BY LAURA DOUGLASS
Insider Staff Writer
Tony Price and Clare Ruggles are real-world influencers making a positive impact every day in the community. The CEO of the Moore Free and Charitable Clinic and executive director of the Northern Moore Family Resource Center, respectively, will be honored as the 2025 Man and Woman of the Year by the Moore County Community Foundation.
“Tony Price has exhibited exceptional leadership with Moore Free and Charitable Clinic and through it has made a tremendous impact on our community,” said Victoria Adkins, advisory board president for the Moore County Community Foundation (MCCF). “His leadership has guided the clinic to provide services to over 14,000 Moore County adults who cannot afford their own health insurance.”
As for Ruggles, Atkins said, “Clare Ruggles is the epitome of the Woman of the Year. She works endless hours to promote northern Moore County families; she is her students’ and teachers’ biggest cheerleader. Clare creates, develops and executes all of her programs. Clare has changed lives in North Moore County with her dedication to the families.”
A gala banquet recognizing Price and Ruggles will be held Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Country Club of North Carolina. The evening begins with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the presentation of the Man and Woman of the Year awards.
Price: A Humble Servant Leader
The Moore Free and Charitable Clinic has seen tremendous growth since Tony Price assumed his role 13 years ago. At the time, the organization served around 400 patients a year. Today, that figure is closer to 1,700 patients. These individuals are mostly adults between 18 and 64 years — the age groups largely left uncovered by federal Medicare and Medicaid programs — who do not have access to insurance through their jobs or cannot afford to buy in on the marketplace. Many suffer from one or more chronic conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes or heart disease, and behavioral health; therefore, the clinic prioritizes education and support for healthy lifestyle changes.
In 2020, the Moore Free Care Clinic completed an expansion that doubled the size of its previous space with the addition of two exam rooms, a larger pharmacy space, two treatment rooms, and several new office spaces for clinic staff and volunteers. In 2023, a new dental facility adjacent to the clinic space opened. More recently, the clinic added women’s health and dermatology services. An optometry clinic and physical therapy clinic will soon follow, along with mental health and health coaching.
“We have become a mini multiple services medical clinic. We want our patients to know this as their medical home,” Price says.
He credits the clinic’s collaboration with the medical community, including FirstHealth of the Carolinas, Pinehurst Medical Clinic, Pinehurst Surgical Clinic and the many volunteers who provide services to the clinic’s patients and, importantly, support from donors and community members that has made this success possible.
“I have lived in several places, and Moore County is the pinnacle for nonprofit support,” Price says. “I also want to emphasize the excellent staff I have. They are happy serving the people we serve, and I am very proud of every one.”
On being named Man of the Year by the Moore County Community Foundation, Price is humble and appreciative. “This really for the community, the nonprofit community that I’ve been part of. While the award has my name on it, it is really about something much larger and what we’ve built as a community.”
Professionally, outside of his work with the clinic, Price is the owner and principal consultant for Quantan Technologies Consulting. Prior to settling in Moore County, he served as vice president of sales for the Business Solutions Group of Verizon Communications. Price attended Virginia Tech, studying political science and urban planning, and George Mason University, where he studied marketing.
Price is a member and past treasurer of Pinehurst United Methodist Church and serves in leadership roles on the boards of Moore Regional Hospital, FirstHealth Physician Group, St. Joseph of the Pines, Boys and Girls Club of the Sandhills, Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities; is a member of Rotary Club of Pinehurst; and is past chairman and board member of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Other leadership roles include past president of the Moore County Community Foundation, chairman of the Moore County Board of Health, chairman of the Moore County Department of Social Services, and as a board member of the Moore County Arts Council, Moore County Chamber of Commerce, Moore County Literacy Council and Moore Health. He is a graduate of the Moore County Leadership Institute.
In particular, Price says he is thankful for the opportunity to serve on the county Board of Health and Social Services. “It gave me an additional perspective of who we serve and who needs help. Also serving on a few boards with FirstHealth has been very enlightening to me in terms of how a hospital operates and seeing the success that FirstHealth has had in serving Moore County and the surrounding area.”
Price and his wife, Sherry, reside in Pinehurst. They have two sons and four grandchildren.
Ruggles: Champion for Northern Moore
Northern Moore County can feel like a world away from its more populous southern end. Once known for its manufacturing plants that employed thousands, as those jobs dried up beginning in the 1990s, the rural community struggled.
Thirty years ago, the Northern Moore Family Resource Center (NMFRC) was founded to match resources with needs, dedicating its efforts to the development of strong families and healthy children. Clare Ruggles stepped into her role as executive director 20 years ago.
“It’s been an honor. I love the community that we serve, and I feel lucky to work with the terrific colleagues that I see every day. And it is particularly an honor to be recognized by the Moore County Community Foundation alongside Tony Price. He has done such a fantastic job of strengthening our community.”
Ruggles is especially proud that this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of NMFRC’s Hope Academy.
“Our preschool has significantly increased school preparedness, particularly for children attending Robbins Elementary. Most of our preschool staff grew up in Robbins, and all but one of our six staff members graduated from North Moore High School,” she says. “I’m very proud of that. I am working alongside members of this community who are dedicated to making their own community stronger and seeing that the children in this community thrive.”
Prior to joining NMFRC, Ruggles worked as the director of research accounting at Rice University and as associate director of the creative writing program at the University of Houston. She holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, and spent the first decade of her career in public accounting, working as a tax accountant for Arthur Andersen in Houston, and then Price Waterhouse in New York.
In 2023, Ruggles served on the National Tactic Team on Literacy for the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women. She also currently serves as president of the Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club of the Sandhills, vice chairperson for Partners for Children and Families of Moore County, and as a member of the finance committee at Community Presbyterian Church. She formerly served on the boards of the North Carolina Pottery Center, St. Joseph of the Pines, the CARE Group and the Moore County Literacy Council. In 2021, she received the Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg Crest Award for Community Service from the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women.
The Moore County Community Foundation serves as a central hub for philanthropy, bringing together generous people to make a significant sustained impact on the well-being of Moore County through its local volunteer advisory board. The foundation leverages local knowledge to identify and address critical community issues.
Founded in 1991, MCCF conducts an annual competitive grants program that supports local nonprofit organizations.
This year, $109,000 in grants was awarded to 30 local organizations serving our community. Recipients included The Arc of Moore County, Arts Council of Moore County, Boys and Girls Club of the Sandhills, the CARE Group Inc., Caring Hearts for Canines, Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas, Family Promise of Moore County, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina Inc., Friend to Friend, Friends of the Aberdeen Library, Made4Me Inc., Meals on Wheels of the Sandhills, Moore Buddies Mentoring, Moore County Department of Aging, Moore Free and Charitable Clinic, North Carolina Symphony, Our Saviour Lutheran Church (Matthew 25 Ministry), Partners for Children and Families, Prancing Horse, Pretty in Pink Foundation, Prevent Blindness North Carolina, Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Triangle, Sandhills Children’s Center, Sandhills Machine Inc., Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care, Scouting America, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Special Olympics North Carolina, Team Workz and Weymouth Center.
For additional information about MCCF, visit nccommunityfoundation.org/moore.
Contact Laura Douglass at (910) 693-2475 or laura@thepilot.com.
