FORT MYERS, Fla. (Feb. 12, 2013) – Tickets for 2013 Love of Bonita event are now available.

The Bonita Springs Community Fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation will be honoring Ray Faubion, Jr. as the 2013 Love of Bonita Award recipient during a dinner on Thursday, March 14, at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort. Tickets are $100 per person.

The award, given annually, honors a Bonita Springs resident who exemplifies the goal of helping to build a stronger community.

A native Floridian, Faubion grew up in Fort Myers where his family started a State Farm Insurance agency in 1961 and relocated his family to Bonita Springs in 2005. His career includes more than 30 years in the insurance industry, and he currently serves as vice president of BB&T Insurance Services, overseeing the Naples and Bonita Springs markets.

Faubion volunteers for several organizations including serving as a member of The Rotary Club of Bonita Springs where he has served as club president and chairman of the club’s foundation. He is also a past chairman for the Bonita Springs YMCA. He is a past director for the SWFL Council Boy Scouts of America and has been a long-time volunteer for the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce where he served as chairman of the board, 2004-2005, and vice chairman of the group’s foundation. Currently serving as chairman of the board for the Bonita Springs Assistance Office, Faubion has been involved with the organization for six years. He also served as a director for the Bonita Springs Community Fund. He has been awarded both Kiwanian of the Year honors, 1994-1995, and Rotarian of the Year, 2003-2004.  In October 2006, he was honored as the “Bonita Springs Citizen of the Year” by both the Fort Myers News Press and the Naples Daily News.

“My earliest memory of community service was working with my dad delivering holiday meal baskets to the needy out of the back of a pickup truck in Downtown Fort Myers in the 1960s and ‘70s,” he said.

“Faubion’s many years of service to the Bonita Springs community have touched hundreds of lives in Bonita,” said Debi Braendle, a Bonita Springs business owner who chairs the Bonita Springs Community Fund. “He has tirelessly given of his time and talent to make a difference in our community. His efforts are well deserving of our 2013 Love of Bonita Award.”

Love of Bonita Award recipients are chosen based on the following criteria: They consistently choose to use their time, energy and/or financial resources to make a difference in the lives of people living within the Bonita Springs community; they actively encourage and perform community service to help improve the quality of life in the Bonita Springs area; and they enthusiastically promote empowerment, self-sufficiency and positive change in others, either as volunteers or as employees of community organizations.

Past Love of Bonita Award recipients include David Short, Ira Hawk, the late Pat Lord, Richard “Dick” Miller, Jacqueline “Jacke” McCurdy, Donna Roberts, David and Sarah Zimmerman, Audrey Georges, Marjorie Rubacky, Hank Hochstetler and Don Thomson.

“Relocating our family to Bonita Springs in 2005 was the best move Jeanne and I ever made,” said Faubion. “We have been blessed both to have made many dear friends, and with the opportunity to live in a thriving community full of generous and caring people.”

Table sponsorships are also available for the event.

The Bonita Springs Community Fund was established in 1997 to promote philanthropy and enhance the spirit and quality of life for all citizens in the greater Bonita Springs area, now and for generations to come through stewardship of permanently endowed funds. BSCF has provided more then $1.6 million in grants and scholarships through endowed funds set up by community donors.

For more information or to reserve space at the 2013 Love of Bonita event, please call Southwest Florida Community Foundation at 239-274-5900.