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On May 17, 2000, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners established the Lonnie Lea Napier Good Neighbor Award
in honor of a County resident who lost his life 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.
The award is meant to recognize those good neighbors who help simply because help is needed – individuals who demonstrate the
spirit shown by Lonnie Lea Napier.
Individuals, neighborhood associations and community groups may make nominations to the Office of Neighborhood Relations at any time
throughout the year. On a quarterly basis the County will recognize a “good neighbor”. The quarterly nominations will
be reviewed and an annual “Lonnie Lea Napier Good Neighbor Award” will be presented at the Annual Hillsborough County
Neighborhoods Conference in March.
All residents of Hillsborough County are eligible to nominate and be nominated. The nominee must demonstrate an on-going spirit of
compassion and helpfulness to his/her neighbors.
The annual award comes with a $2,000 prize to be awarded to the neighborhood association serving the area in which the recipient lives.
The money must be used for a project that improves the neighborhood or the association. If he or she resides in an area in which
there is no association, the Neighborhood Relations staff will work with residents of the area to form one.
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