JBA Professionalism Committee Chair Mark Bajalia
HandsOn Jacksonville will present the Tillie Kidd Fowler Spirit of Service Award to The Jacksonville Bar Association during its “Celebrate! GOOD” event April 21 at the Moran Theater.
This award is presented to an individual or organization that has exemplified the power and value of high-impact volunteer action and has made a real difference in the lives of others.
“HandsOn Jacksonville is delighted to tell the amazing story of The Jacksonville Bar Association’s many service contributions to our community,” said Judy Smith, president and CEO of HandsOn Jacksonville.
“The Tillie Kidd Fowler Spirit of Service Award recognizes the real power and value of volunteer work that clearly makes a difference in the lives of others. It represents our highest level of recognition of a group’s service efforts,” she said.
HandsOn Jacksonville has selected The JBA for this award to recognize and honor all of the lawyers in the Jacksonville community who are committed to giving back and serving our community, either individually or through the concerted efforts of The JBA itself.
“This well-deserved award recognizes the proud tradition of the legal profession of giving back to one’s community,” said Robert Spohrer of Spohrer & Dodd, an immediate past chair of HandsOn Jacksonville.
“(Volunteering) is more important now than ever before and The Jacksonville Bar Association is a leader in this effort. Whenever I am personally involved in a community activity, I always come away having gained much more than I contributed to the project,” he said.
The Celebrate! GOOD event takes place each April during “Florida Volunteer Month,” when HandsOn Jacksonville throws a big party to honor the GOOD deeds GOOD people do each an every day on the First Coast.
This fun event is held at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts and starts with an awards recognition stage event that showcases the work of the award recipients through beautifully produced and inspiring videos.
The festivities continue with music, dancing, food from some of the area’s finest restaurants, live and silent auctions and more. This celebration has grown over the years to honor more than 17 individuals and groups of volunteers.
While HandsOn Jacksonville honors those who do good in our community, it also does a lot of good itself. In addition to recruiting, training and inspiring countless numbers of volunteers to serve this community through its nonprofit partnerships, HandsOn Jacksonville also undertakes a number of projects as an organization.
One of those projects is the “A Visit from St. Nicholas” project that takes place every December and focuses on children and literacy.
Each year, HandsOn Jacksonville stuffs thousands of backpacks with books and toys that are delivered to 7,000-10,000 children in some of our most challenged (Title I) elementary schools.
For many of these children, these may be the only books they own and may be the only gifts they receive during the holidays.
Most of the schools that benefit from the St. Nicholas project have 70 percent or more of their students on the free breakfast and/or lunch program.
This past year, I had the privilege of attending and participating in this project at Brentwood Elementary School.
While we were there, Principal (Tia) Stroy explained to us how most of the children at her school do not have a stable or supportive home environment and many of them are charged (at their young age) with taking care of themselves and in some cases one or more siblings.
They have no one to read to them or to help them with their homework ... or just to pat them on the back or give them a hug.
All of the children at Brentwood also receive free breakfast and lunch at school and that is all many of them will get to eat the entire day.
In addition to the smiles that HandsOn Jacksonville gives to these wonderful children, they also infuse close to $400,000 in goods and services each year into our community’s most challenged schools.
There are a number of sponsorship opportunities that are available with respect to the award that is being presented to The JBA at the Celebrate! GOOD event. Depending on the level of sponsorship, sponsors will be identified on the video presentation, in the event program and will have a presence on the stage during the awards ceremony.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the award should contact Mary Jury at 332-6767. The deadline for sponsorships is March 31.
As lawyers, we cannot simply practice law. We must serve our community in a much broader sense if we are to truly call ourselves professionals. To all The JBA lawyers who embody and embrace the spirit of giving, I thank you and I look forward to seeing you at the celebration.