Nineteen nominees were recognized last week at the Yacht Club for their volunteer services in and around the community as part of the Tellico Village Property Owners Association’s President’s and Honor Awards Luncheon.
Nine nominees — 10 individuals — were winners in one of six award categories. Six people were recognized in the Community Service category, seven were selected in Distinguished Service, one was tabbed for Educational Service and five were named Outstanding Individual.
Eight nominees, nine total individuals, were given the President’s Award. Two people were not present at the ceremony and were given their awards Tuesday, John Cherry, POA public relations manager, said.
“In the honors groups there are categories and people are nominated for their activities and they sit into certain categories like community support, education, distinguished service, and they’re grouped, and then the committee — in this case they had three people (on the committee),” Alan Hart, POA board president, said. “They all get a certificate at the luncheon. They’re all invited to the lunch and they all get appreciation and then the committee, which happened to be three people, picked winners from each of those categories.”
Hart said POA managers and board members determine President’s Award nominations.
“I really think people appreciate it very much,” Hart said of the awards. “They’re volunteers for the most part. They’re not really looking for recognition but every once in a while it’s nice to be recognized for doing something good.”
The ceremony has served as a tradition in the Village for 16 years, honoring those who aim to make Loudon County better. In 2010, the POA decided to hold the Honor Awards presentation every two years.
“It’s not just somebody who’s in a group and they just follow along,” Hart said. “It’s really the leadership of a group, or leadership of a person that does something and leads other people to do it or he or she does an activity. ... It’s leadership, it’s volunteerism, it’s making the Village a better place for whatever reason, and also in the community.”
Kahite resident Jolyne Thoreson said she had no idea she would receive the President’s Award, let alone even be recognized.
“I thought I was going to celebrate other people being nominated for awards and I walked in and they had a name tag with the word ‘nominee’ under it and I said, ‘No, you’ve got the name tag wrong. I’m not a nominee,’ and they said, ‘Oh yes, you are’,” Thoreson said, laughing. “So, I was totally shocked and surprised and thrilled to be recognized in any way, shape or form for something that I’m passionate about.”
Thoreson has served three years on the Kahite Emergency Medical Responder Advisory Committee, where currently she is president.
“I used to work for the doctors that staff the trauma center at (University of Tennessee) Medical Center and in that job then I would work with (Emergency Medical Service) directors in the various surrounding counties and realized the importance of having EMRs, or ‘first responders,’ available for our retirement community because I live in Kahite and it’s pretty much a retirement community and we know how important it is,” Thoreson said. “So, although I’m not medically trained, I figured I could do a lot of administrative work for them, so I do a lot of the organizing as president of the Kahite EMR Advisory Board.”
Dennis Stanczuk was one of the three who won in the Outstanding Individual category.
“I think what it means is I’m joining an extraordinary group of people who live here in the Village that donate their time and talents to serving the community and to be considered among that group is quite an honor,” Stanczuk said.
Stanczuk serves as chairman for the six-person Tellico Village HomeOwners Association’s Tennessee Department of Transportation committee. He said over the past year and a half the committee has been working with TDOT officials to improve safety on Highway 444, and Stanczuk receiving this award was made possible through teamwork from everyone on the board.
“When you donate your time (you) don’t really expect to get any kind of recognition, that’s not why you do it, and so to have that kind of recognition I think just really points to the work that the entire committee did,” he said. “I mean it was not just one person, not just me, it was the work of the entire committee and I guess by calling attention to the work of volunteers, that might encourage other people to be volunteers.”
