BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CARLSBAD

BOB GRIMES HUMANITARIAN AWARD

Greg Nelson

(May 9, 2006 – Carlsbad, CA)  Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad recognized Greg Nelson as recipient of the Bob Grimes Humanitarian Award at its 6th Annual Super Star Recognition Dinner on January 26, 2006, which honored the Boys & Girls Clubs’ generous community and business leaders, dedicated volunteers, active board of directors, and outstanding youth.

The Bob Grimes Humanitarian Award is dedicated yearly to recognize individuals whose commitment to the guiding principles of the Boys & Girls Club movement, enduring dedication, and caring stewardship has made a positive difference in the lives of young people, our community and Club. In order to be awarded the prestigious Bob Grimes Humanitarian Award, a person must embody the caring acts of the late Bob Grimes, who served on the Boys & Girls Clubs board of directors from 1996 to his death in 1999. 

As Bob Grimes was a servant to children and a friend to many, so is Greg Nelson. His commitment to the guiding principals of the Boys & Girls Clubs and the way he and his wife have opened their home, hearts, and wallet to the Club make him the perfect candidate for the award.

“Greg’s generosity and ongoing commitment to helping the Club that meant so much to him as a youth should be an inspiration to us all,” said Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis, who named him Citizen of the Year in 1991. 

Nelson was 10 in 1959 when his mother first dropped him and his younger brother off at the Village Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad.  Their father had left the family, and Marcy Nelson needed somewhere for the boys to stay while she worked two jobs to make ends meet.  His time at the Club was filled with sports, games, and long talks with friends and mentors.  At the age of 13, he secured his first “job” at the Club – cleaning, sweeping floors, and watering plants.  During the years that followed, Greg served as Athletic Director, Aquatics Director, Executive Director, and a Board Member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad.

Today, almost fifty years later, Greg is a successful businessman, husband, father of four, and Lifetime Honorary Member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad Board of Directors. “If I support the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad continuously for the next 100 years, I still will not be able to give back what it has given me. I learned everything about business from my Boys & Girls Club, simply by observing the people around me,” says Greg. 

In addition to the significant resources Greg has contributed and raised on behalf of the Club, he and his wife, Barbi, recently made a gift of $1 million towards a fundraising campaign to build a new Clubhouse in Bressi Ranch.  The gift is the largest donation in Club history.  In addition, the Nelsons continue to open their home for private fundraising parties and coordinate community events for the Club.

“When I see a kid who recognizes me and thanks me for teaching him to swim or keeping him away from drugs,” Nelson says, “I know how valuable this organization really is.”  And the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad knows how valuable Greg Nelson is to the youth of Carlsbad, and are pleased to honor him with the Bob Grimes Humanitarian Award.

Pictured: Greg and Barbi Nelson (center) with a few of their Club friends.