If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” That was sound advice over a century ago from Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematician, deacon, photographer and writer. One of his chosen roads benefitted youngsters: Under the pen name of Lewis Carroll he wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass and other books loved by children.
Fittingly, H. Lee Thacker Jr. and Suzanne B. Thacker have chosen Carroll’s advice for a plaque they donated to the Robert and Joan Lee Boys & Girls Club of Venice as part of its “Inspire A Child” initiative. The program has been designed to raise the final $100,000 needed to retire the mortgage for the $4.5 million club building, which opened at 920 Gulfcoast Boulevard in 2007. “Lee’s vision and leadership were instrumental in creating and financing that Club,” says J. Mack Reid, then-CEO and president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County and now a member of Caldwell’s board of directors. “We couldn’t have done it without him.”The goal is to sell 100 plaques at $1,000 each, Thacker says, noting that the Club has already passed the one-quarter mark. “Each donor provides an inspirational quotation for his or her plaque,” Lee says. “We’re putting them in the long hallway in the Club, where kids can read them as they pass and find motivation.”
Thacker, a Certified Financial Planner, is a director, senior executive vice president, secretary and trust officer of Caldwell Trust Company as well as a director of its parent, Trust Companies of America, Inc. He joined Caldwell in 1996 and has been with the Boys & Girls Clubs much longer, beginning his nationally
recognized service with the not-for-profit organization in 1969. Suzanne, Caldwell’s compliance coordinator, joined the company in 1997 and is a member of the Florida Bankers Association. She has been an active participant with and supporter of Lee’s work with the Boys & Girls Clubs since the day they met.
The Robert and Joan Lee Club calls itself “the most affordable, after-school care in Venice.” The Thackers don’t need to be convinced of the movement’s value. “The Club saves lives,” Lee says, citing a 2007 National Alumni Survey conducted by Harris Interactive, which reported that 57 percent of Club alumni said the Club saved their life (http://www.bgcgs.org/results/).
Lee Thacker is on the Joan and Robert Lee Club advisory board, along with Caldwell vice president/trust officer Susan Hines and C. J. Fishman, husband of Caldwell executive vice president/senior trust officer Wendy Fishman.
To learn more about “Inspire A Child,” contact Phillip Hall, the Club’s unit director, at 941.485.7050.
About Caldwell Trust Company
Caldwell Trust Company is an independent trust company with offices in Venice and Sarasota, Florida. Established in 1993, the firm currently manages over $800 million in assets for clients throughout the United States. The company offers a full range of fiduciary services to individuals, including services as trustee, custodian, investment adviser, financial manager and personal representative. Additionally, Caldwell manages 401(k) and 403(b) qualified retirement plans for employers.
