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Technically Speaking

by Dave Trecker
Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living in Naples.

Photo Credit: Bob Raymond

NINA GRAY

Wins Civic Achievement Award

ervice is never overrated. And service for the needy and “Navigating the maze of health and human service
underprivileged is particularly important in these challenging organizations can be daunting,” says Ms. Gray.
Stimes. There can never be enough of it. The Collier Citizens Here are some success stories.
Council, a local civic organization, took it upon itself some years • CRC brokered a program to build a wheelchair ramp for
ago to recognize people who provide that kind of help. The a blind woman trapped in a mobile home and arranged for
group established an award and named it after its cofounder and payment from charitable groups.
longtime leader, Murray Hendel, himself a Naples icon. • CRC connected a destitute woman with dementia to the
The Murray Hendel Civic Achievement Award is presented Area Agency on Aging, which provided a nurse and
annually to an individual who has made extraordinary 20-hour-per-week care.
contributions to the Naples community. • CRC found a physician who gave pro bono treatment to
Nina Gray, the 2022 recipient (the award was presented in a woman with thyroid problems.
2023), certainly meets that criterion. She has given over 40 years • CRC located a group of church volunteers to rebuild the
of service to Collier County, both professionally and through rotted floor of a woman’s house deep in the Everglades.
volunteer work. • CRC hooked up a woman who could not afford insulin
Her qualifications are exemplary. She holds a B.A. in Education to treat her diabetes with an anonymous donor who provided
from Arizona State and an M.A. in Counseling and Rehabilitation funding.
from the University of South Florida. She is a licensed mental • CRC connected a woman seeking addiction counseling with
health counselor and has spent years working with the less a rehab clinic.
fortunate, both one-on-one and through workshops and volunteer • CRC provided food cards and a list of food pantries to
programs. a destitute family of five in Immokalee.
Some time ago, Ms. Gray helped launch Avow Hospice and “Sometimes,” Ms. Gray says, “people just need someone who
served as its executive director in the 1980s. She later joined the listens. With CRC, they get to talk to a person, not a recorded
Neighborhood Health Clinic and served as CEO for a number of message.”
years, overseeing a period of significant growth. Outgoing CCC president Mike Lyster says, “We salute
Then in 2016 she founded the Collier Resource Center Nina Gray and her remarkable accomplishments She’s a worthy
and established what has become a “brokerage house for the recipient of the Civic Achievement Award.”
underprivileged.” With little budget and a skeleton staff, the CRC She joins a distinguished group of past winners.
connects vulnerable people needing help with professional service • Carrie Kerskie (2017), for her relentless efforts to combat
providers. It helps the needy find food. It points the way to sources identity theft.
of employment. It connects the elderly to essential services. • Judge Janeice Martin (2018), for her work in the county’s
The CRC accepts no taxpayer money. With funding provided treatment courts to aid the mentally ill and addicted.
entirely by individuals, foundations and churches, its return on • Nancy Lascheid (2019), cofounder of the Neighborhood
investment is through the roof. And the aid it provides benefits Health Clinic, for providing health care for the needy.
thousands. • Sheriff Kevin Rambosk (2021), for enlightened law
CRC’s clients are a diverse lot. Ms. Gray says 68% are women enforcement, blending policing with community service.
seeking help for their families. Most are elderly and financially Nina Gray has this thought for those who devote themselves
strapped. Some speak little English, and many live in substandard to helping others. “Service,” she says, “is the rent we pay for
housing. Few have computer access and they typically don’t know living.”
where to turn for help.

70 Life in Naples | April 2023