Pictured: Nicole Murby (center) with Wes Roberts, SRQ Media Vice President and Executive Publisher (left) and Arthur Lerman of JFCS. Photo taken by Wyatt Kostygan.

Each year, SRQ Media invites the community to nominate individuals with hearts of giving who have made a significant impact with local nonprofit organizations — from volunteers and board members to individual staff members and donors. This year, attendees were thrilled to be together as we recognized our annual Good Hero Philanthropic Award recipients at the SB2: Philanthropic Agenda Luncheon and Good Hero Philanthropic Awards Luncheon on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. In the coming weeks, we are happy to feature each of the twelve honorees in our Wednesday Philanthropic edition of SRQ Daily.

Today we are honoring Nicole Murby, Director of Therapy and Partnerships at EasterSeals Southwest Florida. Nicole has committed her entire professional life to public service starting as a teacher’s aide and Speech-Language Pathology Assistant in an ASD unit in the northeast, to working as a Speech-Language Pathologist with the School District of Manatee County and finally at EasterSeals. In the last 6 years she has created an award-winning inclusionary preschool serving both typically developing children and children with special needs. Nicole was also instrumental in creating parent support groups for families caring for children with special needs, an elementary school serving children with disabilities, a diagnostic clinic to increase the ease with which children receive their diagnoses so they can receive services more quickly, and a behavior therapy clinic serving children with autism. Nicole is a parent herself to two children with unique special needs. She is always composed and soft spoken, yet remains relentless and fierce in her advocacy for all families. Nicole, thank you for opening the doors to new opportunities for our children.

Pictured: Nicole Murby (center) with Wes Roberts, SRQ Media Vice President and Executive Publisher (left) and Arthur Lerman of JFCS. Photo taken by Wyatt Kostygan.