Stillpoint Appeal remains simple, and effective, in Lakewood Ranch

It would be easy to take Bob Smith's annual Stillpoint Appeal for granted.

After all, it just kind of happens.

There is no dinner. No golf tournament. No wine tasting or live bands.

There is no nonprofit designation, or board of directors. There is no grant process or pleas to governmental agencies.

In some ways, Smith is like the guy standing at the intersection with his hand out ... albeit he is better dressed.

The beauty in this, the 14th annual Stillpoint Appeal, is in its simplicity. There are a bunch of very poor people who need help. Hey buddy, can you spare a dime? Or a hundred bucks?

It also has been effective.

Over its first 13 years, the appeal has raised $383,000 for the Stillpoint Mission in Bradenton. Every year, Smith's plea has been answered with more dollars than the previous year, including $77,424 last year. If you are keeping track, it was $1,500 in 2012, and $5,825 the next year. By 2020 it climbed to $32,705. Then jumped all the way to $70,380 in 2023.

The fundraising has been so impressive that it began to make up a larger chunk of Stillpoint's annual budget. Last year, Smith's friends accounted for 24.5% of the non-grant income that Stillpoint raised. It is a godsend that has come to be expected.

The pressure is not just on Smith to raise at least $1 more than the previous year. It is that the need continues to explode.

When Smith first found Stillpoint, it was serving about 175 people each month. In 2024, Stillpoint served 26,308 people. It was a 43% increase from the previous year.

You can bet that hurricanes had something to do with that increase.

In 2024, Stillpoint helped the poor with $165,000 in utility bills. It handed out 204 tons of food. The mission distributed 343,202 diapers (I am not really sure who has the job of counting each diaper that goes out). Stillpoint reports that 804 mothers picked up diapers each month in 2024. That was up 17%.

"They keep getting more people," Smith said. "When I first found them, they were giving out two cans of food a person, and 16 ounces of cooking oil. Now they give out toilet paper, diapers, meat and fruit when available."

Smith, who is 76, thinks back to his very first appeal, when some of his friends advised him it wasn't a good idea to tap his golf and poker buddies to support a cause. After considering their warning, he figured he needed to answer to a higher power, and out went the emails.

His friends responded with checks.

"I was thunderstruck," he said of his friends' generosity. 

He now sends his plea to about 70 of his friends who continue to respond.

"I think that is about everyone I know," he said about expanding his list of donors. "I would love somebody to say, 'Here is how you can get 10 more people.' It is very hard to find new donors."

But his appeal also has had tentacles. In the first year of the appeal, Smith was living in the Country Club, and he tapped one of his neighbors, and golf buddies, Ed Balmer, for funds. Ed's wife, Judy, was then saying that she needed something to keep her busy in retirement. Smith took her to Stillpoint.

"To be honest, there was nothing romantic about it," Judy Balmer said. "I was just in the right place at the right time. I became so enamored with the dedication of the people (who ran Stillpoint). These people were so dependable.

"I fell in love with it instantly. No one, and I mean no one, gets paid there. It is the true essence of giving."

She started to help at the mission and eventually took over the backpack project, where backpacks are stuffed with school supplies for children in need.

"It was 2017 when I was told they weren't doing the project anymore because they didn't have the money in their budget," Judy Balmer said. "I thought, 'That is unacceptable.'"

So she took a page out of Smith's playbook.

"I texted my golf friends," she said. "We raised enough for a little less than 100 backpacks in 2017."

She proceeded to run the backpack drive every year since and in 2024 stuffed 870 backpacks.

"Walmart gives us a grant now for $1,500 every year," Judy Balmer said. "In 2022, we started to get a Flanzer Trust match (for donations). We have the most generous group of men and women in this community.

"And this keeps me invigorated. It keeps us relevant."

Smith knows his appeal is relevant and he has no thoughts of slowing down. However, he does realize that, at 76, somebody might have to take over in the future.

"I have given it some thought," he said. "I talked to Amanda (his daughter Amanda Smith-Tullidge) and she laughed at me."

Smith-Tullidge, an attorney, runs the nonprofit Cheers for Charity, so she has her hands full.

So Smith will press forward.

"It is such a worthwhile and successful thing," he said. "I am going to do it as long as I am healthy and competent. I mean, this is not easily transferable."

Once again, the goal is to raise at least $1 more in 2025.

"There is a pressure to succeed," Smith said. "I would be crestfallen if we didn't. I always get desperate toward the end."

But each year, he has pulled it through.

Anyone who would like to check out Stillpoint Mission, can go to its website at StillpointMission.org. Smith can be reached at 262-510-4200.