The Bob Award
Robert (Bob) McClelland faithfully served his community for more than 35 years as a Community Supervisor for Baltimore County Recreation and Parks. After his retirement, Bob continued to serve as a volunteer on a variety of councils and non-profits. He was most proud of serving as one of the founding board members for Empower4Life alongside his dear friend, Jen Barrett Cox, who he loved like one of his own children.
Our team honors Bob and his immeasurable contributions with the Bob McClelland Beautiful Soul Award, established in 2019 and presented to a deserving volunteer who demonstrates dedication, joy, and compassion.
Each year, the recipient is announced at our Little Kids, Big Dreams gala in October.
Award Recipients
2024 | Ashley Fallon
Ashley Fallon joined our founder's life in 2007 as an 8th-grade student and later thrived in the high school magnet program. Her remarkable leadership and advocacy skills shone brightly from 2007 to 2011.
As a partner in the Empower initiative, Ashley now leads major projects and oversees educational programs, dedicating her summers to our mission. Her meticulous organization keeps everything running smoothly, allowing our founder to focus on new community initiatives.
Sharing a name with our founder's daughter, Ashley embodies the passion we strive for. Congratulations to Ashley Fallon on being named the 2024 recipient of the Bob McClelland ‘Beautiful Soul’ award!
2023 | Connie Carnes
Connie’s journey with E4L began in 2016, thanks to Bob's recommendation. Although they hadn't met, Bob believed she would be an excellent fit for our organization, and he was absolutely right. Connie was looking for a way to give back and utilize her talents, and she has become an integral part of our team ever since. Connie now manages our office, diligently responding to emails and calls, ensuring we stay compliant with all filings, and being the friendly face so many in our network recognize. She works tirelessly, often sending our most effective emails and texts between 4-5 am. Connie brings innovative ideas, a clear vision, and an incredible spirit to our organization. She anticipates our needs, understands our thoughts, and keeps up with our founder's ADHD in ways no one else can. Connie Carnes is not only a valuable asset but also embodies the essence of the 2023 Bob McClelland ‘Beautiful Soul’ award.
2022 | Meredith Kilgore
In 2017, after hearing her voice and feeling her energy, Jen promptly had Meredith begin teaching POUND, a workout inspired by playing the drums, to the kids at our partner shelters. The kids LOVED it and they LOVED her! After realizing her line of work was in marketing, Meredith has become an even more of an instrumental part of E4L dedicating hours creating, generating, scheduling, posting, and engaging our audience through social media, emails, events, and our website even after she moved away from Maryland. Her teaching impacted one of our adult volunteers so much that when she found out this person was moving, that volunteer went and got her POUND certification to keep POUND alive for the children we support. This woman is one of a kind and MOST deserving of the 2022 Bob McClelland ‘Beautiful Soul’ award.
2021 | Brice Dobry
In 2018, Brice came to Jen and said “Jen, I really want to use my skills to help you, to help Empower”. Since that time, he has single handedly changed the way we operate, the way we attack a project and MOST IMPORTANTLY the scope of impact we have been able to have on vulnerable children in our community.
The work Brice has done to take manual labor off of Jen’s plate, allows her to devote that time to expanding our educational programs, giving presentations to various groups/businesses, or filling a need that otherwise may have been overlooked. Brice literally never says no and has ABSOLUTELY no clue the impact he has had on our organization! Brice is the perfect fit for the 2021 Bob McClelland ‘Beautiful Soul’ award and we could not be more grateful to him for ALL he has done for us!
2019 | Lauren o’Connor
For over two years, Lauren has displayed incredible dedication, commitment, and love to Empower4Life and all the children that we support. Twice a month, she joins us at Sarah’s Hope where you can often find Lauren reading a book to a child, talking to them about their goals and dreams, or helping them pick out a healthy snack before we go. The children adore her AND they look up to her. Over her last semester in school, Lauren organized a book drive with her classmates and donated over 700 books to Empower4Life. We use these books now and moving forward as prizes the children can earn after our educational programs. Lauren has been such an asset to our organization and is most deserving of the 2019 Bob McClelland ‘Beautiful Soul’ award.