Are you or do you know someone who is a good neighbor?

Hillsborough County is now accepting nominations for this quarter's recognition of the Lonnie Lea Napier Good Neighbor Award, which recognizes good neighbors who help simply because help is needed.

Individuals, neighborhood associations and community groups that demonstrate an ongoing spirit of compassion and helpfulness to their neighbors, and wish to be considered for this award, should submit a nomination form to the Hillsborough County Office of Neighborhood Relations. The deadline for this quarter's nomination submissions is Nov. 9. All Hillsborough County residents are eligible to nominate and be nominated.

Quarterly nominations will also be reviewed to select one recipient of the annual Lonnie Lea Napier Good Neighbor Award, presented by the Board of County Commissioners in the winter of 2009. Therefore, this is the last call for nominations that will also be reviewed for this year's annual award! The annual award comes with a $2,000 prize to be awarded to the neighborhood association serving the area in which the recipient lives. If the recipient resides in an area that doesn't belong to an association, Neighborhood Relations will work with residents in the area to form one.

County commissioners established this award in 2000 in honor of a county resident who lost his life after falling while trying to rescue a neighbor's cat from a tree. This was not the only instance of compassion and helpfulness shown by Lonnie. Neighbors tell story after story of how he could be relied upon to help out in a number of ways - from putting up Christmas tree lights for a recently widowed woman to fighting a brush fire until firefighters arrived.

Nomination forms can be downloaded online, or requested by telephone, person or by mail:

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