by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Both The Meninak Club and Delores Weaver have dedicated time and resources to making children’s lives better in Jacksonville.
Weaver, Chair and CEO of the Jaguars Foundation, has been trying to make a difference since she arrived in 1993 after husband Wayne and she brought the Jaguars to Jacksonville. As an organization, members of Meninak have been “lending help where none is available” to area youth since its organization’s founding in 1919.
Until recently, though, the two never really crossed paths.
Weaver was the speaker at the organization’s Monday meeting and talked about her philanthropic endeavors to assist children since arriving in Jacksonville and her yearning for the Jaguars to win a Super Bowl – both important goals.
“At the time in 1993, I didn’t know how I wanted to help. But I wanted to give something back to the community,” said Weaver. “It’s about making a difference on the field of life.”
She briefly discussed two of her favorite area charities, the Bridge of Northeast Florida and HabiJax, and the need to educate the children of today early in order for them to have a bright future tomorrow.
Though she touched on the effects of those two, Weaver noted she has many favorites and all were conducive to the efforts to positively impact a child.
“I’ve always said it takes a village to raise a child,” she said. “Jacksonville is that village with all of its non-profits.”
With football season fast approaching, Weaver’s Sundays of watching and keeping up with the Jaguars during their quest for a Super Bowl doesn’t interfere with her non-football duties.
But like many other fans, she’s hoping for the ultimate prize and told the audience a story about one of her first meetings in 2003 with then-new head coach Jack Del Rio.
Weaver told him she expected a Super Bowl win.
“He looked kind of shocked and said ‘Do you know some teams wait 25–40 years for a Super Bowl?’” she said. “I told him ‘I don’t have 25–40 years to wait... and nor do you.’”
The comment received laughs, but it showed Weaver’s championship passion for the team whose NFL presence has opened doors through community projects like the Youth Education Town, renovations and building of youth football fields and the strides to combat childhood obesity.
Still, discussing her favorite charities and the drive for the Lombardi Trophy wasn’t the message she wanted to leave with Meninak members.
“I believe all too often that people turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the problems that exist within the community,” she said. “They believe that it doesn’t affect them. Teen pregnancy, violence, drugs, crime... it affects us all.”
With the idea that many of today’s civic problems began with disadvantaged children, Weaver said she’ll continue to stay committed to assisting them until her dream is a reality and encouraged the audience to do the same.
It’s a goal with which Meninak President Harrison Conyers can agree.
“Absolutely,” said Conyers, when asked about Weaver’s message. “It’s what Meninak is all about and it was great to get a cutting edge perspective from someone so committed.”
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