Meet your Standing O's for 2020

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

Who deserves a Standing O this year? What are the criteria?

A few years ago we decided to let those answers rest entirely in the hands of last year’s winners. It has become a December tradition to contact the current Standing O’s and ask them to select someone they feel deserves recognition, for any variety of reasons. It’s a gesture of goodwill, lending the spotlight to someone else in the community.

But I have to admit, I tried to talk one person out of her choice. Lynette Shott was a Standing O in 2019. She was on the executive team for Flagler Schools at the time and has since retired and moved out of state, but I reached her by phone to ask for her choice for 2020. She chose Joe Rizzo, the executive director of the Flagler County Education Foundation.

“I love Joe, he’s great,” I said, “but I just did a whole Your Neighbors cover story about him a month or so ago, and I wouldn’t want to do a repeat. Anyone else come to mind?”

I figured Shott would cave under such intense pressure. Not so.

“I wish you would reconsider that,” she wrote in an email. “The Standing O’s are growing into a solid annual platform of impactful people on Flagler County. Outside of other stories, it carries a value. Please let me know.”

Well, I couldn’t say no to that. I love the idea that being named a Standing O is an honor, often for an unsung hero. The sentiment represents what the Observer is all about: inspiring the community and writing about your neighbors.

You probably don’t know everyone in these pages yet, but hopefully if you see them in the grocery store, you’ll remember them and say hello. This is their time to shine.