Sea Tow Fort Myers’ O’Brien receives Georgia Frohnhoefer Award
Heather O’Brien is a woman who does it all — not only for Sea Tow Fort Myers members and local boaters — but also the local community.
Sea Tow Services International made sure O’Brien’s hard work did not go unnoticed as it presented her with the company’s 2021 Georgia Frohnhoefer Award at its 2021 annual meeting. The award, named after Sea Tow Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Georgia Frohnhoefer, is given annually to honor a woman within the network who goes above and beyond to make Sea Tow the leading professional on-water assistance provider in the United States.
“Heather embodies what this award stands for,” said Sea Tow President Kristen Frohnhoefer. “Her commitment to extraordinary community service is one of the reasons we chose to recognize her with this award. She embraces all of our Sea Tow programs, engages all trainings offered, and annually helps about in her local community.”
O’Brien said she was overwhelmed with gratitude after receiving the award, since Georgia Frohnhoefer serves as a role model for her.
“I cried when I received this award,” O’Brien said. “Georgia Frohnhoefer is one of the founders of Sea Tow and has been a longtime supporter of women in the workplace, so to be presented an award with her name on it is especially gratifying.”
O’Brien has served as the Sea Tow Fort Myers office manager since 2009 and is no stranger to accolades, having received an “Efforts Above and Beyond” Award from Sea Tow for helping to coordinate a local rescue at sea. She was also honored by the U.S. Coast Guard for organizing and operating a food bank for its local service members who went without paychecks during the 2019 government shutdown.
As an example of why she received the award, O’Brien is once again coordinating Cape Coral’s Boat A Long Christmas Boat Parade, an event she’s supported for the past 20 years and led coordination efforts for the last 10 years.
The annual Christmas boat parade was scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 18.
“The parade is important for its 40-year tradition to help celebrate the Christmas season,” O’Brien said, “but the real purpose is to help collect presents for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program, which are distributed to deserving kids in our area.”
Anyone interested in donating can call O’Brien at the Sea Tow Fort Myers office at 239-945-4820.
Since its inception in 1947, Toys for Tots has distributed 604 million toys to 272 million kids, and with this year’s supply chain issues, donations are critical.
Those wishing to donate can visit the Sea Tow office at 3725 Del Prado Blvd., S., Cape Coral.
For more about the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program, online please visit www.toysfortots.org