided, allowing Smith to become the first member of her family to earn a Bachelor’s degree when she graduates this spring.
Suzanne Jenkins was among seven City Council members attending the luncheon.
“I so respect her, how she uses her bully pulpit to advance causes like this, because the children are our future, and she knows that,” Jenkins said. “Her style and her leadership bring so much to this cause.”
After a prayer led by an Anglican priest, a group of kids from the ECS Early Learning Center at the Dupont YMCA sang two songs, including a quick version of “This Little Light of Mine,” inspiring heavy applause.
Weaver said she accepted the award on behalf of each member in the community who dedicates time to children. She said two of the most pressing issues facing Jacksonville’s underprivileged are teenage pregnancy and the lack of good men in the home.
“Unfortunately, many children who we at ECS serve have no father in the home,” said Weaver. “We must expect, and, yes, demand, male responsibility before our teenagers are pregnant.”
Weaver said owning the Jaguars has given her opportunities to help children she wouldn’t otherwise have been able to aid, and that she will continue to work for those born into difficult circumstances.
“Children come into this world with an innocence known only to them,” she said. “It is that innocence that beckons me, and you.”