Northeast Florida’s philanthropic community is filled with countless organizations dedicated to fulfilling their missions and serving their communities. They do this through generous donations of time, talent and treasure – much of which comes from selfless volunteers who believe in the good that comes from these organizations.
In this special 10th anniversary edition of Circles magazine, we wanted to take a moment and shine a spotlight on some of these volunteers who heard the call for help and went above and beyond to answer it.
A Legacy of Giving
Ema Parks lives by the credo of giving more than she gets, and for the past 42-plus years, her volunteerism has been a testament to that mindset.
Her desire to pass down a legacy of service to her children led her to get involved with Sulzbacher when her children were young and, now that they’re grown and she’s retired, she continues to devote her time and passion toward serving others. She credits growing up in a rural area for instilling in her a strong sense of community support.
“I didn’t see homelessness, I always saw helpfulness,” she said. “That was during a time where if a neighbor was down, the whole neighborhood would come together and whatever the need was, the neighbors stepped in and did it.”
With Sulzbacher, Parks funnels her passion into the food she cooks in the organization’s kitchen with her “second family” of fellow volunteers and Sulzbacher employees, whose passion she finds equally inspiring.
“That’s why I stay, because their hearts are in it,” she said. “They’re not in it for whatever their salaries are or whatever accolades they may get. They’re in it because they have a heart for what they do.”
While Parks said some people might not find the kitchen very “glamorous,” it is her happy place where she can do the things she loves: cook food and give back, serving people less fortunate.
“That’s who I am and that’s who I’ve always been,” she said, “and I don’t know how to be anybody else.”
Ringing the Bell and So Much More
Last year marked Debbie Veale’s 25th anniversary of volunteering with The Salvation Army of Northeast Florida Women’s Auxiliary.
A simple question from a friend back in 2009 – would she like to get involved? – led Debbie to a group of women and a cause that have all become important parts of her life.
“I’ll be honest with you, the only thing I knew about the Salvation Army at the time was they are those people that at Christmas time ring the bells by the red buckets,” she said. “…I thought, ‘I would really like to do this’ and I could do a couple of hours ringing a bell, no big deal.”
Over the years, Debbie has learned the Salvation Army and its Women’s Auxiliary are so much more than that, and she has seen firsthand the impact both have on the Jacksonville community.
While the Women’s Auxiliary has one major annual fundraiser – the Celebrity Chefs Tasting Luncheon and Silent Auction – it has several smaller projects on which volunteers work throughout the year. From the yearly Easter baskets to the Angel Tree program, Veale has her hands in many of those and she enjoys all of it, particularly being surrounded by such dedicated and selfless people.
“It blows my mind that there’s so many people willing to [give back],” she said. “And to be a part of that is truly amazing. It warms my heart.”
Coming Home and Giving Back
When Jessie Drew Hawkins returned to Jacksonville after a decade overseas, she had to get to know her hometown all over again.
She quickly found that volunteering was the way to do it.
Ten years prior, when she first transferred to the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Hong Kong campus, Angels for Allison had been a fledgling organization. Founded in honor of Hawkins’ cousin, Allison Haramis, who died in 2014 as a result of an automobile accident, the nonprofit helps pay the funeral expenses for families who have lost a child.
When Hawkins returned to the First Coast and attended its 2022 Flight of Fancy gala, however, she was pleased to see how much the organization had grown and evolved.
“…I saw what they were doing, and thought, ‘I need to be involved in this,’” she said.
With her background in social media marketing and event planning, Hawkins now donates her time and expertise to help Angels for Allison, including chairing the 2024 Flight of Fancy event. Given that it was at the 2022 event that she committed to getting involved, Hawkins said chairing the 2024 gala felt like coming full circle.
Through volunteering, Hawkins was able to reconnect with her community in Jacksonville’s Ortega neighborhood, which her family has called home for several generations.
“Coming back after 10 years has been a whirlwind, because Jacksonville is constantly growing and changing,” she said. “When you’re away for so long…you’re in a whole new community.”
Her volunteerism also extends to The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital, into which she was inducted last year, and she finds great satisfaction in the time she gives back to her community.
“The time that I give is time I’m happy to give, because of what we’re able to do.”
A Passion for Preservation
Logan Cross has called San Marco home for many years. While he has always embraced his community, his involvement with the San Marco Preservation Society has given him a deeper appreciation for his neighborhood and its residents.
An active volunteer through other organizations – he is the chair for the Sierra Club of Northeast Florida – Cross got involved with SMPS three years ago. Since then, he has become deeply immersed in the organization and the community it strives to preserve.
“I’ve enjoyed meeting the people, but also getting the feeling that I am, in certain ways, giving something back to the community,” he said.
Cross is the chairman for two SMPS committees: Resiliency and Sustainability; and Traffic, Pedestrian and Bicycle. As Resiliency and Sustainability chairman, Cross is using his voice and platform to help raise community awareness about those two concepts – especially, he said, because of San Marco’s susceptibility to flooding.
“[The committee] will provide a vehicle for people to get more engaged in the community in a lot of ways,” he said.
While he is passionate about the projects and causes he champions for SMPS, he said his favorite thing about volunteering with the organization is seeing and meeting fellow neighbors who are equally passionate about the neighborhood they call home.
“It’s always encouraging to see people who just volunteer their time and their expertise and experience for a cause that they believe in,” he said. “…I feel more part of the community than all the other years I have lived here.”
Planting Roots through Volunteering
As president of The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Kendra McCrary is fully immersed in the Jacksonville community. Yet the River City was never meant to be a permanent move for McCrary and her family when they moved here from Atlanta in 1996.
Still new to the community, McCrary began volunteering with the Junior League of Jacksonville to get to know her new home. Volunteering had been part of her life since childhood, with both parents active volunteers in their church and community, and McCrary had become engaged in various volunteer efforts throughout college, so it was second nature to her to get involved in her new city.
Through the Junior League, McCrary became connected with many other nonprofit organizations in Jacksonville. She’s never looked back.
“I really did learn Jacksonville through volunteering,” she said, “and love Jacksonville through that experience.”
McCrary served as the Junior League president in 2004 and became involved with other community organizations, including the Sanctuary on 8th Street, Sulzbacher and The Women’s Board. In her role as president, McCrary oversees the board’s efforts to raise funds to ensure the hospital has the latest life-saving equipment and technologies to care for infants and children.
Between her own business and The Women’s Board, McCrary’s days are full, but she said giving back has never been a drain on her.
“I work full time, but I still have time to volunteer because the volunteering recharges me,” she said. “I can do so much more as part of this group of The Women’s Board than I could ever accomplish individually and that’s really wonderful.”
More than 20 years since they moved here, McCrary’s family still lives in the same Avondale home. Jacksonville truly is home for them – and while McCrary never would have anticipated that, she said she’s grateful that it is.
“It was a true gift,” she said, “because Jacksonville is a really great community.”
Putting on the Pink
Marica Pendjer has learned that life is all about timing and being in the right place at the right time.
“It’s that one moment,” she said. “You look back, and it was that one question from that one person at the right moment.”
Pendjer has been an avid breast cancer awareness advocate and volunteer since 1999, but all the stars aligned to lead her to get involved with Pink Ribbon Jax in late 2019, after she and her husband relocated to Jacksonville from Orange County, California. The organization was founded in 2006 and by the time Pendjer got involved, the founders – “the giants whose shoulders we stand on” – were ready to take a step back and usher in a new generation of leaders to take the reins.
Around this same time, the pandemic hit and brought with it social distancing, business closures and remote working. But that wasn’t about to stop Pendjer.
“It was, again, incredible timing,” she said. “…I think I came in with some new ideas and a co-chair, at that point, and we thought, ‘We’re not going to not do this because of COVID. Breast cancer isn’t taking a break; it’s not isolating. It’s not doing the things we’re doing, therefore we need to keep fighting this disease.’”
While the work Pink Ribbon Jax does throughout the community is incredibly rewarding for Pendjer, she is also grateful for the friendships she’s made along the way.
“When you’re working [with like-minded people] for something you’re both passionate about, it creates lifelong friendships.”
One Couple’s Love Language
Retired Presbyterian clergyman Mike Williams knew about the Downtown Ecumenical Services Council’s mission long before he and his wife, Sharon, a retired Duval County Public Schools teacher, began volunteering with the organization in 2009.
Ever since they got involved – spending time three or four days a week at DESC – he said he’s found a “rich fulfillment” in his retirement years and the interactions he’s shared with DESC clients.
“I’ve been very touched by certain clients whose heart just is poured out with appreciation,” he said.
Sharon works in the children’s section of the DESC closet, sorting clothes and preparing bags for clients to take home. She particularly enjoys learning what she can about each family and customizing the bag just for them.
“I seek to find one or two things that I can put in their bag that will be a surprise for them and they might really enjoy,” she said.
For this couple, volunteering is their love language and how they find joy and fulfillment both individually and as spouses. Volunteering and giving back is not only meaningful and impactful for the community, Sharon said, but also how she and Mike express their love.
“We fulfill our love of God and each other by helping other people.”
Handing Out Happiness
Every Tuesday, Peggy Halter and her husband, Paul, collect their cart filled with a “smorgasbord” of supplies, receive a list of patients and begin their day of service at Baptist Health.
The couple began volunteering with Baptist Health last year and they visit patients on the fifth, eighth and ninth floors. Sometimes the patients will ask for a drink or a snack. Sometimes they’ll take a coloring book or a blanket or playing cards. One time, the husband-and-wife duo handed out hand-crocheted teddy bears donated by another volunteer.
“Oh, the people just love those,” Peggy said.
More than the supplies on their cart, though, Peggy said, the patients enjoy the company she and her husband provide.
“We just have conversations with them, if they want to,” she said. “Some ask for prayer. Some are just so grateful that people came and saw them.”
“Sometimes they need just a smile,” Paul added.
Paul is no stranger to being on the other side of supply cart, having been “in and out of the hospital several times” over the years. He said being a patient himself has given him a greater appreciation for what it’s like to be the one in the hospital bed.
“I think that’s part of why we wanted to be volunteers,” he said. “Just add another pair of hands to be hands-on for them.”
Surgery put Paul out of commission for a short period while he recovered, and Peggy said they chatted with the spouse of another patient on Paul’s first day back.
“He [the spouse] was just marveling about the hospital and the staff and the volunteers, which is rewarding,” Peggy said, “and we pass that on.”
The Power of Collective Giving
Sheila Collier attended her first meeting for the Women’s Giving Alliance (WGA) in 2015 at a friend’s invitation. She was no stranger to philanthropy at the time: She was the chair for the Art and Antiques Show – the precursor to the First Coast Design Show – hosted by The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital. But after learning more about the WGA, she became more and more drawn to its mission and its approach to giving.
“I just really, I guess, drank the Kool Aid about the power of collective giving,” Collier said. “That my $1,500 check, when combined with other women’s, would have more impact.”
The key to getting involved, Collier learned, is finding something about which one is passionate. As a “very, very varied passion person,” Collier had been and is involved with several nonprofit organizations, but passion for these causes is what drives her involvement and the WGA’s focus entirely on issues impacting women and girls is a cause about which Collier is truly passionate.
Last year, Collier’s two-year term as president of the WGA ended and she passed the gavel to current president Sabeen Sabeen Perwaiz. Throughout her time with the giving circle, Collier has been impressed and inspired by the power of women.
“You take us and put us all in a big room and we are 30 women in a room and every one of them has a gift to give and every one of them brings something to the table,” Collier said. “So that, when we collectively put that together, that’s powerful.”
A Heart for Helping
Since Hearts 4 Minds was founded, Rebecca Ackerman has been there to put her heart into the organization and its mission. After all, its founder, Sheryl Johnson, is her aunt and Alex was her younger cousin by four weeks. In 2017, Alex passed away after a prolonged battle against anxiety and depression. When Ackerman saw Johnson begin working to transform that tragic loss into something bigger, she knew she wanted to be a part of it
and she has been part of the organization ever since.
While the world will always have its problems, Ackerman believes in the power of the helpers.
“I’m a really big believer of you can’t change the whole entire world, but you can change pieces of it,” Ackerman said.
The work Hearts 4 Minds has done to help break the stigma surrounding mental illness has done just that, Ackerman said: changed pieces of the world here in Jacksonville.
Beyond Hearts 4 Minds, Ackerman has always had a passion for philanthropy and being a public servant. With a background in public administration and nonprofit management, Ackerman gives back a lot of her time with several nonprofits in Jacksonville.
“[It’s] amazing because I just get to give back to the community that I have grown to love,” Ackerman said.
Oftentimes, she said, her work is more behind-the-scenes and it is this perspective that has taught her that people can make a positive impact regardless of the role they serve in a nonprofit setting.
“I’m not boots on the ground dealing with people in crises – I’m doing the back-end operations of it – but I can see that contributing in all these different ways and all the different ways of volunteering overall, contributes to the bigger problem and helping it,” she said.
Giving Back to the Future
When Emily Uruburu felt the need to give back to her community, she didn’t have to look far beyond her office at NexGen Roofing and Restoration to San Jose Elementary School.
“Our office is directly across the street so we get to come and we get to see the impact daily and we get to be involved with the students throughout the school year,” Uruburu said.
For two years now, Uruburu has organized and participated in NexGen Foundation’s San Jose Elementary Work Day, where she is one of dozens of volunteers donating their time to bring beautification efforts to the elementary school’s campus ahead of a new school year.
“Knowing how much it means to the students is an incredible feeling,” Uruburu said.
Uruburu said she gains inspiration from how invested the teachers, faculty and administration are in the students. Spending a day giving back to the students and knowing the impact one day of work can have is its own reward for Uruburu, whether it’s spent giving buildings and picnic tables a fresh coat of paint or installing new soccer goals for the kids to use on their soccer field.
Ultimately, though, Uruburu said the children are the why behind her volunteerism.
“I would say that’s the reason – they’re the future,” said Uruburu. “So if we can give back to them, it means everything.”
More Than a Walk in the Park
Every day, Avondale Dance Owner and Director John Glessner takes his dogs, Louis, Leah and Leo, on a walk through Stinson Park. And every day, on that walk, he picks up any litter he spies on the ground.
Glessner said previous cleanup efforts for the area parks in Ortega had been organized by other neighbors, and when those fell by the wayside, he decided since he was already there with his pups, why not do a little cleanup as they walked.
“It’s such as a little diamond for us in the neighborhood,” he said. “I’m not really keen on thinking about all that stuff going into the river or just laying around or blowing around or whatever.”
For Glessner, it’s these small efforts that can make a big impact, and he hopes to lead by example.
“I would hope that if somebody appreciated what I was doing that they either join in and help or pick a park,” he said.
In a world that has infinite ways to help and countless causes that are always seeking aid, Glessner said that while those causes are all certainly worthy, looking for ways to help at home is “an investment in ourselves.”
“You know, it’s our community. It’s our neighborhood,” he said. “I wanted a nice, safe, clean place for myself and the dogs to go walk and you know, other people are benefiting by that. So that’s a great thing. That’s not why I’m doing that. It makes me happy. I’m there anyways, so why not?”
Beautifying the Neighborhood
Commuters passing through the Shoppes of Avondale on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday have surely seen Jane Riechmann doing her early morning litter clean-up along that stretch of St. Johns Avenue.
For more than five years, Riechmann has arrived at dawn to pick up trash and even do some minor weeding, mulching and other landscaping work to keep the popular Avondale corridor pristine and welcoming.
“I enjoy it and, you know, I’ve met a lot of nice people,” she said.
Riechmann keeps a list of names in her phone, in fact, of the people she’s met during her clean-up hours: Jennifer, the jogger. Ellis, the trash guy. Eric, the JTA guy. Even a gentleman who buys her green tea every Friday, although Riechmann said, laughing, that she encourages him to contribute the money to the Historic Avondale Merchants Association instead.
If Riechmann finds any money on the ground, she uses it to purchase gift cards from local fast food places to hand out to homeless people in need of a meal.
“I know people value me, I know the merchants do, but I’m not doing it to be valued,” she said. “I’m doing it because I live nearby, and I want (the neighborhood) to look nice.”
Riechmann hopes her volunteerism inspires others to clean up where and when they can.
“I’m hoping people will do that and I know some people have, so that makes me feel good when they say that.”
A Practice in Philanthropy
For more than 30 years, Dr. Karen McCarthy donates her time and talent at the free medical clinic she and her husband, Dr. Dennis McCarthy, launched for City Rescue Mission. She spends every Wednesday there, treating patients.
Though McCarthy retired from her private medical practice three years ago, she maintains her license so she can continue volunteering with City Rescue Mission.
“I have seen so many miracles there,” she said.
After launching the medical clinic for City Rescue Mission, McCarthy said she was able to expand its services by integrating dental and chiropractic components as well. When her children were little, McCarthy would bring them along to the clinic and those experiences instilled a sense of duty and altruism in the younger McCarthy generation as well. Today, her daughter joins her at the clinic, making time to volunteer in between her hospital shifts.
“She’ll come every other week and help me because she still loves that,” she said. “…It’s a really great ministry.”
McCarthy grew up in Long Island and completed her medical training in Manhattan and Brooklyn. McCarthy said Jacksonville stands out from other cities across the country for its strong, philanthropic community,
“I really think of all the different parts of the United States that Jacksonville is a very, very giving community, it really is,” she said. “There aren’t many areas and cities that have as much going on as far as community support.”
