C.C. CORBETT DIVERSITY AWARDS

     Gloria Washington, CRC Co-Chair announced the winner of the first award.
     "The Church Service Center provides help, and creates hope. Its sole purpose is to serve persons, agencies or organizations in need. And while the Church Service Center’s foundation is Christian, recipients are not restricted to a single church group, and there are no ethnic barriers within it.
     "Creating healthy families and attempting to meet the emergency needs of individuals on a temporary basis with food, clothing, meals, household items, gas, utilities, rent, transportation and prescriptions - is the willing service of work for this charity.


Left to right, Church Service Center (CSC) Board member Steve Githens; Community Relations Committee (CRC) Co-Chair Gloria Washington; Executive Director of CSC, Rusty Music; CRC Co-Chair Richard Dreyer; CSC Board member Donna Delf; CSC Staff, Tammie Patrick; and CSC Board member Kim Pearsall.

   "And the Church Service Center often acts as an educational source to teach families about budgets, about where to get necessary training for better paying positions; how to dress for success for an interview, and it also serves as an information and referral agency. The bottom line is – the Church Service Center serves the Bartow community and its people.
 It helps families become more stable; and in doing that, Bartow becomes a little stronger," she said.
     Executive Director of the Church Service Center, Rusty Music, accepted the award, along with members of the CSC Board of Directors.
     Co-Chair of the Community Relations Committee, Richard Dreyer, announced the award for an individual:
      "Melony Bell has spent her career as a kind and caring public servant. Her political career began when, as a concerned resident of Fort Meade, she ran for its city commission in order to make a difference in her community. After many years of service to Fort Meade, with three terms leading as their Mayor, Melony was encouraged to seek office as a county commissioner, where she could be a guiding force countywide.


Left to right, Co-chairs of the Community Relations Committee, Gloria Washington and Richard Dreyer, present the C. C. Corbett Diversity award to County Commissioner Melony Bell.

    Melony has been a champion in promoting diversity and unity within Polk County. Through the BOCC, Ms. Bell encourages women and minorities to be strong, educate themselves and work hard to reach their full potential. She helps build community as a champion for the arts, economic development education and youth outreach. Ms. Bell has always had an open-door policy. She always willing to meet with constituents, and works hard to represent EVERY resident of Polk County. She is a woman of strong faith, is committed to building communities that work together, which helps to carry forward the great work of C. C. Corbett."

     To finish up the luncheon, the Community Relations Committee All-mail choir led the traditional Diversity Luncheon song, "The More We Get Together."


The choir consists of, left to right, Jeff Clark, Cedric Joseph, Chief Joe Hall, Jeff Roslow, Richard Dreyer, City Commissioner Leo Longworth, City Manager, George Long, Ken Riley, Dr. Kenneth Stephens and Bishop Willie Watson.