Jeremy Riddle’s philosophy is that no matter how busy a person is, one shouldn’t sit back and let others do all the work in a community.
The 45-year-old was chosen as Greenbrier’s Volunteer of the Year for taking that thought to heart.
The award was presented March 8 by the Greenbrier Chamber of Commerce at its annual awards banquet.
Riddle said he was “shocked, absolutely shocked.”
“There are absolutely so many people in Greenbrier who give of themselves; it’s a special community,” he said.
Riddle, who jokingly refers to himself as a “serial entrepreneur,” grew up on a dairy farm in Greenbrier.
“It was much, much different, a lot slower,” he said of the city. “It had the same great values it has today. It was just at a slower pace. The schools were a lot smaller. My graduating class, I believe it was 96. It’s almost 300 this year.”
His dad, Terry, was on the school board when Jeremy was in elementary school. Jeremy followed in his father’s footsteps and is completing his sixth year on the Greenbrier School Board.
“I felt like it was my turn to contribute,” he said.
He and his wife, Kristen, also have three children in the school district. “We’re fully vested,” he said, laughing.
Their children are Payton, 17, a junior at Greenbrier High School; Preston, 15, a ninth-grader at Greenbrier Junior High School; and Sydney, 13, a seventh-grader.
It was because of one of his sons that Riddle created character programs in the district. Combined, they attract 600 students during lunch every week.
“My very first year on the school board my son was in seventh grade,” Riddle said of Payton.
Greenbrier had expelled 15 students, including 12 in the junior high, that year. The junior high is for students in grades eight and nine.
“It was incredibly difficult, emotionally,” he said of the expulsions. “My son was going to junior high the very next year. To be honest, it scared me to death. These kids were going into the lion’s den.”
Riddle said he read a book by Robert Lewis, Raising a Modern-Day Knight, and was impressed.
“I read it three times that summer before my son went into the eighth grade,” Riddle said, adding that he recommends the book to any father of a son that age.
Riddle said he texted about six dads who had sons also going into the eighth grade and suggested they all take their children out for a steak dinner.
They talked to their sons “about what it means to be a man, what this transition looks like, what can be expected.”
“Those six dads turned into
30,” he said. The Iron Men program, based on Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron just as one man sharpens another.”
“We invite speakers, men from all walks of life,” he said. “They tell their story: ‘Here are the mistakes I made. Here are the things I did right.’ It’s been incredible. When it comes to actually meeting, it’s completely student-led.”
The junior high age is a “turning point,” Riddle said. “They hit that wall, and they’re going to go left or are going to go right.”
Based on Iron Men’s success, a program called Mighty Men was launched for middle school boys, sixth- and seventh-graders.
“Kevin Hartman leads that for me; he has a heart for kids,” Riddle said. Glow Girls is a program for female middle school students.
Junior High Assistant Principal Sarah Jerry started a similar program called Wonder Women for girls at the junior high, where her daughter is a student, Riddle said.
“She kind of puts on that mom hat when she’s leading that,” he said.
Jerry said the program is aligned with Iron Men and focuses on relationship-building.
“Moms come in and community members” to speak, she said. “We’re teaching our girls to have a heart of service, encouraging one another and building relationships.” They go on field trips to volunteer at places such as Soul Food Cafe Mission in Conway.
Jerry said she’s appreciative of all Riddle has done to coordinate the various programs.
“Jeremy is the glue that holds all of that together,” she said. “It all sparks from Jeremy.”
Two years ago, another program was launched for male and female high-school students called Purposed, based on Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Greenbrier Superintendent Scott Spainhour said Riddle “has a heart for kids, and that shows.”
Spainhour called Riddle “an outstanding board member. He makes decisions on what’s best for [the students]. He’s genuinely concerned about the students in our district. When you have that, you can’t go wrong. He’s just a great person who loves Greenbrier and loves our kids and works tirelessly to help improve their lives. I’m very proud of Jeremy and what he’s accomplished.”
Riddle said he has district-level leaders at other schools, and friends and family who live in other cities ask about implementing the program where they are.
“My next goal is to be able to develop — I hate to call it curriculum — a format, if you will, to hand out,” Riddle said.
In addition to his service to the school district, Riddle is an advisory-board member for First Service Bank in Conway.
He’s also chairman of the Soaring Wings Ranch Board of Directors, where he has been a member about eight years. Children from birth to age 17 are placed in the Christian private foster-care program, which has four group homes on Soaring Wings Ranch in Faulkner County — two for girls, one for boys, and one for infants and toddlers.
Riddle said Andrew Watson, founder and executive director, asked him to serve in an advisory role at first.
“You can’t say no to Andrew,” Riddle said. “He’s a tremendous guy. He has a great heart for kiddos.
“These kids, what has happened to them is not their fault, and they just need a chance. That’s all they need, a shot.”
Riddle said Soaring Wings Ranch gives the children a positive, loving home, where they don’t have to worry about their next meal.
“And going to an incredible school like Greenbrier … is really a recipe for success,” he said.
“Jeremy has been a tremendous advocate for Soaring Wings and our children,” Watson said.
Riddle was a member of the Central Baptist College Board of Trustees for eight years, too.
He earned his associate degree at Central Baptist College in 1994, then graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway with a degree in biology and went to physical-therapy school.
Riddle said the physical-therapy degree was an entry-level master’s-degree program at the time. A year into physical-therapy school, he earned a bachelor’s degree in health science.
He was also an emergency medical technician and drove an ambulance for six years during college.
“My original intent was med school, but I’d seen the lifestyle some of those physicians had to live, and it just wasn’t worth it,” Riddle said.
He spent five years working primarily as a contract physical therapist in pediatrics, home health and acute care.
“I loved it; I absolutely loved it,” Riddle said.
His wife is a pharmacist, and he and Kristen previously had a home medical-supply business.
They have a farm, Circle Maker Farm, where they
raise cattle to sell for beef.
“We bought the farm about three years ago, and it had a pretty large airplane hangar on it; there’s an airstrip on the farm. That was pretty neat,” he said.
When their daughter started playing volleyball, there wasn’t any practice space in town.
“I saw that as a business opportunity,” he said. Riddle turned the hangar into a multisport complex, The Hangar at Cornerstone, which includes meeting spaces and room for birthday parties, in addition to sports.
He also owns Springhill Storage Solutions.
Riddle said he moved to Conway for a short time but got back to Greenbrier quickly.
“I began to dive into the community a little bit more,” he said. “I felt like it was my turn.”
Dustin Chapman, the new executive director of the Greenbrier Chamber of Commerce, said he is getting to know Riddle better and has learned about Riddle’s community volunteerism.
“He was a good fit for that award,” Chapman said. “He’s on the school board and does all sorts of stuff for the Greenbrier school there,” including the faith-based programs for students.
“He does a lot of stuff quietly that he doesn’t get recognition for, but it makes a big difference with these kids,” Chapman said.
Riddle said he can’t take all the credit.
“When you’re passionate about something, it’s contagious, so it wasn’t hard to get people involved at all, once you began to show interest in their child. Even through Soaring Wings, you can make a call and get busloads of people to volunteer. It depends on parents who will step out,” he said.
People like Riddle.
“Everybody’s too busy, but I think the most important thing, you’ve got to take ownership in what we’ve got — church, school,” Riddle said. “The last thing we need is to sit back and allow everybody else to do it.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.