Reaching Out Now: Honoring Legacies and Building Futures at Annual Gala

Amid projects that are still coming to fruition, Reaching Out Now (RON), a non-profit organization revitalizing the Raymond E. Santmyers Student Union and Activity Center for its upcoming opening, brought together many of the key players in the RON story on Wednesday, June 19, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the George Washington Grand Hotel in Winchester.

Samantha and Joe Barber open the Out of the Shadows leadership gala event of June 19 with warm words of welcome to those in attendance. Photos courtesy of Ian Rushing, Toy Box Studios

What was special about the event was not necessarily the elegant purple flowers that adorned every table or the soft glow of artificial lights in a room whose window shades were lowered but the overwhelming sense that every single person in that room, without exception, was being watched. That is the gift that RON president Samantha Barber gives everyone she meets, and the leadership gala was an extraordinary outpouring of that gift. You are seen. You are appreciated. That is what everyone who received an award that night was verbally recognized or had the honor of attending doubtlessly felt.

RON, an organization whose history goes back to 2008, has been established in Warren County and at the developing youth center in Front Royal as a team of talented and exceptionally motivated people with a vision for reaching young people in this community. Their vision has, in part, been achieved already through programs like Safe at Home, which have featured baseball and softball games with an overarching theme of mental health awareness, as well as the YES Leadership Program, which focuses on expediting the journey of our youth into bright and productive futures. They have worked closely with the school system, even hosting “family night out” dinners in school buildings, and at the onset of the pandemic, they delivered seventy-five thousand meals to people in need. Their roots in this community go deep.

Shelly Cook (above) received the 2024 Female Entrepreneur Award; Mike McCool, President of National Media Services, Inc. and Publisher of the Royal Examiner (below), received the Male Entrepreneur Award.

Somebody who is watching from a different place was honored on Wednesday evening. Harlee Hire, daughter of Toby Hire, who stood with Samantha Barber at the podium, was lost to suicide in 2022. Her passing occurred at a time when Safe At Home was getting off the ground, and it made sense to both Barber and Hire to name a scholarship in her honor in the aftermath of Harlee’s departure. The scholarship comes from the proceeds of Safe At Home events. Within the past few months, both Barber and Hire sat down with the Royal Examiner and shared the joy and pain surrounding Harlee’s story. Very much an extrovert, Harlee was a bright soul who practiced radical encouragement; everyone she knew felt loved and appreciated. But she struggled in the darkness of depression, which was in part informed by the death in a boating accident of her friend Nate Jenkins, who is also an inspiration to the RON family. Through tears at the gala event, Barber and Hire paid tribute to the phenomenon, which was Harlee. They underscored their desire to create a safe place in the youth center dedicated to reaching young people who are likely battling feelings they cannot overcome.

Christa Shiflett, Executive Director of Warren Coalition, received the Service Above Self Award.

Donna Rae Hinze (left) received the Lillian Sloan Legacy Award. Donna is a retired teacher. The award was presented by Lillian Sloan (right).

Some of the blazing comets of success that pay tribute to the Santmyer’s legacy are public servants like councilmen Glenn Wood and Bruce Rappaport and Warren County Sheriff Crystal Cline. To talk to any of them is to hear a passionate tale of how the youth center was available to them at pivotal times in their lives and gave them a much-needed sense of guidance and direction. They felt seen. They felt appreciated. And if RON is successful, that legacy will no longer merely be a memory. As RON continues to blossom and flourish, more and more people will come into that inner circle, discovering that they are not alone, seen, and appreciated.