Earlier this year, Stuart Magazine invited readers to help us recognize the people and organizations whose generosity, service, and leadership make a meaningful difference in our community. After nominations were submitted, our editorial board narrowed the field to three finalists in each category for readers to cast their votes—and you responded by the thousands! Here, we celebrate the inaugural Good Works Awards winners (and tip our hats to the remarkable runners-up) who make doing good look very good indeed.
The Most Valuable Volunteer Award
Winner: Jon-Michael Tillet, Martin County High School
Jon-Michael Tillet is proof that you don’t have to wait until adulthood to start making a difference. The Martin County High School student estimates that he devotes 800 to 1,000 hours each year to volunteer work spanning education, youth programs, environmental stewardship, nonprofit service, and civic engagement. Among his many efforts, Tillet has helped collect more than 1,000 handwritten appreciation cards for teachers and school employees and was named the Martin County School District’s 2025-2026 Volunteer of the Year. For him, service isn’t an extracurricular—it’s a way of life.
Runners-Up:
- Bernice Simpson, Indiantown Youth Sports Association
- Neil Capozzi, MartinArts
The Community Pillar Award
Winner: Jacki Nardone, Treasure Coast Hospice
For nearly three decades at Treasure Coast Hospice, Jacki Nardone has helped people navigate one of life’s hardest experiences: grief. As director of counseling and pediatric services, the licensed clinical social worker leads a team that supported more than 5,000 counseling clients in the past year alone. Under her leadership, Treasure Coast
Hospice’s free community grief services have expanded to include programs for children, Camp Good Grief, and crisis-response teams that deploy to schools, businesses, and organizations following sudden loss. Her work ensures that when grief arrives, no one in the community has to face it alone.
Runners-Up:
- Jim Chrulski, City of Stuart
- Noel Thomas, Dark Watch
The Hometown Hero Award
Winner: Samantha Suffich, Martin County Healthy Start Coalition
When Martin County lost its only hospital labor-and-delivery unit in 2025, Samantha Suffich refused to accept that local families should have to leave their own community to give birth. As CEO of the Martin County Healthy Start Coalition, Suffich is leading the effort to establish the Treasure Coast Maternity Center, envisioned as a community-based home for prenatal care, low-risk deliveries, postpartum services, and family support. She’s also taking care directly to underserved neighborhoods aboard the MOM Mobile, a 38-foot prenatal clinic serving communities from East Stuart to Indiantown.
Runners-Up:
- Jennifer Colton, EMS Captain with Martin County Fire Rescue
- Ian Montgelas, Ocean Rescue Chief for Martin County Fire Rescue
The Impact Award
Winner: House of Hope
For more than 42 years, House of Hope has been fighting hunger in Martin County—but food is only part of the equation. The nonprofit pairs food assistance with case management, workforce development, nutrition education, enrichment programs, and other tools designed to help families move toward stability. In fiscal year 2024-2025, House of Hope distributed 1.63 million pounds of food—including more than 600,000 pounds of fresh produce—and benefited 43,800 people across the region. With four pantries and 35 food-bank partners, its reach extends far beyond any single location—or any single meal.
Runners-Up:
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County
- Soroptimist International of Stuart
The Innovation Award
Winner: Project Lift
Project Lift takes challenges that are often addressed separately—mental health, education, substance-use recovery, and workforce development—and tackles them together. Its model pairs counseling and mentorship with hands-on training in fields such as construction, welding, automotive work, and HVAC, giving at-risk teens and young adults both practical skills and personal support. More than 800 young people were served in 2025-2026; 80 percent showed improved mental-health functioning, and 70 percent earned at least one industry-recognized skilled-trades certification. A new East Stuart campus planned for 2027 will bring that model to even more
young people.
Runners-Up:
- The Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast
- Peace.Love.Goat
The Collaboration Award
Winner: Mariner Sands Charity Week
What began within one Martin County community has grown into more than two decades of collective generosity. Mariner Sands Charity Week brings residents, volunteers, sponsors, and local nonprofits together to support needs ranging from hunger and housing to education, health care, and workforce training. Over the years, the initiative has donated approximately $4.5 million to Martin County nonprofits and impacted more than 10,000 lives. Those dollars have helped provide everything from interim housing and free children’s dental care to school supplies, job training, and facilities serving people experiencing homelessness—a reminder of just how far a community can reach when it works together.
Runners-Up:
- Martin County Orchid Society
- Martin Digital History
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