LWR Community Foundation makes a statement by taking care of little problem

Little things matter.

OK, I'm an editor. It is somewhat of a code for us. Or at least it is supposed to be. 

But I admit it. Little things, when they are wrong, bug me. Remember a few years back when the fancy, four-sided Rotary International clock on Lakewood Main Street stopped working, for months. Yup, it bugged me.

It wasn't like I didn't have a watch. Or in today's world, a phone.

Lakewood Ranch is such a beautiful place to live, when something like the clock breaks, it is the proverbial missing tooth. It no longer was a clock for me. It was a magnet, and my forehead was an iron plate. Every time I walked past ... Bam!

Fortunately, it was fixed, and life went on. As James Brown used to say, "I feel good."

The world was back in order.

Then came COVID-19, and we suddenly had more important things on our minds.

It was OK for little things to take a back seat. At least for a while.

When the walls of my office on Lakewood Main Street begin to contract, I like to take a stroll through Main Street at Lakewood Ranch. I go out on the street and head toward Lake Uihlein, taking a path past the fountain to let in all that blue, blue, blue therapy. Then I pass the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation's plaque that honors its C. John A. Clarke humanitarians.

Having lived a little, I love the historical significance that such markers bring to a community. When we enjoy a certain quality of life, such markers remind us that there was a sacrifice to get there.

The late Don O'Leary's name was placed as the first slat added to the plaque in 2006, and every year the LWRCF has selected another humanitarian of the year. It became a Who's Who of our region's most respected philanthropists.

Those slats kept being added ... until 2019 when Joe and Barbara Najmy shared the honor.

Then came COVID and no award recipient was named in 2020.

In 2021, the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center earned the honor. The hospital has been the only organization to be so honored. The hospital workers' sacrifices during COVID-19 certainly earned such a distinction. Even so, no slat was added to the plaque to commemorate that honor.

Then came humanitarians of the year Bob Smith (2022), Ted Lindenberg (2023) and Heather Hackett (2024). Their names weren't added to the plaque, either.

Would they stop putting the champions' names on the Stanley Cup? The Claret Jug? The Kentucky Derby Trophy?

And cleaning? It seemed the birds were using the LWRCF's plaque as a rest stop, and no one was coming by with a Squeegee.

It bugged me.

To me, the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation is the premier nonprofit in the area, and the plaque represents the organization as a whole. If you strolled by the plaque in the past few years, and saw the names stop in 2019, you had to wonder if LWRCF still was in business.

Well, the LWRCF not only is alive and well, but it is headed toward higher goals than ever before.

Photo by Jay Heater

LWRCF Board President Mark Clark, who is just finishing up his second consecutive one-year term, has guided the nonprofit through, perhaps, the most important two years of its existence. In 2023, the LWRCF transitioned to a 501c3 and broke its parental ties with the Manatee Community Foundation. In 2024, the name was changed from the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund to the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation. Northern Trust agreed to handle the LWRCF's finances.

A Builders Give Back program was formed to not only bring in extra funds, but to introduce the nonprofit to new members of the community. The major builders in the area have put their names behind the effort. The nonprofit's first paid executive director was named.

The major factors were being crossed off one by one.

Oh, but that achy, little thing. The plaque.

Kate Mulligan was hired as the LWRCF's executive director in September. Fortunately, with a laundry list of major goals to accomplish, Mulligan obviously cares about the little things, too.

She had to follow the trail backward to discover why the names stopped going up on the plaque. Eventually, she found out the slats had been ordered, and has been sitting the floor of a shop in Sarasota. She picked up the slats, ordered another for 2024 honoree Hackett, and Clark attached them to the plaque.

On April 14, Hackett, Smith and Philip Reber, representing Lakewood Ranch Medical Center's selection in 2021, gathered at the plaque to see their names had been added and to take photos. Lindenberg was unable to attend.

Philip Reber, the COO and acting CEO of the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, said he thought it was important to see the hospital's name on the plaque.

"One of the things we are most proud of, is being a community-based hospital," Reber said.

Hackett, who founded the nonprofit Local Relief to keep the community informed during disasters, said she was deeply moved when she received the award in 2024, but she didn't think it would be that important to have her name on the plaque. That changed on April 14.

"it means a lot, more than I thought it would," Hacket said as she looked at her name on the plaque. "This shows that someone is watching."

Smith enjoyed the moment, but said he never really thought about the plaque.

"I don't care about any of it," he said. "I was nominated by my own daughter (Amanda Tullidge) and I had that (nomination) framed and put in my office."

No matter, Mulligan said it will be a high priority in the future to keep the plaque up-to-date and in good shape.

"This is the last time we will not be on top of it," she said. "We're starting with a clear slate.

"We want people to know that we care about them, and this is a nice reminder."

And I guess that's not such a little thing.