- April 18, 2024
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Officer Greg Stokes spends his days making sure the students of Ormond Beach Middle School stay safe.
As the school resource officer, he gets the chance to interact with most, if not all, of the students on a day-to-day basis. But his dedication to working with kids goes beyond his day job — he also volunteers most of his spare time to the Ormond Beach Police Athletic League by assist-coaching the basketball team, lending out a hand with the Youth Director's Council, Science on Patrol and any other program PAL needs help with.
It's why he was named Volunteer of the Year by the State of Florida Association of PAL and honored at a Dec. 10th luncheon where he was presented with an award.
"The award is great, don't get me wrong," Stokes said. "But it just sits there, but when you’re doing things from the heart, it doesn’t matter.”
Stokes has been involved in PAL since 1996. He was also a DARE officer from 2008-2015, and he said some of the kids whom he taught in elementary are now in college and come up to him every time they cross paths, whether it be at the school or at Dunkin' Donuts as Stokes contemplates whether or not he should get his favorite sour cream donut. He's trying to eat better for his health.
Stokes also has a long family history with Ormond Beach despite not being born here. His great-grandmother moved to Ormond in 1924 and his great-great uncle was one of the first African American police officers in the Ormond Beach Police Department. Stokes used to spend his summers here growing up, and ended up finishing his senior year of high school at Seabreeze.
Ormond Beach has been home ever since.
“So the stuff that I do, I do because it’s here," Stokes said. "I don’t do it for glory or anything like that.”
