Town rewarded unsung volunteers at annual banquet
Time and talent of Farragut volunteers are not going unforgotten.
Town of Farragut presented service awards to committee members and presented ranks to Farragut’s Unsung Navy Volun-teer Program participants during its annual banquet in Fox Den Country Club Friday, April 1.
Among the attendees was Mac Abel, 94, one of the Town’s longest-running volunteers, having served in Farragut Museum. While Abel said he is no longer an active volunteer, he was among those who served since the beginning of the Town’s volunteer program in 1995.
“The power behind it was my wife, [the late] Frances Abel,” Mac Abel said. “She was really was the ramrod, both at home and with the Town. She was the first one in the museum gift shop.
“It seemed like a wholesome pastime,” he said about volunteering.
Another long-time volunteer was Mary House, who has worked in the museum gift shop.
“My husband [the late Bill House] and I were with the group that started the museum,” House, who still volunteers in the gifts shop, said. “Back then, for the size of the Town, I think we did well with the museum.
“Frances [Abel] was in charge and started the gift shop. She got me interested.
“We moved to Village Green in 1969, so we’ve been in the neighborhood quite a while,” House said.
“This [banquet] is about you guys,” Mayor Ralph McGill told volunteers. “All the time spirit, deliberating and advising, this is for you. We are very thankful for everything you do.”
McGill said the Town boasts 90 volunteers serving on 12 standing committees.
“By giving their time and talents in numerous capacities, including serving as docents and gift shop hosts in the Farragut Museum, as volunteers in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program and as helping hands during numerous special events sponsored by the Town throughout the year, FUN Volunteers make it possible for the Town to continue providing quality programming and events each year,” Chelsey Riemann, public relations coordinator, said.
The Town honored the following committee volunteers for their years of service to Farragut:
• Five years: Keith Alley, Board of Zoning and Appeals; Barbara Allman and Betty Scott, Beauti-fication Committee; Carolyn Coker and Carolyn Sin-clair, Far-ragut Museum Committee; Deb-bie Fraser and Violet Freuden-berg, Stormwater Advisory Com-mittee; Robert Pollock, Personnel Committee; Nancy Wentz, Farra-gut Arts Council and Knox County Schools Education Relations Committee.
• 10 years: Regina Foy and John Underwood, Personnel.
• 15 years: Dot LaMarche, Board of Mayor and Aldermen and Board of Zoning and Appeals; Marty Rodgers, Beautification Committee; Gary Schmitz, Pers-onnel Committee.
• 30 years: Pat Sloan, Parks and Athletics Council.
McGill said 116 Farragut Un-sung Navy volunteers had donated 4,668 hours of service to town of Farragut last year.
“The value to the Town is worth approximately $46,680 and is calculated on the scale recommended by the Points of Light Institute in Washington, D.C., he said.
“Approximately 131,139 volunteer hours have been donated to the town of Farragut since the inception of the FUN Volunteer Program in 1992, equaling an estimated overall value of $1,311,390.”
The following FUN volunteers also were promoted in rank: Lieutenant (100 to 299 hours), Debbie Pinchok; commander (300 to 499 hours), Dixie Andrews, Julia Freer, Donna Genung and Lexie Randolph; captain, (500 to 999 hours), Eleanor Gibson and Pat Lewis; commodore (1,000-1,999 hours), Peggy Cameron and Carol Sinclair.
The late Jack Bondurant and Pat Schriver, volunteers, also were remembered.
