Spirit of Athens held their annual meeting
with a wonderful lunch catered by Sweetest Thing Tea Room
(609 N. Jefferson Street) & by
LuVici's (105
Jefferson Street North).
The wonderful live entertainment was
provided by the Charles and Grant Show, Charles Williams and
Grant Aday. They provide easy listening country and current
songs accompanied by guitar.
The agenda for the meeting started with
Derrick Young, Spirit of Athens President, welcoming
everyone to the Rodgers Center, First Presbyterian Church.
The sold out luncheon was well attended by many members
including political figures, organizations
and businesses. The founder of Spirit of Athens was also
present,
Mrs.
Carolyn Crow and her husband Hubert. Also attending
were, Mayor & Mrs. Ronnie Marks, Rep. Dan
Williams, Senator Arthur Orr, Senator Bill Holtzclaw,
Commissioner Chairman Stanley Menefee, Chamber President
Hugh Ball, Director of the
Alabama Veterans Museum Sandy
Thompson, Rick Mould from Athens State
University and Mr. & Mrs. Henry White.
The invocation was given by
Kenny Brinkley and the key speaker was SOA
board member Shane Black. Black reminded everyone of how the
downtown, with continued cooperative direction, will go on
to thrive unlike so many downtowns that have been takeover
by malls and newer facilities. Our downtown has memories of
all who have grown up here, and new memories for people just
discovering it.
Derrick
Young presented the first award, the "Friend of Downtown," to
RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) accepting the award
was Mrs. Betty Ruth. RSVP/Volunteer Point is the connection
between volunteers and community needs. They partner with
the community to mobilize volunteers and provide solutions
to local challenges.
Board member Tony McCormack presented the "Spirit
of Giving" award to U. G. White. Derrick Young accepted
the award saying, "I never realized just how much went into
an independent retail store until I got involved with one
and there’s a lot of people here who have done this for a
long time, a lot longer than I have and my hat’s off to
them. For an individual to keep an independent retail store
operating and successfully, it’s a tremendous amount of time
and effort that goes into it, and my hats off to everybody
around the square that has kept it [the square] alive this
long. We’re just happy to be a part of the downtown square
and appreciate the opportunity, and I really appreciate the
award. Thank you.” U. G. White promotes the downtown
and encourages people to visit. They
sponsored the
"Crank Off" during the Homecoming Celebration
and is always willing to donate to the community in many
ways.
Diane Lehr presented the "Volunteer of the
Year" Award to Brent Hobbs. Lehr began by saying,
"Volunteers are very near and dear to my heart, besides
being one, I work with them and I think they’re the finest
people out there.
Volunteers are the people that get up in the morning and
while brushing their teeth to get ready to go to work they
think of the membership spreadsheet they stayed up late
working on the night before.
Volunteers understand if they work really hard and they make
a superb quality of life where they are that superb citizens
will move in. And we also understand that we are all in this
together so why not be superb. This year’s volunteer is no
less superb than all the people I mentioned before. This is
a person that said yes to every creative challenge
presented, someone who has worked on
iWalk campaigns and
updated our
website regularly, he’s someone who has a family
and a life, but he stays up late working on those
spreadsheets, and that graphic design to send out a message
to the world that downtown Athens is the place to be. This
year’s Volunteer of the Year is Mr. Brent Hobbs.”
Hobbs accepted the award by saying, “Thank you, like I told Trisha, I’ll do this as
long as you guys can put up with me. I appreciate this
award, but my part in this is kind of small. I grew up here,
I just wanted to do whatever I could do to help the
community and thanks Trisha for all of your hard work and to
all of you guys who gave me this.”
Director Trisha Black presented the award for
"Downtown Revitalization" to the City of Athens and Mayor
Marks for the superb job on the Athens Visitor Center. The
former Utility Building or Dominos building was in poor
condition before the city workers began the renovations. The
finished building is now home to Jeanette Dunnavant and her
staff for the
Athens Visitor Center which also rents the
meeting room for business meetings, showers, birthday
parties and other functions.
In closing, Black spoke to the guest by
saying, "I want to thank you all for attending the awards
luncheon today, it really means a lot to me and for all of
us that have been working really hard to keep the
revitalization efforts going here in downtown. Athens is a
great place to live. I didn’t grow up here, but it has
certainly become my home town and I love it. The people are
great. Look off the interstate, we got Publix, Lowe’s,
Starbucks, but then you also have your downtown that
reflects the identity of this beautiful city. I have enjoyed
so many stories that so many of you have told me over the
years since we’ve been here. Susan has told me about her mom
having a store on the square and coming down here and
hanging out after school."
"Representative Williams has told me
about coming down here as a child during “Trade Days” and
how when they had a pigeon problem the men all brought their
guns and shot the pigeons then they all ran around and
collected pigeons. And then I had the opportunity to meet a
couple that went on their first date cruising the square in
the 50’s and how they got to come back in 2009 and do that
again. Those are stories we want to preserve, and although I
don’t have those stories, I’m proud to say my kids will."
"I have a daughter that is 12 years old and
she was telling me recently about walking out of Pablo’s and
just as she popped her coke, she was passing by a guy that
goes to her school and just as she went for a sip it
splashed all over her face. And then my son is 8 years old
and when we first moved here, I was involved with Art on the
Square, he always called the Courthouse Art on the Square,
which really it is. It’s
something we can all look at to be the symbol to know that
it is home to us."
"Again, it’s so important to have so many
people invested and all of ya’ll are stakeholders in
preserving the history of our downtown and keeping that
alive for future generations. The keys on your table show
that you are all keys to our success.”
The Orgaization Committee did a fantastic
job coordianting this event, Diane Lehr, chairperson and her
committee orgainzed everything from the band, speakers,
food, decor and the exquisite China the VIP tables were
served on. An excellent job of team work was evident and
only shows what a contribution Spirit of Athens has become.
Teresa Todd
AthensPlus.com
January 31, 2011
Events SOA Sponsored and/or
Co-Sponsored
Bunny
Breakfast Easter Eggstravaganza
History
Uncovered
5th of July
Celebration
Art on the
Square Preview & Silent Auction
Homecoming
Celebration
Christmas
Open House
SOA
Commercial on Downtown
To see all Spirit of Athens Events throughout this
year go to
www.AthensPlus.com/athensevents.htm
The Spirit of Athens, Alabama, is a non -
profit organization dedicated to the renovation,
revitalization and future growth of the city of Athens,
Alabama downtown area.
Since its inception in March of 2006, the Spirit of Athens (SOA)
organization has been exploring short and long term
solutions to obtain economic, community, and cultural
support for the organization’s objectives.
Currently, an active and diverse Board of Directors, an
Executive Director with involvement from community and
business members, are focusing on objectives for the coming
year.
Executive Director: Trisha Black
Executive Committee and Board 2011
President: Derrick Young
Vice President: Teresa Todd
Secretary: Shane Black
Treasurer: Wyn Heisler
Carole Foret
Diane Lehr
Elizabeth McClary
Mac Martin
Tony McCormack
Jeb Lovvorn
Shannon Bryant
Milly Caudle
Letisha Brinkley
Committees:
Organization: Chair Diane Lehr
Economic Restructuring: Chair Mac Martin
Design: Chair: Heather Thompson
Promotion: Co-Chairs: Elizabeth McClary and Tiffany Seibert
Webmaster and Graphic Designer: Brent Hobbs
Membership Coordinator: Amanda Romine
The Spirit of Athens organization is using ideas and
guidelines from the "National Main Street Project". The
Project offers communities throughout the United States
guidance on how to encourage economic development in older,
traditional business districts. In addition, the Main Street
approach advocates returning to community
self - reliance,
based on the unique assets of local ownership, a friendly
environment, and a sense of community.
To learn more call Trisha Black, SOA's Executive Director at
256-278-6436 or visit
www.SpiritofAthens.com
