Children First staff member Bonnie Eskell and the agency’s entire Diamond Circle were honored for their incredible contributions to our community at the SRQ Good Hero Philanthropic Awards. As a long-time employee, Bonnie serves as an Early Learning Inclusion Coordinator on the agency’s Comprehensive Services team, working to provide support to every child enrolled in the program with a diagnosed disability. Disabilities can include, but are not limited to, developmental delays, autism, or sensory processing disorder. She previously served as site Manager of Children First’s main campus, the Dr. Elaine Marieb Center in Sarasota, where she helped lead more than 40 staff in serving nearly 150 children and their families across 11 classrooms. As part of Children First’s 60th anniversary celebration, key supporters came forth with the idea to present a challenge match to our community, resulting in the formation of the Diamond Circle. Their leadership and generosity put forth a challenge of a collective $1,060,000 that inspired our broader community to raise more than $2.3MM in support and recognition of the thousands of children and families whose life stories have been changed over the past 60 years and continue to be changed as part of the Children First family.

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