The Southwest Florida Community Prayer Breakfast welcomes Richard Akin, Ashley Hull and Matt Roepstorff to the organization’s board of directors.
Akin is a southwest Florida native; after he graduated with high honors from the Florida State University College of Law, he returned to Southwest Florida to join the Henderson Franklin team in 2012. While at law school, Akin worked in the Florida House of Representatives. In addition to his role within Southwest Florida Community Prayer Breakfast, he is a board member of the Board of Governors for the Real Estate Investment Society and the Calusa nature Center and Planetarium. Additionally, Akin is a community member of the Lee County Charter Review Commission and is chair of the Bylaws Committee for the Horizon Council.
Roepstorff grew up on Sanibel Island and is a native of Fort Myers. Currently, he is an attorney at Pratt & Whitney and is an Associate Director and Counsel in their commercial engines division. Roepstorff is an alumnus of Bishop Verot High School and a graduate of both the University of Alabama and Florida Coastal School of Law. He began his career in law at the 20th Judicial Circuit, where he was an assistant state attorney. He then began his work in private practice in 2015. He enjoys spending time with his wife Mairin and their son, Briggs.
Hull is also a native of Florida and has resided in Southwest Florida for 20 years. Her work in transportation planning has brought her to work throughout Florida and North Carolina. Hull enjoys spending her free time with her family and spends it supporting her son’s endeavors in equestrian show jumping. Her belief in group prayer and community cohesion has led her to the Community Prayer Breakfast, and she looks forward to being a board member.
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance on the first Thursday of May when individuals of all faiths join in unified prayer for continued blessings on the nation. Every year, local, state and federal observances are held between sunrise to sunset across the nation and attract more than 2 million people. Except for 2021, when the event was not held due to the pandemic, the Fort Myers community has been honoring the National Day of Prayer since the Community Prayer Breakfast’s inception in 1988.
To ensure the popular annual prayer breakfast continues, a corporation, Southwest Florida Community Prayer Breakfast Inc., was established in 2021 to organize the annual event. The organization’s founding board members are John Noland, Carl Barraco, Gary Trippe and Ron Inge.
Planning is underway for the May 2, 2024 event and details will be announced soon. Local businesses and organizations annually step in to support the event through sponsorships and donations. For more information, please email SWFLCommunityPrayerBreakfast@gmail.com or call 239-744-7769.
About the Southwest Florida Community Prayer Breakfast
The Southwest Florida Community Prayer Breakfast is held annually on the first Thursday of May in observance of the National Day of Prayer, a day when individuals of all faiths join in unified prayer for continued blessings on the nation. Southwest Florida has been honoring the National Day of Prayer since the Community Prayer Breakfast’s inception in 1988. To learn more, visit CommunityPrayerBreakfast.com or call 239-744-7769.
