SERVICE TO
MANKIND AWARD
This award is the highest honor Sertoma can bestow on a non-Sertoman.
The award honors outstanding volunteer service to the community. Past
winners have included educators, foster parents, volunteer camp
directors, activists...people who make a significant volunteer
contribution to those in need. Adopted in Asheville, NC in 1954, the
first International award was presented in 1955.
Every Sertoma Club may present a Service To Mankind Award. The two
Decatur clubs work together to make a local selection, then create a
written entry to submit to District, Regional and possibly Sertoma
International.
International sends the award winner and a guest to its
International Convention for award presentations, then sends them to
Washington, D.C. for recognition by the U. S. President.
Decatur entrants have won several District and Regional awards, and in
1979 the local winner, Henrietta Armstrong, was also the International
Service To Mankind Award Recipient.
After making the local selection, the Decatur clubs organize a
banquet to honor the award winner in March or April with a handsome
plaque. The two clubs, in addition to presenting the annual Service To
Mankind Award, presents a Sertoma Youth Service Award to one or more
high school students for outstanding volunteer service in the community.
Charles
Loury
The Decatur Sertoma Club and Decatur Breakfast Sertoma Club are pleased
to present their 2011 Service-To-Mankind Award to Charles Loury of
Decatur, Illinois. As a retired employee of Archer Daniels Midland
(ADM) and a U. S. Army veteran, Charles volunteers in his community, in
several veterans’ organizations, and in his church.
He is longtime active member of St. Peter’s African Methodist Episcopal
(AME) Church in Decatur.
PERSONAL
Charles Loury was born in Chicago, then moved to Evanston, Illinois in
the late 1940s. While visiting an aunt in Decatur in 1952, he noticed
that she could keep a flock of chickens in the backyard and decided
immediately that he wanted to live in Decatur. He then attended
Washington Elementary and Stephen Decatur High School. In 1962 he
married Bernice Terry of Decatur and together they raised two daughters,
Tina Marie Strickland of Chandler, Arizona, and Kimberly Ann Houston of
Elkhart, Indiana. They were blessed with four grandchildren. Bernice
worked fourteen years at Taylor Pharmaceutical, two years at Bachrach’s,
and then ten years at Sears.
Charles was drafted into the U. S. Army in 1967 and was
trained at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri before taking Advanced Infantry
Training at Ft. Lee, Virginia. Although this was during the Vietnam
War, he was sent to Germany where he soon asked for a transfer to the
101st Airborne Unit, also called the ‘Screaming Eagles.’
Charles made many training jumps. He received an honorable discharge in
1969 with the rank of Specialist-4. He began working at A. E. Staley’s
Grain Processing facility in 1971. He later worked as a salesman at
Musicland in Decatur and then worked at Revere Copper in Clinton,
Illinois. In 1974 he was called to work on a swing shift in the oil
refinery at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), then worked at the elevator
and truck-dump areas of ADM until his retirement in 2004. Since
retiring, besides trying to keep up with his wife’s ‘honey-do list,’
Charles has been enjoying fishing and hunting as well as visiting family
members.
VOLUNTEERING
VETERANS’ ORGANIZATIONS: When
Charles retired he vowed he would not get involved in any volunteer
work. However, one of his best friends, Rudy Escobar, asked him in a
weak moment to help him take veterans without transportation to the
Danville, Illinois Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospital and Clinic.
Charles agreed and enjoyed the fellowship of this activity so much he
soon became a regular driver for the 175-mile round trip. In 2005 he
became a member of the Macon County Honor Guard that participates in
hundreds of military rites at veterans’ funeral ceremonies each year,
many times several in one day. The rites include a 21-gun salute, the
playing of Taps, the proper folding of the American flag, and the
presentation of the flag to the grateful family. Charles is also
Commander of American Legion Post #1972. Its members march in the
Juneteenth parade that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in Texas
on June 19, 1965. They also donate money to support a Boy Scout Troop.
Each year just before Memorial Day, Post #1972 participates in poppy
sales.
NEIGHBORHOOD:
In 2004 Charles became the president of the Fans Field Neighborhood
Association (FFNA) and Bernice became FFNA treasurer. His ‘job’
included presiding over monthly meetings, scheduling and participating
in Adopt-A-Street clean-ups, and operating the FFNA concession stand
during the summer. He and Bernice regularly attend the monthly meetings
of the Coalition Of Neighborhood Organizations (CONO). They have also
attended a Regional Neighborhood Network Conference to learn what other
groups in major cities in four Midwest states do to improve their
neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, he has received three CONO Outstanding
Neighborhood Volunteer Awards.
OTHER:
Charles has long been active in his AME church as a Steward and as a
member of the men’s choir. He is a member of the Wildlife Conservation
Federation that teaches young and old proper techniques of fishing,
hunting, trapping, boating and camping. Since 2007 he has been a member
of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) at DOVE, Inc. and has
accumulated nearly 2000 hours of community volunteer hours. In August
2010 Charles received the Human Service Agencies Consortium (HSAC)
Community Volunteer Award.
CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that this gentleman, who has come from humble
beginnings, is an asset to our community. He is always trying to make
Decatur a better place in which to live. His dedicated service to
living veterans and to families of deceased veterans keeps him
motivated; its value can never be measured. His leadership in his
inner-city neighborhood serves as a prime role model to the youth living
there. We, the Sertoma Clubs of Decatur, Illinois, believe that Charles
Loury truly represents Sertoma's motto of ‘Service to Mankind.’ We’re
extremely proud to present him our 2011 Service-To-Mankind Award.
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The
Sertoma Club of Decatur and the Decatur Breakfast Sertoma Club are proud
to present Miss Sabrina Hartwig with their twelfth annual Sertoma Youth
Service Award. Sabrina is a senior at Sangamon Valley High School where
she is an outstanding scholar, volunteer, musician and athlete. Her
primary volunteer services have been in Sangamon Valley High School in
Niantic, the Niantic Christian Church, and the Niantic United Methodist
Church. Her helpful and pleasant nature makes her highly esteemed by
all her associates.
PERSONAL
Sabrina Hartwig was born November 2, 1992 in Springfield, Illinois.
She, her parents, Tom and Janis Hartwig, and a sister, Samantha, a
University of Illinois Junior majoring in Animal Sciences, reside on a
small farm near Niantic, Illinois. Besides farming, Tom works for Bryan
Patton Construction in Mt. Auburn and Jan is an administrative assistant
at Kerber, Eck & Braeckel, LLP, an accounting firm in Springfield. Her
family has always enjoyed having dogs and cats around the farm.
Sabrina has played softball three years and volleyball four years; she
was a member of the varsity teams during her junior and senior years.
She is a four-year member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She
has also played a clarinet in the pep band for four years and is now
first chair. She is currently a member of FFA (Future Farmers of
America). Last fall, her family participated in the German American
Participation Program by hosting a German Exchange student. This coming
June Sabrina plans to go to Germany for three weeks to live with the
family of their exchange student.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Sabrina attended elementary school in Harristown, middle
school in Illiopolis, and high school in Niantic, part of the Sangamon
Valley School District. Her favorite class subject is Biology. She has
been on the high honor roll throughout high school and is vice-president
of the National Honor Society (NHS). This senior year she is a class
co-valedictorian and recently was named an Illinois State Scholar. The
Illiopolis Community Service Club and the
Niantic Civic Club presented her with a Golden Cord Award and a
$100 stipend for her high school high grade point average. She has
achieved those scholastic successes even though working several evenings
each week at a local Dairy Queen. A four-year member of the student
council, she is currently its vice-president. She’s been a four-year
member of the color guard when not playing in the band. For three years
she has been a member of the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering
team at her school. Following graduation she plans to attend the
University of Illinois in Champaign to begin pre-medicine studies with a
goal of entering dental school after completing her under-graduate work.
VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES
When our joint-club committee met with Sabrina and her mother,
Jan, to discuss her volunteer activities, we learned that Jan had been
the driving force to encourage Sabrina to become involved in service
projects. Every month she and members of the NHS have cleaned a short
roadside near her school in Niantic and have also cleaned the football
grounds of debris after each home game; they then recycled the aluminum
cans. This past fall she helped at the Niantic Civic Club’s annual
fish-fry fund-raiser and also assisted at the Harristown Elementary
School PTO’s carnival.
Sabrina’s volunteer efforts at her Niantic Christian Church
have included each year for six years helping fifty hours at summer
Bible School, two years helping several hours when needed with church
landscaping, and two years helping 36 hours buy, sort, and distribute
food items for Niantic’s food pantry. For 3 years she enjoyed knitting
scarves to give away at Christmas.
At
the Niantic United Methodist Church, during the past eleven years she
has been deeply involved with an ever-expanding church project of
providing backpacks containing school start-up supplies to needy
students in the Niantic, Harristown and Illiopolis communities. This
great project that now serves about 150 very appreciative students has
truly touched Sabrina.
CONCLUSION
Sabrina’s
mother defined ‘volunteer’ in her application as a person who gives time
to others without hesitation and without concern for acknowledgement of
oneself - Sabrina obviously exemplifies that definition. What a
pleasure it is to recognize this confident, motivated and compassionate
young woman who exhibits such a positive attitude and caring nature.
Her schoolmates, church associates, and her loving family know Sabrina
as a responsible leader, a dependable friend, an accomplished musician
and athlete and a compassionate person. Her parents and all of us are
extremely proud of her responsible character and willingness to
volunteer. When our committee asked for her motto in life, she
responded, “To always have a positive attitude.” We, the Sertoma Clubs
of Decatur, Illinois, believe that Miss Sabrina Hartwig truly exhibits
that attitude and also represents Sertoma's motto of service.
Therefore, we’re extremely proud to present her with our Sertoma Youth
Service Awards for 2011.
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NATIONAL HERITAGE
National Heritage is a project
whereby a committee of club members choose from a variety of ways to
create awareness of the privileges of living in America. Our two
Sertoma clubs typically deliver an attractive facsimile of the United States Bill
of rights to every fifth grade student in all Macon county schools.
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