farragutpress

It’s great to be a Town Volunteer: 8 honored

June 17, 2021 by Tammy Cheek

The Town of Farragut welcomed its “unsung heroes” to its annual FUN Volunteer and Committee Banquet in Farragut Community Center Friday, June 11.

Music performed by the barbershop quartet “Parks and Wreck,” as well as dinner and awards awaited the Town’s many volunteers, who were recognized for five, 10 and 20 years of service.

“It’s been quite a year, and we are thrilled to be able to, once again, gather together and celebrate,” Mayor Ron Williams said. “Thank you for your time and talents that you shared with the Town of Farragut.

“Even with the pandemic, you found ways to serve the Town through alternate events, social distancing in the museum and virtual committee meetings,” he added. “During this past fiscal year, the Town had over 70 volunteers, including our youth members, serving on 10 standing committees who did an outstanding job of contributing to the success of the Town.”

“Service Awards are given for each five-year increment, and committee members are awarded one year of service credit for each year they have served on the committee,” Town administrator David Smoak said. “If a volunteer serves on two committees in the same year, he or she is credited with one year of service.”

This year’s service awards went to:

• Twenty year: Marty Rodgers, Arts and Beautification Committee.

• Ten Year: Keith Alley, Board of Zoning Appeals; Carolyn Coker, Farragut Museum Committee; Jim Holladay, Economic Advisory Council and BZA; and Violet Freudenberg, Stormwater Advisory Council.

• Five year: T.C. Williams, Arts and Beautification Committee; Jennifer Collins, Board of Zoning Appeals; and Jeff Devlin, Personnel Committee and Parks & Athletics Council.

“Thank you again for the many hours that you have donated from participating in meetings — many of which were challenging as virtual meetings — to working to accomplish committee goals,” Williams said. “The Town is richer due to you involvement and expertise.”

The Town has another avenue of volunteering — the Farragut Unsung Navy Volunteer program, which began in 1992.

“In 2020, our volunteers started the year off with a bang and gave their time and talents to the FUN Volunteer Program,” Williams said. “They worked in a variety of areas for the Town including: docents in the museum and gift shop, and at special events such as the Songwriters Showcase and Shamrock Ball.

“Then COVID hit, and our opportunities came to a screeching halt,” he added. “But our wonderful volunteers came through again as the year progressed, assisting staff with special events in an alternate form, such as Freaky Friday and re-opening the museum in a limited capacity.”

In 2020, the 56 FUN volunteers gave 980 hours, which equals a dollar value of more than $9,800, Williams said.

“The total number of hours donated to the Town of Farragut since the FUN Volunteer Program began in 1992 was 148,324, which equals a total dollar value of more than $1,483,240,” Williams said. “Many of our endeavors, including help in the museum and gift shop and our numerous special events, would not be possible without these hours of dedication from FUN Volunteers.”

“Although no one went up in rank 2020, don’t worry some of you already went up in rank this year,” Brittany Spencer, Special Event and Program coordinator said, “Your time that you donated to the Town, even if it was limited, was crucial to our success.”