FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 23, 2004)—The Governor’s Office and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services joined last night in honoring individuals, groups and businesses from throughout Kentucky for outstanding volunteer service to their communities.

Winners of Governor’s Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service were announced in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda. A panel of judges with extensive volunteer and community service experience chose 12 winners in eight categories.

They range from a high school freshman who helps keep birdsong in the lives of elderly friends to a woman who has spent nearly a quarter century as a school volunteer.

"The volunteers honored this year are role models for the Commonwealth," stated Governor Ernie Fletcher. "These individuals dedicate their time and energy to make their communities a better place to live and raise families. I commend each of them for their continued effort."

The Governor’s Office launched the awards program in 1975. Since 1995, it has been administered by the Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service (KCCVS).

Cabinet Undersecretary Michael Fields, who helps administer KCCVS, said at the ceremony that Kentucky ranks above the national average in volunteerism.

"We just know it is the right thing to do, and we do it well," he said.

Brittany Forshee of Shepherdsville won an Innovation Award, which is given to one adult and one youth for effective use of creativity and imagination to meet a community need. Forshee, a freshman at North Bullitt High School, volunteers at a retirement home, where she fills the bird feeders and regularly visits the residents.

Katherine Elizabeth Glutting of Henderson received a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her years of service in two Henderson County elementary schools and several service agencies.

A complete list of award winners and detailed descriptions of their achievements follows:

Brittany, 14, began volunteering at the Wesley Manor Retirement Home when she was 5. One day in 1999, she noticed that the bird feeders hanging outside the residents’ windows were empty and neglected. The next day, she returned with bird feed and filled them—a task that has become a weekly routine. She also visits with the residents, takes them cards and gifts on their birthdays and guides them through a haunted house on Halloween. Brittany also helps with an annual auction and yard sale that raises funds for the residents to buy Christmas gifts for one another.

During an ice storm in Fayette County in February 2003, Lebus served as a shelter manager at Dunbar High School. Over seven days, more than 300 displaced individuals and families sought shelter there. The next month, he was on the disaster-relief front lines again, as floods devastated central and eastern Kentucky. He received a Disaster Service Volunteer of the Year Award in 2003, during which he performed more than 1,000 hours of volunteer service. When not battling natural disasters, Lebus often is delivering patients to their appointments at the Veterans Hospital in Lexington.

The club has donated thousands of hours of service to the community and helped provide school clothes, Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas gifts to needy families. Club members have also collected canned food for the needy and assisted the families of children with disabilities.

Evans helped establish a nature walk in Midway City Park by clearing a trail and identifying plants and trees along the route. He has also helped organize volunteers to mulch trails, plant trees and check the water quality in the Kentucky River watershed.

Under his guidance, all trees in Midway’s public spaces were catalogued by name and health status.

Since 1987, a group of African-American men have given about 50,000 hours of volunteer service to youths, the elderly and the needy. Genesis Express has focused on students through such activities as tutoring, parenting workshops, ACT preparation classes, promotion of Black History Month and a "Back to School Pool Party."

Group Business
Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters
Frankfort, KY

Over the past five years, the Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters has raised more than $100,000 to support efforts to prevent the abuse and neglect of Kentucky children. The council’s quarterly newsletter, distributed to local labor unions and others throughout the state, routinely includes parenting tips. KSDCC routinely offers to recruit volunteers from organized labor for events sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky.

Fifteen years ago, the Morehead State Retired Senior Volunteer Program was asked to assist with some special projects for the Rowan County school district. RSVP members’ efforts have since turned into an invaluable service to schools. They regularly donate their Monday mornings to help teachers with a variety of projects.

After opening a manufacturing facility in Shelbyville in 1988, the ThyssenKrupp Budd Company immediately evinced a community-minded attitude. Over the past five years, the company and its employees have donated more than $740,000 to Metro United Way. Company employees donate an average of 480 hours a year to service projects ranging from building playgrounds for children with disabilities to delivering meals to senior citizens.

When Joshua Gentry counsels high school students about the importance of wearing seatbelts, his words carry total conviction. He wasn’t wearing one on the day in April 2000 when, driving to Barren County High School, where he was a student, he was involved in a traffic accident that nearly cost him his life. He suffered a severe brain injury and underwent months of rehabilitation, but made up all his school work and graduated with his class in May 2001. Josh helped develop a video demonstrating the importance of wearing seatbelts and safe driving. His story has been told on the Learning Channel, and he has spoken at many churches and school. He also helps distribute food to the needy and volunteers as a mentor at an elementary school.

Challenge Adult
Darlene Hammons
London, KY

Though she has struggled with her own severe health problems, Darlene Hammons has found strength to serve patients at Rockcastle Hospital and Respiratory Care Center, Inc. She spends one day a week there, devoting most of her time to babies who are on ventilators but also assisting in afternoon activities for adult and geriatric patients. A former nurse, Hammons shows warmth toward the staff by bringing them homemade bread and a smile.

Miss Kate, as she is known by students and school staff, began volunteering at Seventh Street Elementary School in Henderson County in 1979, when her nephew Rusty was a student there. She has remained a fixture in the county schools ever since, spending eight hour days at Seventh Street until the school closed in 2002, and since then working as a volunteer librarian at East Heights Elementary. Glutting has also volunteered at a free medical clinic and clothing and household ministry, and she helped establish the ANSWER Center, a community service organization sponsored by the Green Valley Baptist Association.

Staff of the Bluegrass Rural Service Region are the first winners of a new, roving award that will go to the service region that collects the most canned beef stew for Make a Difference Day. In October 2003, Family Resource and Youth Services Centers, AmeriCorps programs, churches, schools and individuals throughout Kentucky collected more than 50,000 pounds of stew to be distributed through food pantries. Staff of the Bluegrass Rural Region literally cleaned supermarket shelves of beef stew in Mercer and Anderson counties. They also made sure to buy some cans with flip-top lids for the homeless and cans labeled in Spanish for Spanish-speaking residents. Sponsored by USA WEEKEND and the Gannett Co., Inc., Make a Difference Day is an annual effort to inspire people to help others.