By Amy Batista, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR – Local Meadow Lakes resident Judith Arnold said her jaw dropped when she was named a recipient of the Mercer County Woman of Achievement Award.
“I was extremely awed by this notification and what it represented,” said Ms. Arnold, who didn’t know she was nominated for the award until she received a letter from the county in January. “ To me, it’s really the epitome of what I hope I can be in the community and achieve making a difference in peoples lives.”
The Woman of Achievement Award was established to honor a Mercer County resident who volunteers time to make the county a better place to live, raise a family and work, according to the Mercer County website.
Claire Walton nominated Ms. Arnold, who has been volunteering in the community for more than 40 years.
“It’s a way of life,” she said.
Among her volunteer activities are serving as zoning board chairwoman of East Windsor for 15 years; being a founding member and board member of the League of Women Voters of East Windsor-Hightstown; and being a Cadet Girl Scout Leader and a regional representative for the Delaware Valley-Raritan Girl Scout Council.
“I thought it was really important when I did not have children to give of my time when I was very capable physically and mentally. so that’s how I happened to become involved in scouts,” she said.
Ms. Arnold has also been active with the National Junior Tennis and Learning of Trenton (NJTL), which is a national program, as one of its photographers.
“I have written grants for them and I also one week after a life-threatening auto accident, I launched an innovative childhood obesity program with them and managed that program for several years,” she said.
In addition, Ms. Arnold said that she tries to do a lot with the citizens at Meadow Lakes where she resides, cooking for some and serving as a driver for others.
Another one of her passions the Machestic Dragons Boat Team, of which she has been a board member since 2009.
“I have made it my mission to work on public outreach,” she said, adding that the dragon boat paddling studies have shown to build core, work on a team and with other breast cancer survivors.
According to its website, in 2001 a small group of breast cancer survivors in the Princeton area were introduced to the idea a dragon boating by Jeanie Haas. The purpose of exploring dragon boating was to rehabilitate their health after treatment for breast cancer and for the pure pleasure of exhilarating exercise.
In 2006 by special arrangement with Mercer County Parks Department, the team held regular practices on Mercer Lake. To support BCRC who paid for its coaching, the team began to sponsor Paddle For Pink Dragon Boat Festival in 2007, which has grown to the première event that attracts 50 teams each summer, according to its website.
In 2014 the team name was officially changed to Machestic Dragons Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat Team, which now has a vigorous membership of survivors and supporters, according to its website.
Ms. Arnold is also on the board of the Hightstown-East Windsor YMCA.
She worked as the director of marketing and communications for Applied Data Research in Princeton and had a staff of 50. She also became principal of her own company, J F Arnold Group, LLC.
“It still exists and I still do a little bit of consulting,” she said. “I really am an entrepreneur person. I’m willing to take the risks. I focused on non-profits in my practice – branding, strategic planning, marketing, and writing.”
Ms. Arnold’s newest idea is to create a non-profit organization will give second chances to shelter dogs and unskilled prison inmates.
“Other places have done this,” she said. “I have the inmates train them but don’t keep them forever and they understand that. But they will learn skills of animal care.”
She said that she also wants the dogs that are able to become service dogs for disabled veterans or children.
“Life is not about how much money I can make, that’s not success to me,” she said. “Success is making a difference.”
Ms. Arnold said helping people’s lives to be more meaning and fulfilling is her biggest reward.
Ms. Arnold will receive her award during a ceremony, which will be held in Hamilton Township in March 15. The Mercer County Commission on the Status of Women and Mercer County Executive, Brian M. Hughes, will host a cocktail reception to present awards for the Woman of Achievement and the Young Woman of Achievement, according to the Mercer County website.
