Media Release
March 11, 2015 10:00 a.m.
Businessman and car collector Bill Warner, a photographer and writer for Road & Track magazine since 1971, founded the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in 1996 at the urging of Florida auto enthusiasts who wanted a classic car show in Florida like the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California. Warner selected Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, which had provided service to his parents as well as his wife, as the primary beneficiary of the event. The first event was held April 6, 1996 at Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island. The first year there were 163 cars and attendance was around 2,200 vs. 2014 when attendance increased to more than 29,000 people.
Entrants submit an application for each car, and the Concours field is selected from each year’s pool of applicants. Many of the competing cars are valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some worth millions. For this reason, along with its setting and amenities, the Amelia Island Concours is considered one of the premier Concours in the world.
In 2014 The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Foundation topped $2.5 million in charitable giving by donating record amounts to the Community Hospice of Nassau County, the Nassau County Sheriffs, and Fernandina Beach Police Departments, Shop with Cops Christmas programs, and Micah’s Place Domestic Violence Center – A shelter for the victims of domestic abuse and their children.
Last Baptist Medical Center Nassau opened a new Community Hospice inpatient care center on the first floor of its new medical office building. The Community Hospice Jane and Bill Warner Center for Caring is providing acute end-of-life care in a home-like setting. The center is named in honor of Jane and Bill Warner in recognition of the remarkable legacy and support they will continue to leave on Nassau County.
Other area recipients include Spina Bifida of Jacksonville, and The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.