When it comes to giving back to the Washington Area, few can match the efforts of Kevin Hopkins.

So when it came to naming this year’s Grand Marshal at its April meeting, the Washington Celebrates America committee was unanimous in its decision.

“The committee recognizes all the great things that Kevin has done – and continues to do – for the community,” said Richard Maguire, the committee’s Chairperson. “Hands down, he was the No. 1 choice.” 

A lifelong resident of Washington and the surrounding Warren County area, Hopkins has made a tremendous impact by giving back to the community both personally and professionally. He’ll thusly be honored as the parade’s Grand Marshal as part of the Washington Celebrates America July 4^th activities this year.  

His Downtown businesses weathered the storm through several economic downturns, most recently COVID. Through it all, the amount of generosity flowing out has eclipsed any help he has sought. Gibson’s Gym is annually one of the largest collection sites for Operation NJ Cares for troops overseas, as well as several other charitable ventures. Hopkins has spearheaded several food drives benefitting both local church food pantries as well as directly delivering to local families that could use a boost. As an annual donor to Rossi’s Festival of Trees and Washington Celebrates America, Hopkins makes sure that his businesses give back to the community that supports them. 

During area wide power outages, in both winter and summer, Hopkins is quick to open the gym to the public for use as a heating or cooling station, offering coffee, water, and use of the showers as well as phone charging. During the peak of COVID even though shut down by the governor for six months, Hopkins and Gibsons built a complete outdoor area for members to utilize and put together another food drive that benefitted several families out of work at the time.

The gym has donated to local police and fire departments and has provided many gift certificates to local school tricky trays, golf outings, and other fundraisers. His personal fundraising efforts include raising money for a high school friend’s medical bills after suffering a heart attack and being laid off, spearheading an effort to raise money for local National Archery in the Schools programs, and selflessly assisting other small business owners to get their feet on the ground. Most recently, with the help of his business partner Mike Politano and Enzo’s owner Enzo Ianelli, the trio has partnered with Chief Jones of The Washington Township Police to make National Night Out a larger and more exciting event for our local families to enjoy. 

As an avid outdoorsman, Hopkins loves getting others involved in the outdoors. He sponsored a fundraising event at his home for the Women in the Outdoors program with Christina Jones and also hosted a golf outing at the former Apple Mountain Golf course to benefit Hunters Helping the Hungry.

His local recognitions include numerous citations and merits by local, county, and state government officials as well as being named by the Washington BID a past Business Person of the Year, past Business of the Year, past recipient of the Downtown Revitalization Award, and a recognition from the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Communities for the gym’s work in helping to fight substance abuse in Warren County. He also served a three year term as a board member of the Washington BID.

“It’s pretty cool and humbling to be recognized by the town you care so much about,” said Hopkins. “But honestly, I think the real Grand Marshal is Gibson’s Gym. Although a great deal of the charitable gestures are my ideas, it’s really my business partner Mike Politano and all the employees and members that pull these fundraisers off. I just drive the bus and point it in the right direction. The gym community is amazingly selfless and charitable.”

Professionally, after attending Rutgers College of Pharmacy and working in the downtown at Warren County Pharmacy, Hopkins started a store behind his parent’s house called Medicine Man Holistic Health Center in 1995. This business focused on integrating natural supplements with prescription medications in a safe and effective manner. A few years later, he moved the operation into Warren County Pharmacy until a chance opportunity to buy Gibson’s presented itself in the early 2000’s. After buying the gym with a partner from Bill Gibson in 2003, Hopkins supplemented his income by working with MHP in Cedar Grove designing nationally recognized nutritional supplements for the company. Probolic, T-Bomb, Remi Gel, and the Macrobolic line are just a few of the flagship products worked on by Hopkins. This relationship led to co-authoring a book with MHP owner Gerard Dente in 2004 titled Macrobolic Nutrition. Published by Basic Health and Media. Hopkins then bought out his partner in 2007 and focused on expanding the gym and revitalizing the downtown. 

A few of his more noticeable improvements to the downtown include constant renovation and improvement to the gym building, purchasing the dilapidated old DPW area behind the gym and building a large parking lot (which the gym owns but allows public parking), purchasing and renovating the old Warren County Pharmacy building and turning it into the Gibsons Fieldhouse, and completely rebuilding the facade of the Ferrara Building (Honor Yoga, Nails, and Crepe) so it accentuated each of the three store fronts as their own.

“I’m proud of where I started and proud of where I am,” Hopkins said. “I feel fortunate to be in a position to give back to the community and am excited for what is yet to come. The only way to grow a community is to put your money where your mouth is and shop, invest, and donate locally. Complaining fixes nothing. Pessimists solve no problems. Spend local. If we don’t support one another, how can we expect to survive let alone thrive.”

In his “down time” Hopkins loves spending time with his three children. He also loves hunting, fishing, and working on his apple trees and pumpkins on his small hobby farm called Ow-Mir-Hen orchard.

As far as life is concerned, his view is pretty simple. “Every relationship, whether it be personal, professional, or family is a learning experience and a chance for growth. Holding grudges gets you nowhere. Resentment simply holds you back from doing good things. Personal accountability is also necessary for true growth. If you cannot admit your own wrongdoing or recognize your faults, then you will never be able to truly enjoy what others have to offer. None of us are correct 100% of the time.”

This year’s Washington Celebrates America event takes place on Tuesday July 4 and includes an orange crate derby, an old-fashioned parade that steps off at 3 p.m. along Belvidere Avenue and Broad Street in Washington, and fireworks that evening at the Warren Hills Middle School. A Grand Marshal Reception will be held on July 1. To find out more about Washington Celebrates America, LIKE its Facebook page.