LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Margaret Tidmore was nominated by her colleague, Judy Ransom.

With no model to follow, Mrs. Tidmore started one of the first school mentor programs in Florida 23 years ago for New Horizons Learning Center, a Title I school for at-risk youth. Her desire for students to have mentors was born years earlier when her husband died, leaving her five-year-old son without a father figure. She had female family members and friends to help raise her son, but she struggled to find a consistent male mentor.

After working for Bay District Schools as a Support Employee with special-needs students for 16 years, Mrs. Tidmore retired in 1998. She couldn’t stay away, however, for a longing to help the next generation to be a vital part of their community burned within her heart. That same year, she started substitute teaching at New Horizons.

Mrs. Tidmore saw the challenges students faced. Many of them were being raised by one parent or a grandparent, or by someone who struggled to make ends meet, or both. The pain of raising her son without a father catapulted her into action. She heard about the Florida Governor’s Mentor Initiative and started traveling to the state capitol to attend meetings and learn about mentoring. Within months of learning and taking notes, Mrs. Tidmore went back to Panama City, told everyone she could about the need for student mentors, and signed up 45 mentor volunteers.

When Governor Jeb Bush visited New Horizons Learning Center, Mrs. Tidmore asked him how she would find the funding for the mentor program. “Go out into the community,” he told her. Businesses and individuals needed to support the next generation in their local area. So, out into the community she went, passionately convincing business owners, individuals, state, county, and city officials to support the mentor program at New Horizons Learning Center.

Mrs. Tidmore never took a dime of the support for herself. 100% of the donations went to help the students – incentive reward programs, educational field trips, Parent-Mentor Meet-and-Greets, school uniforms, shoes and winter jackets for those in need, weekend food packs, and other needs.

Mrs. Tidmore didn't take a salary, either. She worked in and on the mentor program day and night, including weekends, strictly as a volunteer. After twelve years of volunteer work and seeing the growth and impact of the mentor program, the school district took her on as an employee.

Mrs. Tidmore initiated incentive programs for the students. One business partner from the very beginning, state Senator George Gainer, donated a portable building for a school store. As the at-risk students earned rewards for academic achievement and good behavior, they could purchase school items in the store, such as pens, pencil cases, and notebook binders.

Mrs. Tidmore raised funds to bring students and their mentors on educational field trips to the state capitol, Tyndall Air Force Base, and Naval Support Activity. She also brought them to visit veterans at the Clifford Chester Sims State Nursing Veterans’ Home. One school project involved mentors and students reading together about recent U.S. history since World War II. Then, the students interviewed veterans at the nursing home with their mentors, discovering first-hand accounts of the history they studied.

Field trips included visits to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and local fire departments to learn more about public servants and first responders. One fire department had prepared drills for the students to suit up and engage in practice rescue drills. The field trips Mrs. Tidmore planned also included fun excursions for students who had earned academic and behavior rewards. Most New Horizons students never had the opportunity to travel “across the bridge” from Panama City to the world’s most beautiful beaches at Panama City Beach, but Mrs. Tidmore changed that.

One example is WonderWorks, an amusement park for the mind with 35,000 square feet of edutainment. The attraction combines education and entertainment with more than 100 hands-on exhibits that challenge the mind and spark the imagination. Mrs. Tidmore’s “kids,” as she fondly called them, had the opportunity to explore WonderWorks on many occasions.

One business partner, infected by Mrs. Tidmore’s passion for “her kids,” took New Horizons mentees and mentors fishing on his large charter boat each year. For many of New Horizon’s underprivileged youth, experiences “across the bridge” at WonderWorks, charter boat fishing, and the Naval Support Activity were “first-in-a-lifetime” experiences.

Mrs. Tidmore also helped her mentees secure employment by providing help with job interviews, uniforms, and bicycles for transportation that were donated by the Bay County Sheriff’s Department. She and the mentor program helped students who never envisioned high school graduation to realize their dreams. She continued to encourage and help mentee graduates accepted at Gulf Coast State College and Tom P. Haney Technical School, a dream previously never thought possible by their families.

Mrs. Tidmore received the Bay District Schools Mentor of the Year award in 2007. In 2009, she received the Bay District Schools Senior Volunteer of the Year award.

In 2010, Mrs. Tidmore received the Support Employee of the Year award for Bay County and runner-up for the State Support Employee of the Year award. At the Bay County Award Ceremony, School Superintendent Bill Husfelt remarked, “For all that Margaret does, we probably pay her a dime an hour.”

In 2012, The Children’s Movement of Florida sought out Mrs. Tidmore to be a steering committee member. She toured with them throughout northwest Florida and traveled to West Palm Beach to instruct teachers on how to organize mentor programs, especially in the Haitian community.

On October 10th, 2018, Category 5 Hurricane Michael struck several areas of Bay County, closing schools and businesses and displacing many students and their families. Mrs. Tidmore, too, lost her home and needed to stay with her children in multiple states. Against their wishes, she insisted on returning to Panama City to find a home and help her kids at New Horizons. When students finally returned to school, Mrs. Tidmore was there with mentors to comfort and encourage them.

Just as Bay County was beginning to recover from the storm, another traumatizing event arrived – COVID-19. Mrs. Tidmore kept in touch with mentors and business partners. She had the mentor program ready to continue when students returned to school. Once again, students were comforted and encouraged.

At the age of 88, Mrs. Tidmore realized she needed to “pass the torch” and retired in May of 2021. She had trained a team to continue with the mentor program, so she knew “her kids” and the mentor program would be in good hands.

"We recently held our annual appreciation luncheon for mentors and business partners. Mrs. Tidmore was honored for her years of service to the at-risk students at New Horizons Learning Center," said Ransom. "Through it all, Margaret displayed her selfless love by praising her team, mentors, and business partners, and by speaking words of encouragement for the future of the mentor program. For 23 years, Margaret has positively impacted over three thousand students, mentors, and business partners in the New Horizons Learning Center Mentor Program. Having witnessed her relentless passion and drive for her students and their success in the community, I nominate her for the LifeChanger of the Year award."