A Time to Give; Homebuyer Magazine ~ January / February 2005

    Judy Hicks' life changed forever on the day her father died. Burl Hicks, who had labored unloading trucks in Cleveland and mining coal in West Virginia, was a mountain of a man and a onetime rounder who had sobered up for good after his heart and his liver almost gave out.

    "My dad was kind, funny and he loved to tell stories," says Hicks, 46, a realtor with Re/Max Coastal Real Estate. "But he was a binge drinker, and my childhood was very turbulent because of that. Then, after a near-death experience in the hospital, he quit drinking and came out a changed man".

    On November 4, 1994, Hicks had just received a sales award from Prudential Network Realty, where she started her real estate sales career. She was laughing with her co-workers when the call came that Burl Hicks, who had outlasted his doctors' most optimistic predictions by at least five years, had finally succumbed to congestive heart failure at the age of 58.

    "I was devastated, but I like to think my dad was already in heaven when I got that award, so he saw it all happen," says Hicks. "His death also made me think about my own legacy. Did I really want to be, 'She sold 50 houses a year?'"

   Luckily for Jacksonville's neediest children, Hicks decided she would use her many gifts - salesmanship, determination, motivation, enthusiasm and empathy for the less forunate - to make a difference.

   "There was such a void in my life after my dad passed away," says Hicks. "I needed to do something. And I found that every time I helped someone else, it made me feel just a little bit better."

    The first beneficiary of Hicks' newfound focus was Jacksonville-based Daniel, formerly Daniel Memorial, originally founded as an orphanage in 1884 and now a multiservice agency that assists troubled youngsters and their families through a variety of nationally recognized programs.

    The agency, named for a pioneering attorney and a crusader for sanitation named James J. Daniel, provides therapeutic foster homes for abused and neglected children, treatment for emotionally disturbed and behaivorally disruptive children and independent living services for homeless adolescents.

    "I chose that group because I indentified with the backgrounds of some of the kids," Hicks says.

    Hicks, who graduated from high school in Cleveland, later moved to Kansas ("where the state tree is a telephone poll") to work for Management USA, an apartment leasing company.

    In 1984, the job brought her and her first husband to Jacksonville. Within a few years, she was selling advertising on a real estate-oriented cable television show and for several local publications.

    Linda Sherrer, president of Prudential Network Realty, indentified the energetic Hicks as a potential superstar, and recruited her for real estate sales. She went to work for Sherrer, where she excelled almost immediately, and later joined Re/Max, where she has remained. Although she deals in all price ranges, Hicks particularly enjoys interacting with first-time buyers.

    "I get a thrill selling a home to someone who really wants and needs a home," she says. "That's what's important to me. I love what I do, and I plan to die a Re/Max agent."
When Hicks joined Daniel's board in 1996, she brought that same passion to the venerable local charity.

    In 1999, she partnered with the Northeast Florida Builders Association to throw a fashion show benefiting Daniel. And in 2002, she founded Womenade, a group of female industry professionals who mentor Daniel's young charges and raise money to supply "extras" not included in organization's budget.

    Other founding members included Kathy Timmons, a mortgage originator at CTX Mortgage; Kathy Lee Menninger, a realtor with ICI Homes; Mary Jury, development officer for Daniel; and Hick's sister Marybeth, owner of Bodyworks by Marybeth.

    "If life hands you lemons, make Womenade," says Hicks. Womenade's fund-raising comes primarily through periodic potluck dinners held at members' homes. Guests, who donate $30 each, have an opportunity to network and to discuss ways to further help Daniel. The other major Womenade fund-raiser is its annual Christmas party, which is attended by a who's who of building industry movers and shakers.

    "Judy is so tender-hearted," says Selby Kaiser, who was Hicks' manager when she was with Prudential and who hosted a recent Womenade dinner at her home. "She wants so much for things to be right and for people to be happy. Everyone responds to that."
    Indeed, perhaps the most remarkable thing about Hicks' success in drumming up support for Daniel is the fact that she does it through sheer force of personality. As an individual realtor working primarily from her home, she has no employees to cajole and no suppliers who feel obligated to contribute to causes she believes in.

    But what she lacks in clout she makes up for in creativity - and a flair for the dramatic.

    For example, during a breakfast meeting last year of NEFBA's Sales and Marketing Council, Hicks rode a bicycle into the hotel ballroom and made an impassioned plea for attendees to purchase bikes and helmets for children under Daniel's care.

    "I went up to the podium and asked everyone to close their eyes and remember what it was like when they first rode a bicycle," Hicks recalls. "Then I said, 'Don't you think every kids needs a bike?'" Almost instantly, she recalls, people began to stand and pledge, and they didn't stop until all 75 children in need were accommodated.

    Likewise, Hicks "passed the bucket" at another SMC breakfast and asked attendees to empty their pockets, which, knowing Hicks, they did without balking. The cash was used for a child-oriented money management course for Daniel developed by Womenade.

    This year, Hicks says, she's looking for donations of winter coats, scarves and hats. Consequently, few doubt that Daniel kids will be among the warmest in Northeast Florida by the time the first cold spell strikes.

    "Judy is just so high-energy, sincere and dedicated to what she believes in," notes Karen Sutherland, director of marketing for ICI Homes. "She's a mover and a shaker. She gets things done."

    Womenade funds have also been used to treat high-achieving children to congratulatory dinners, pay for haircuts and finance modest shopping sprees. "Very often regular funding just covers the bare necessities," says Hicks. "We want kids to know there's a great big new world out there waiting for them, but they have to be prepared and they have to dream big."

    Dreaming big has certainly worked for Hicks, who has won a plethora of industry awards starting with 1993 Rookie of the Year from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. She has also won numerous awards for sales achievement and other sales accomplishments.

    However, she's most proud of the kudos she's received for her charitable work, citing the 2001 Dick Baker Award for Community Service, presented by the SMC, as particularly meaningful. "I knew [deceased builder] Dick Baker," Hicks says. "And to me, he exemplified everything good about a person."

    Hicks has also won the NEFAR Humanitarian of the Year Award, the NEFBA Fred King Associate of the Year Award, the Celebration of Leadership Award from Community Connections and the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Florida Coalition for Children.

    Hicks and husband Allen Dye, a broker with Northstar Mortgage Network, live in Mandarin with a Jack Russell terrier named Bama and a cat named Leo the Lion.

    Hicks says she chose not to have children because of her own erratic upbringing, but adds, "I've got about 75 kids [through Daniel]."

    In all, life is good for Hicks, in part because she helps make life good for others.

    "On top of that, I love my husband and I'd marry him again a hundred times over," says Hicks of the man she wed in 1993. "I have to say I'm the luckiest girl in the world."