Meals on Wheels CEO, president receives two huge honors

It was one of those moments that touched Maribeth Phillips' heart and reassured her that she had picked the perfect job.

Lakewood Ranch's Phillips, who became the Meals on Wheels Plus Manatee CEO in 2012, was at her nonprofit's headquarters in Bradenton in the middle of a steamy hot day when a line of cars began lining up at noon.

Meals on Wheels Plus had been offering a complete Thanksgiving dinner for those in need. The special event had a 4 p.m. starting time.

"I will never forget how hot it was that day," Phillips said. "Some of the cars had their windows down because they didn't have air conditioning."

Even though it was going to be a four-hour wait, Phillips said to herself, "These people are going to have a beautiful Thanksgiving because of the work you are doing."

The work is amazing when the numbers are considered.

Meals on Wheels Plus delivered 3,550,000 pounds of food in 2025. They delivered 33,500 pounds of fresh produce and 6,250 pounds of pet food. More than 1,600 meals were provided at the Friendship Dining Center and approximately 23,300 volunteers hours were organized to help the community.

Phillips has gone about her job behind the scenes, working to make sure everything is going smoothly.

Behind the scenes — until now.

On Aug, 20, the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch announced that Phillips had earned its Citizen of the Year award for 2026 at Esplanade Golf and Country Club. 

Rotarian Sybil Porter, the chair of the Rotary's Citizen of the Year selection committee, said the award was to recognize Phillips' outstanding service and commitment to the community. Porter called Meals on Wheels Plus a "lifeline for seniors, families and vulnerable neighbors throughout Manatee.

“There are people who lead organizations, and then there are people who lead with heart,” Porter said. “Maribeth has done both — and she has done so with extraordinary grace, vision and purpose.”

If that wasn't overwhelming enough for Phillips, on Aug, 27, the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation named Phillips as its C. John Clarke Humanitarian of the Year Award winner for 2026.

Phillips will be honored Oct. 1 at Lakewood Ranch Country Club at the Soirée at the Ranch. as she receives her Humanitarian of the Year Award. She will have her name etched into a plaque on Lakewood Main Street near the fountain.

"The Citizen of the Year award means the world to me," Phillips said "It is beyond words. And the Humanitarian of the Year award has been given to giants of our community, such as Rex (Jensen). I feel that I am the lucky one to do this job."

Photo by Jay Heater

One of the former Humanitarians of the Year is Angela Massaro-Fain, who was selected in  2017, along with her husband, John.

"I am so thrilled for Marybeth in receiving this prestigious honor," Massaro-Fain said. "She truly is the trifecta, a mixture of natural born leader, intelligence and generous of heart."

Phillip moved to the area 24 years ago from Stamford, Connecticut. She said a friend "tipped her off" that Lakewood Ranch had great schools. She said that turned out to be true.

Although she grew up watching her mother, Marie Phillips, volunteer as much as she could while always helping neighbors in need, she said her own volunteerism didn't start until she moved to Lakewood Ranch. Until that time, she was a single mother raising two kids. 

"My mom was born and raised in London and she always volunteered at my school. She was an incredible role model. She taught me how to give time to others."

Phillips said her mom, who is deceased, would have been proud of her earning the awards.

When she arrived in 2002 in Lakewood Ranch, she began volunteering at Braden River Middle School and with Lakewood Ranch Community Activities. 

"It was so rewarding," she said. "I was helping the school and getting to know my neighbors. Lakewood Ranch Community Activities was so meaningful because I saw how people would come together to enjoy events."

In 2006, she saw an article in the paper that said people were needed to fill shoeboxes with gifts and essentials for seniors. She got together with a friend, Alice Hein, and put together a party for that purpose. 

"Alice had formed a Bunco group, and we gathered themm and our friends and neighbors. We filled 37 shoeboxes."

Photo by Jay Heater

She later was asked to join the board at Meals on Wheels Plus of Manatee and was given a tour of the facilities. She said those with the most needs in Manatee County were mostly isolated from affluent Lakewood Ranch and she was drawn to the mission. She heard one of many stories that moved her.

"I was told about this woman whose kids were hungry but she didn't have anything to give them," Phillips said. "She stood there stirring the pot and stirring the pot, but her kids didn't know there wasn't anything in there. She stirred the pot until they fell asleep.

"It pulls at your heart."

She became CEO and president in 2012 of an organization that seemed like it was running multiple businesses. 

"We had Renaissance on Ninth, the food bank, the volunteer program, the meal warehouse, the adult daycare at what now is Centerstone. I was getting to understand all the parts."

She began to streamline operations and she sold Renaissance on Ninth because it was a financial loser. They opened an adult daycare in Lakewood Ranch. The community rallied around her.

"Then COVID happened."

"I always say that Manatee County takes care of Manatee County," Phillips said. "We were not shut down because we were essential workers and the seniors were the most compromised. There was an endless caravan of cars that were dropping off food for us."

Shortly after COVID had started, Phillips received a call from author Mackenzie Phillips. Tears rolled down Phillips' face as the author told her she was donating $4 million to Meals on Wheels.

Photo by Jay Heater

Meals on Wheels has had to navigate hurricanes, Feeding Tampa Bay taking away many of its donors, and SNAP benefits being shut down by the government. But Manatee County took care of Manatee County.

"My leadership team is amazing," Phillips said. "I have such a great team.

"And I've seen the faces, the gratitude."

Helene Williams is a client at Daybreak Adult Day Care Center. She doesn't really know Phillips or that she is the driving force behind that center.

"I just know this gives everyone something to do," she said of seniors in Lakewood Ranch. "We play games and just socialize. I know they work very hard (for us)."

For Phillips, it all is part of the mission.

"We are helping human beings with food," she said.