Tidewell Signature Luncheon features keynote speaker Will Reeve

If the red carpet wasn't leading up to him, you would take Will Reeve to be another compassionate local philanthropist. 

Reeve presented on building a strong support system at the Signature Luncheon on Feb. 9 at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. The mission of Tidewell Hospice, the nonprofit which the event benefited, is to provide care, comfort and compassion to the families it serves. Reeve's mission with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and Reeve Foundation Champions Committee is very similar. 

"My parents often said that you have to give more than you take and that's something that I have taken with me for a very long time, " Reeve said. "No matter what, if you're giving back more than you're taking from the world in whatever context, you're doing the right thing and contributing positively to society."

Reeve said his story has shaped him into the man he is today. By age 13 he had lost his mother to lung cancer and his father to complications from a spinal cord injury. He didn't let that stop him from devoting his life to help improve the quality of life for suffering people.

"No matter what you're going through in your life, you need to know tangibly that you're not alone," Reeve said. "You owe it to yourself, the community, your loved ones to play a large role in that community. It's an ecosystem that relies on each and every member and that applies to not only the spinal cord community but any community. If you're a part of it you need to contribute and if you're a part of it you need to be able to rely on the other members of that community, and that's what keeps it moving forward."