Harris Citizen of Year at Curry Award night

PRESCOTT – It was a night of awards, Saturday at the Prescott Junior High cafeteria, as members of the community were honored at the Curry’s Community Award Banquet.

The event was sponsored by Curry’s Community Outreach Ministry, with the theme “The Power of Community Service”. Ivory Curry, master of ceremonies, said the ministry has strong support and is an organization that can get things done, though it couldn’t be done without the community’s help. He said Prescott has a lot of good things going for it, good people and strong leadership.

Homer Hopson, deacon of Mt. Ephesus Baptist Church, was the first of two speakers. He talked about graduating from McRae in 1961, but has since become a Curley Wolf. He told the audience about starting an organization in Waldo to help young people, saying it’s done a lot of things for the community. There are three criteria needed for community service, he said. First is good leadership. He pointed out a good leader, a volunteer leader, is needed who doesn’t mind going the extra mile. Second is good followers, because without them nothing gets done. Third is putting God first.

Community, he said, is a group of people working together, but who need to be sincere in what they’re doing.

The second speaker was the Rev. Dr. John Noogle of First United Methodist Church. He talked about the two kinds of people there are, saying one group is self-centered and the other is self-giving. Those who are self-centered, he said, are only concerned about themselves and their desires. The self-giving people, though, are giving of themselves to others.

He pointed out there are four key principles in life. People, he said, don’t know what affect they’ll have on others and a kind word can make all the difference to someone having a rough time. Next is knowing who you are inside. You need to know what you want and how to make other’s lives better. Why are we here is another principle as is what do we have to live for. Noogle said it’s all about those around us and giving to those in need. “Change starts with you and your service first. What you pass on makes a difference.’

This was followed by the presentation of awards. The small business of the year went to Casa Carlos. Citizen of the Year was Fred Harris, while the Ministry of the Year went to Satarra Williams. Carlos VanHook was named Public Servant of the Year, while Rising Star of the Year went to Kevin Cole. The Lifetime of Community Service Award was presented to Howard Austin.