Amongst a crowd of friends, admirers and colleagues, Jim Shields accepted the inaugural Don Eslick Estero Person of the Year award on February 8, 2024 at The Club at Grandezza. While Jim, in his usual manner, focused on how all residents can become more engaged with the community, many of those who have benefited from Jim’s kindness and activism stood and praised his accomplishments. The take-away of the evening was that the world would be a better place is each of us strove to be “more like Jim.”

For over 19 years, Jim Shields has provided leadership and commitment to maintaining and improving the quality of life in Estero and, notably, improving education in our community. He created the 2-5-8 Graduate Junior Achievement program, including 135 volunteers, impacting over 2800 students. The Breaking Par Program he started in 2013 has raised $561,000 for educational programs.

Jim has served on the Engage Estero Board of Directors and the FGCU Daveler and Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship Advisory Board. He worked closely and tirelessly with Don Eslick over the years with the Estero Council of Community Leaders (ECCL) (now Engage Estero) on other community projects, too numerous to mention.

Engage Estero thanks Jim for decades of service to the community and we are so grateful that over 120 of our community were able to join us in honoring him.