BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
FLEMING ISLAND— Keystone Heights-based Operation Barnabas won the $7,000 Judges’ Choice Program Award while Mission of the Dirt Road and the McRae Elementary Weekend Food Program each won $2,000 during the Reinhold Foundation’s Celebrate Clay Awards on April 26.
Operation Barnabas was founded in 2017 by Lake Region resident and 17-year Marine veteran Trey Fagan after his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2020 Fagan, along with Operation Barnabas’s Chief Operations officer John Green told the Keystone Heights Rotary Club about the organization’s mentoring program, which helps homeless veterans and first responders get back on their feet.
“It basically takes us 30 days to do a face-to-face assessment,” said Fagan, “find out if the individual is mentally stable, if he needs a job, if he needs a vehicle, if he needs food, clothing, whatever he may need.”
“We have that mentor get with that individual and do life with him over the next 30 days,” he added.
“Over the past year, we have found that we can take somebody living in the woods, which we’ve done before and put them into a safe living location through our partnership with ChangingHomelessness.org,” Fagan continued. “We can get them a vehicle, then a job and have them living on their own and renting on their own.”
Celebrate Clay’s top honor
The James Boys of Orange Park United Methodist Church captured Celebrate Clay’s top honor this year, earning the $15,000 Paul E. Reinhold Community Service Award. The James Boys, an all-volunteer ministry, focused year-round on three separate projects: building custom wheelchair ramps for the elderly and disabled; refurbishing bikes for the needy; and providing numerous handyman and home repairs.
The Reinhold Foundation created the Celebrate Clay awards program to honor the legacy of Paul and Klare Reinhold and to recognize, reward, and encourage community service within Clay County. The Foundation has awarded more than $1 million to Celebrate Clay award recipients in the past fourteen years.
A panel of five judges including three independent volunteers from the community and two Reinhold family representatives voted on the best projects of 2021 to determine the winners of the $100,000 in cash awards. This year’s judges were: Daniel (Matt) Johnson, Headmaster, St. Johns Classical Academy; Kevin Rinks, FACHE, Administrator, Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County Hospital; Sandra Staudt-Killea, Executive Director, Waste Not Want Not; and Neely Egan and Jennifer Hutchen, Reinhold Family Members.
Applications were open to all non-profit groups active in the First Coast Area that provided services to Clay County residents in 2021. The 47 winners included Clay County and regionally based nonprofits, churches, and school programs.
Other winners
A complete list of this year’s winners are:
Paul E. Reinhold Community Service Award ($15,000): The James Boys;
Judges’ Choice Program Awards ($7,000 each): Operation Barnabas, Quigley House;
Jack Myers Executive Director Award ($7,000): Elaine Smith, Executive Director of Clamour Theatre Company;
Peggy Bryan Volunteer of the Year Award ($7,000): Johnny Williams of First Coast Women’s Services;
Judges’ Choice Volunteer Awards ($3,500 each): Ali Griffin of Clay County Habitat for Humanity, Kathy Wray of The Clothes Closet and Food Pantry;
Special Judges’ Awards ($2,000 each): Children’s Home Society of Florida, Clay County 4-H Foundation, Clothes Closet and Food Pantry, JP Hall Children’s Charities, McRae Elementary Weekend Food Program, Mission of the Dirt Road, Oakleaf Village Elementary Music Department, Project REACH Kids, Clay County School District, Seniors on a Mission, YMCA Take Stock in Children Clay County;
Category Awards ($1,000 each):
Arts and Culture- CalaVida Arts Festival, Concert on the Green, Island Theater;
Civic Programs- Clay County Archives, Orange Park Junior High School Diversity Committee;
Community Programs- Clay County Habitat for Humanity, Food Pantry of Green Cove Springs, Hunger Fight, Kitchen of Clay County, Mercy Auto Charitable Foundation, Mercy Support Services;
Education and Literacy- ACE Mentor Program of Northeast Florida, AMIkids Clay County, Episcopal Children’s Services, Florida Youth Challenge Academy Foundation;
Environment and Animal Advocacy- Clay County Humane Society;
Health and Human Services- BASCA, Clay Behavioral Health Center, Hope Therapy, Way Free Medical Clinic, Senior Citizens’ Programs, PET Florida Penney Farms of Mobility Worldwide,
Church Service Programs- Food Bridge of Middleburg United Methodist Church, St. Catherine’s Conference Society St. Vincent;
Accomplishments by Youth- Florida Striders Track Club, Teen Court of Clay County;
Service to Youth and Families- Clay County Police Athletic League, Kids First of Florida, Tiger Mentorships of Lake Asbury Junior High School, Seamark Ranch, Young Life Clay County.
