VERO BEACH — In recognizing the crème de la crème in a county abundantly blessed with community-minded, altruistic individuals, the Dan K. Richardson Humanitarian Award evening is always an inspirational event.
The annual dinner is the principal fundraiser for the Gifford Youth Activity Center (GYAC), an organization founded in 1998 to promote self-esteem and good moral character and provide a safe place for children in the Gifford community, through after-school and summer educational and recreational programs.
The award was established seven years ago by the GYAC board to honor outstanding community philanthropists, and was named for its first recipient, Dan K. Richardson, a highly respected community leader and GYAC founder.
Elegantly and warmly attired against the chilling evening air pushing in from the sea, several hundred guests gathered Wednesday at the Orchid Island Beach Club to honor the 2012 award recipients, Champ and Debbie Sheridan, a couple who personify philanthropy at the highest levels.
The Sheridans’ impact stretches from Baltimore, their hometown, to Vero Beach, where they have a home in Orchid Island.
Born in Baltimore, Sheridan worked in his father’s printing business, then for Everybody’s Poultry Magazine Publishing Company. (“Chickens were really big back then. They even had chicken shows,” one speaker explained.)
Sheridan “scraped together $1,000” to buy the company when its owners retired, built it into the Sheridan Group, one of the country’s leading printers of scientific and medical material. Debbie Sheridan, a former teacher, is a Bethlehem, Penn. native and Penn State grad, and has held leadership roles in several non-profit organizations. The couple married in 1980 and has five children.
A stand-out among the Sheridans’ numerous philanthropic endeavors is the eight-figure donation which crowned their leadership support of the Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries.
Locally, the dynamic couple has supported numerous organizations; most notably, the Indian River Medical Center. The Sheridans were the first seven-figure donors to the center’s Capital Campaign, providing the spark which fueled the $52 million raised. The Sheridan Intensive Care Unit is expected to open in early 2013.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County and the GYAC are among other organizations who have been recipients of the Sheridans’ generosity. They and members of the local medical community were well represented at the event.
Debbie Sheridan was delighted by the surprise attendance of their children, graciously greeting friends and neighbors from Baltimore and Vero Beach, as the guests gathered for poolside cocktails, entertained by advanced students from the 2012 Gifford Youth Orchestra.
Asked about the philosophy of philanthropy behind the couple’s astonishing generosity, she responded simply: “We have been blessed – very blessed. And so, so you do what you can for other people. It’s a stretch sometimes but – you just make it happen!”
How do they persuade other people with similar philanthropic potential to similarly share? “You should just set an example. That’s the best way.”
But as they began to understand the nature of giving, they concluded, “You don’t want to put your name on something, but – if people see your name and see what you have given, they will be more inclined to give also.”
She and Champ started their children on their own path of philanthropy, giving them each an amount they could use to support the cause of their choosing.
It was the first time Glenn Schwartzkopf and Anna Valencia of Girard Equipment Inc. attended the event. Valencia noted that Girard’s plant is in Gifford and that, coincidentally, the company’s first annual HETY (Helping Equip Today’s Youth) award recipient was the GYAC. “It is great to see this community honoring people like the Sheridans in this way.”
Busy greeting guests and ensuring things flowed smoothly was Pattie Nugent-Troxell, event co-chairwoman with Marsha Reardon and Myra Webber.
GYAC board president Scott E. Alexander welcomed guests and GYAC executive director Angelia Perry introduced the speakers: Freddie Woolfork, GYAC director of Public Relations; Dr. Dick Milsten, IRMC Foundation board member; Winston Tabb, Sheridan Dean of University Libraries and Museums at Johns Hopkins; and Dr. Ben Carson, professor of neurosurgery, oncology plastic surgery and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, who provided a special video presentation for the Sheridans.
Dr. Milsten shared that when Johns Hopkins president William C. Richardson called to ask Debbie whether he could come over to discuss a “significant gift,” to the hospital, she said, “Sure. Come to lunch.” When he asked if he could bring Michael Bloomberg, then president of John’s Hopkins and the future mayor of New York City, the answer was, “Of course.” Debbie was characteristically unfazed and decided to serve them what Champ would want for lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And what she wanted for dessert – chocolate-covered pretzels.
The award was presented to the Sheridans by Carter Hopkins, GYAC foundation board member, and the couple received it, amidst thunderous applause, with their usual humble grace.