Volunteer Stars

OUR COUNTY

D. Gary Davis

County Mayor

In February of this year Governor Bredesen instituted an annual statewide recognition of outstanding volunteers.  The recognition program is called “Volunteer Stars”.  Each county was encouraged to select one outstanding adult and one youth volunteer for recognition as part of the program. 

Every year 1.2 million Tennessee Volunteers give over 156.9 hours of service.  This service contributes $3.1 billion to Tennessee’s economy.  The Corporation for National and Community services publication Volunteering in America: 2008 State and City Trends and Rankings ranked Tennessee 39^th in the rate of volunteering and 36^th in volunteer hours in the United States.  Governor Bredesen is using “Volunteer Stars” to further encourage volunteerism in the “ Volunteer State”. 

Last week, Milan Blake and Kaylee Radzyminiski were honored as Bradley County’s first “Volunteer Stars”.  Milan and Kaylee attended the First Annual Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards ceremony in Nashville. 

I appointed Milan as the volunteer IT Professional on the county’s IT Committee.  Milan was elected as chairman of this committee and has spearheaded several major projects including a complete website redesign and new email filtering system. Milan has donated countless hours to the county and provided valuable guidance the county could not have otherwise afforded. 

Kaylee is currently a senior and Cleveland High School.  As most Bradley County residents already know, Kaylee created “Tunes 4 the Troops”, a CD and DVD collection campaign that has spread across the country and resulted in the shipment of more than 170,000 discs to U.S. soldiers overseas.  Kaylee was recognized earlier this year as one of America’s top ten youth volunteers by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards also. 

If you do not currently volunteer, but are interested in getting involved in our community, I urge you to do so.  There are many worthwhile organizations in our community in need of volunteers.  As the economy slows, it has an impact on many nonprofit organizations. Now would be a wonderful time to get involved.  A list of the United Way Agencies and their contact information is found at www.unitedwaybc.com.   

I want to thank all of you that currently volunteer in some capacity in our community.  Many of the programs in our community would not be available without the dedication of many talented volunteers.  Thank you for giving of your time generously without asking for anything in return. 

Thanks also to Milan and Kaylee and all volunteers for making, “Bradley County, Tennessee at its best!”