Joneses receive 'Neighbor of the Year' - Republican Eagle
Scott and Anne Jones attended Thursday’s Noontime Kiwanis Club meeting to provide moral support to their nephew, Eric, who was speaking to the group. Well, at least that’s what Eric told them.The couple was actually there to be honored as the 2011 Red Wing Neighbor of the Year, and they couldn’t have been more shocked when they realized that was the case.“He’s not to be trusted,” Anne teased Eric after he revealed the truth.The Joneses were nominated by Ron Schiemann for Neighbor of the Year, an award by Red Wing Kiwanis Clubs that aims to recognize those who live their lives emphasizing human and spiritual values, following the golden rule, promoting high standards, influencing public opinion, providing unselfish service toward building a better community and exhibiting qualities of good citizens.“Anne and Scott prefer to operate in the background allowing others to bask in the limelight of their successes,” Schiemann wrote. “They are a humble people with a strong belief in their faith, in people and in the Red Wing community.”Both Scott and Anne grew up in Red Wing and have been actively involved in numerous organizations, all of which they were praised for while receiving the award.“The difference between Anne and Scott is Scott is always asking for money and Anne’s helping you figure out how to spend it,” said Scott Wordelman, Fairview Red Wing Medical Center CEO and friend of the Joneses.Anne has served on boards or advised for organizations including Goodhue County Habitat for Humanity, United Way of Red Wing, Friends of the Sheldon and River Region Healthcare System. She was the first chair for Fairview Red Wing.Scott sits on the board of directors for four philanthropic organizations in addition to taking on the duties of treasurer for the board of trustees of the Red Wing Family YMCA. His list of fundraising successes includes restoration of the Sheldon Theatre.Together — and with Scott’s late parents, Ora and Barbara Jones — Scott and Anne established the Jones Family Foundation, a philanthropic force that has been growing in the Red Wing area since 1988. The foundation’s primary areas of interest are lifelong learning, youth development, community sustainability and family special needs.“The most notable thing about their foundation, however, is the fact that through its activity they are recognizing the support the community has given them through the years that they and their families were in business here, and they are ‘paying it forward’ in a significant way,” Schiemann wrote in his nomination form.Following praise — and light bantering — from friends and family members at the meeting, the Joneses displayed their thanks for earning Neighbor of the Year.“It is always a bit of hyperbole when you put pen to paper,” Scott said modestly. “We certainly appreciate it, but it’s very, very humbling.”“We don’t do any of this alone,” he continued. “We have an enormously powerful and influential board that helps us think about our philanthropy.”“Everybody in this room is doing their part for the community,” Anne added.
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