The Tellico Village Lions Club recently presented two local residents the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award for dedicated community service.
A Melvin Jones Fellowship, named in honor of the founder of Lions Club, is the most prestigious award for community service presented by the club. Service can be provided by a club member through participation in club activities or by a nonmember who serves the community in a distinguished manner.
The nonmember awardee is Mike Kitchens, a name synonymous with service to the community through his leadership of the Smoky Mountain Service Dog Organization.
Under Kitchens’ leadership, the organization now has more than 180 dedicated volunteers, which includes the board of directors. SMSD has 23 dogs of various ages in training by a staff of four professional trainers. Training takes place in a new 6,500-square-foot veteran/canine training center, lasts at least two years and costs about $25,000 for each dog, which is then placed at no charge to the veteran recipient.
SMSD has placed 42 mobility assistance service dogs with disabled veterans. The dogs provide a wealth of capabilities to the injured service member and enable an enhanced quality of life.
The organization was formed 11 years ago by Kitchens and his wife, Suzy, and has grown exponentially. SMSD is one of only 74 such accredited organizations in the United States. The accreditation must be renewed every five years, which is a major task.
The second awardee is Gerald Knepp, a member of the Village Lions and a past King Lion. During his tenure, he was instrumental in revamping the club fundraising efforts to concentrate on those providing the greatest return. In his 15 years of membership, Knepp has participated in just about every activity in which the club has been involved and in many cases had a lead role in the activity.
Born in Pennsylvania, Knepp served in the U.S. Navy at the end of the Korean War and attended college on the GI Bill. In his professional life, he worked for a number of firms in primarily managerial/technical positions. After retiring and moving to Tellico Village, he and his wife, Merlyn, joined the Lions Club and made significant contributions to service projects.
In addition to work with a variety of community service organizations, he has been active in the Monroe County Animal Shelter. He and Merlyn fostered about 90 dogs that were eventually placed with families throughout the region.
