Nina Gray Awarded 2022 Citizen of the Year Award
Nina Gray was named the recipient of the 5th annual Murray Hendel Achievement Award for her tireless work in aiding the needy of Collier County.
The award was presented by the Collier Citizens Council at the Naples Hilton on February 23rd.
Established to honor Murray Hendel, the Collier Citizens Council’s cofounder and first president, the award is given annually to a county leader who has made extraordinary contributions to the community.
Nina Gray fits that description. She has served the county professionally and through volunteer work for over 40 years, helping to establish several organizations to aid the ill and underprivileged.
She helped launch Avow Hospice and became its first CEO. She later served as president of the Neighborhood Health Clinic and most recently as founder and CEO of the Collier Resource Center, a broker for the needy that puts hundreds of struggling people a year in touch with volunteer professionals who can provide help.
Holding a BA in education from Arizona State University and an MS in counselling and rehabilitation from the University of South Florida, Ms. Gray says, “Service is the rent we pay for living. I am committed to improving the quality of life for our residents.”
Previous recipients of the Murray Hendel award were Carrie Kerskie, for her pioneering work in fighting identity theft (2017); Judge Janeice Martin, for her relentless work for the mentally ill in the county’s treatment courts (2018); Nancy Lascheid, cofounder of the Neighborhood Health Clinic, for bringing health care to the less fortunate (2019); and Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, for his enlightened law enforcement to safeguard the residents of Collier County (2021).
