Last Friday, Jacksonville lost a giant. Someone not large in height or girth, but a giant in heart and dedication to Jacksonville. His name was Gilbert Todd.

I first met Mr. Todd just a few days after I arrived in Jacksonville in November of 2005. Gilbert called to welcome me to Jacksonville and make sure I knew what a wonderful community that I had joined. One could tell from the tone of his voice how sincere he was about his love and praise of Jacksonville and the people who lived here. You couldn’t help but feel both excited and nervous all at the same time! Excited because from what he was telling me, this was a great place to live. Nervous because he expected great things out of me, to become involved and give back….immediately!

I had heard of who Mr. Todd was through some of the folks that work here at the paper, that he was the head of Premier Bank and one of our better advertisers. So right off I knew this was someone I needed to get to know. But the funny thing was when he called me, and later came to visit, he never once talked about the bank or about his advertising.

He talked about Jacksonville.

He was more interested in getting me involved in something to better the community than he was about any business issues he needed to discuss.

Don’t get me wrong, Gilbert was very much a businessman. His life in banking had served this community well, from his long tenure with Elliott State Bank and then as one of the founders of Premier, he always seemed to keep Jacksonville and our community at the forefront of whatever he did. I never spoke with him about it, but I can almost assure anyone that his love for this town and desire to make it the best it could be was the main reason he went together with Ray Green and other investors and started Premier Bank. He wanted a local, top notch financial institution that would work to help and finance a better town. I think folks like Mr. Green, John Power and Paul White would probably agree with this statement. I’m sure they all wanted a successful business, but they all also wanted a better Jacksonville. Gilbert was the head of this effort for sure.

He was a man of few words but when he spoke, he got right down to the business at hand. But he was a man of passion and excitement. In the short time I knew him, he never backed away from a challenge. If anything, he embraced them and often created them. As an example, just recently Gilbert read an article in a banking trade magazine about an organization that was spearheading renewal and revitalization in small communities around the country. Gilbert didn’t just contemplate if this would be a good thing for Jacksonville, he took action. He contacted the firm and arranged for the head of the company to come here to speak. He personally called over a couple of dozen folks from within the community to come listen to the vision. He took the lead. This we will miss tremendously.

I had the pleasure of serving on the Salvation Army Board of Directors with Gilbert and he was always one of the most dynamic forces during our meetings. He could be critical, but always in a professional manner. He was always someone I saw as self giving, never self serving.

I’m sure if he were here today to read this, perhaps his response would be that Jacksonville gave so much to him that he was only returning the favor. Well Mr. Todd, I think it is you that gave so much of yourself to our town and seeing it prosper that we need to return to you the favor and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for what you have done for us.

We did lose a giant among us last week, and his name was Gilbert Todd.

Saturday was the first indoor yard sale sponsored by the Journal-Courier at the Morgan County Fairgrounds. Except for the weather being a bummer, it was a huge success! We had 24 vendors and almost 800 folks come out and see what was for sale. In talking with all of the vendors, just about all of them were thrilled with the turnout and many of our vendors “sold out” of their wares before the scheduled ending time of 2 p.m., which was fantastic.

As most of you know that attended, we did charge a $1 admission fee. I know there was some comment beforehand that we should be ashamed of ourselves for charging. However, 99% of the folks that showed up had absolutely no problem with it, with just about everyone having a dollar in hand when they walked up. We counted four folks that decided they didn’t want to pay, and that was fine. We weren’t out to make money on this event. The money we collected from admissions and booth rental was to cover our costs for the event. We had to rent the building, rent the tables and chairs used by the vendors, rent the porta potties, insurance etc. We did it because it was something that the community didn’t have and we felt that with our efforts, we could have a great community sale that everyone would enjoy. This was accomplished with flying colors given all the great response we got!

Since this was our first effort, we weren’t quite sure how many folks would show up, so we made up 300 “goodie bags” of stuff from area merchants to give away to attendee’s. We had stuff in there like a box of Hefty freezer bags donated by Pactiv, a car wash token from a Quick Time, coupons galore from many businesses, some CD’s from EMI, etc., etc., etc. Many were surprised that they got something like this and I think were even more pleased they came. The bad news is we didn’t have near enough bags! We opened at 7 a.m. and by a little after 8 a.m., we were already out of bags!! Next time we do this, we will have more!

Many of the merchants were asking that we do it again in the fall. Given the response, we probably will. We would love to make the next one even bigger, maybe even using two buildings. We’ll see.

Given the lousy weather, almost 800 folks is great! One could never expect that many folks to attend a yard sale they would have in their yard or driveway. Yes, you have to bring your stuff out to the event, but I didn’t hear any complaints from anyone and most sold so much, that they didn’t have hardly anything to take back. What they didn’t want to take home was left and we had arrangements for it to be donated to charity, so what could be better!!

If we only had Sunday’s weather on Saturday, I’m almost afraid of the amount of traffic we would have had! I say almost afraid because I want to try and have a “goodie bag” for everyone and we could have easily had way over 1,000 folks, probably more than that….way more! But that’s OK. That is what it is all about and we will work hard to make the next one even more successful with more vendors and more “goodie bags” to go around!

If you attended, what did you think? If you were a vendor, were you happy with the crowd? Let me know.

Thanks to everyone for coming out! Keep watching the paper and we might just do it again in a few months.

I thought I would take the opportunity of my blog to talk a bit about some of the good things going on in our community lately.

Yesterday was the annual Kiwanis Pancake and Sausage day event in Jacksonville. I remember way back in the early ’90s when I lived in Greenville, Miss., as a Kiwanian participating in the Pancake Breakfast, as we called it there. It was a heck of a lot of work, but it was also a ton of fun. I remember when I got, after a couple of years cleaning tables (that is what all the new members did in my club, kind of an initiation of sorts I guess), I got kicked up to the griddle and got to cook the pancakes. It sure felt like such an honor to be “cooking” for everyone and not just cleaning up their garbage.

Ted Roth, the editor here at the JJ-C, spent all day yesterday flipping flapjacks at the annual event. When he came in today, he looked pretty worn out. He had been sick the end of last week (note here: he was completely over his sickness yesterday so don’t anyone worry that he was breathing on your pancakes), so I first thought he might have some lingering effects from his illness. He was quick to reply no, he was fine, but his arm was killing him from flipping hotcakes all day, and most of the evening, it seemed.
Plus his nose was semi-stained with the smell of pancakes and sausage and that was all he could smell. (From my memory, it takes at least a week for the smells to leave your nose and longer for the clothes you wore that day. Might be worth retiring that T-shirt and blue jeans, Ted).

But I can tell you, when you can be part of something like this that does so much good for the community and the organization, it makes all of the little things, like sore arms and stained clothes, worth it. Ted said that Pancake and Sausage Day had over 5,000 plates served, which is a huge testament to the community spirit of Jacksonville and our surrounding towns and how willing we all are to support our organizations and the good things they do. Although I am now a Rotarian, I am very proud of the Kiwanis and what they are able to do with the funds they raise from the event. My hat is off to all of you!

BUSINESS EXPO

We had another event happen last week, and that was the annual Business Expo put on by the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce. Ginny Fanning and her staff at the Chamber put on a wonderful event at Hamilton’s that had a ballroom filled with booths of local businesses from all over our community. All had a wonderful story to tell about their businesses and were very excited to be able to showcase them to the public. I really wish that everyone would take the time to come next year. You can walk out with an armload of goodies and also learn about what Jacksonville businesses have to offer. You will be surprised to find out all the opportunities available right here at home.

BOSS OF THE YEAR

One final thought is one of congratulations to Ernie Downey of Colton, Downey and Associates. Ernie was selected “Boss of the Year” by the Chamber panel that gives out the annual award. Ernie and his wife Helen have been pillars in the community involvement arena and there is not much that they would not do or donate time to help make Jacksonville and Morgan County a great place to live. In my short time here in Jacksonville, I’ve come to respect the Downeys very much. Ernie is very deserving and my hat is off to you on your much deserved award.

Feel free to drop a comment about other good things you see going on in Jacksonville and our surrounding communities. I’d love to hear about them and I know all that read this would, too.