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.
The Decatur Sertoma Club and Decatur Breakfast Sertoma Club are pleased
to present their 2008 Service-To-Mankind Award to Joyce and Jack
Keller of Decatur, Illinois. Jack is a retired electrician and
Joyce is a retired high school secretary. Both are tireless advocates
and leaders at Old King’s Orchard (OKO) Community Center. With Jack’s
consent, assistance, and support, they have helped make this center a
safe, enjoyable and invaluable place of hope in an inner-city area where
they continue to live. They have been lifetime members of Grace United
Methodist Church, conveniently located in the OKO area.
Jack was
born in 1934 in Toledo, Illinois, a small town in South Central
Illinois, and moved to Decatur in 1940. He graduated from Decatur High
School in 1952. He served in the U. S. Army in Germany as an instructor
and also played for the Army baseball team. He became a journeyman
electrician in 1960 and worked at Bodine Electric Company in Decatur
until he retired in 1996.
Joyce
Tanner was born and raised in the OKO area, graduating from Decatur High
School in 1956. She then worked in the Sales Department at Mueller
Company in Decatur. In 1957 she married Jack Keller. They raised four
wonderful children all still in the Decatur area: Julie (Preston); Jenai
(Thompson); Jayne (Reynolds); and Jeffrey Tanner Keller. They have
fourteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Joyce
attended Danville Junior College. In 1975 she began as a secretary at
MacArthur HS, in Decatur, retiring in 2002. Joyce and Jack became
active in its Booster Club and received lifetime PTA membership. Before
and after their retirement, Jack and Joyce managed a small Christmas
tree farm near Jewett, Illinois, but maintained their residence in the
OKO neighborhood. Jack loves to read while Joyce says her hobby is
helping others. In 1990 she fulfilled a longtime dream by earning a
pilot’s license.
In 1991
Joyce became a valuable leader in OKO as part of the Inner City
Community Pact (ICCP) created by DOVE. DOVE was formed in 1970 to help
victims of domestic violence but evolved into addressing other related
needs of a growing low-income population. In the OKO neighborhood Joyce
and Jack invited a few children to pick up trash in a little red wagon
that inspired others to want to improve the OKO area. They transformed
a vacant lot into the Little Red Wagon Park where kids could play in a
supervised, safer place. They asked the kids to help with the trash
pickups and afterwards talked to them about any acts of kindness they
had shown during the week. They saw a real opportunity to improve their
lives and began taking some of them to concerts, zoo, swimming pool, and
Millikin University events as rewards for helping.
Joyce
and Jack helped a group of concerned neighbors seek funds to build and
operate the Old King’s Orchard Community Center (OKOCC), a brick
facility with a gymnasium, classrooms, and offices. Joyce developed a
close relationship with Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network and later with
Secretary of State Jesse White. She became vice-president or president
of the OKOCC board. In 2006, when funding decreased and OKO could not
afford a full-time director, the board took over its management. She
and Jack are very active in its after-school programs that include
computer training, gymnasium activities, and meals. Joyce talks to
parents to give them advice and hope. Both she and Jack are ‘hands-on’
people at neighborhood fund-raising, educational and social events.
Joyce claims that Jack has been the ‘wind beneath her wings’ as he
provided support, time, and talent. He is a great chef and
‘Jack-of-all-trades’ for the facility. They also appreciate the support
of their family and friends.
Neither
Jack nor Joyce work for awards. Their rewards are the smiling faces of
the children and neighbors they see at the OKOCC. Joyce attends most of
the monthly Coalition of Neighborhood Organization (CONO) meetings to
report the great things happening at the center. Both were honored by
CONO as one of their neighborhood’s outstanding volunteers, but praised
all the other volunteers. In 2006 the Human Service Agencies Consortium
(HSAC) honored Joyce as its Outstanding Community Volunteer. In 1996
Joyce was presented the ‘Those Who Excel Award’ from the Decatur School
District. In 2001 she received a Community Leaders’ Award from the
Decatur Herald and Review.
People like Jack and Joyce Keller are certainly wonderful
advocates for their neighbors in OKO. Joyce’s nickname is “Bulldog,”
because she is so busy, persistent, selfless, tireless, helpful and
dedicated to make the world better for her friends in the OKO area. Her
motto is, “Do it, Delegate it, or Dump it!” Because of the history of
her neighborhood, i.e., an apple orchard, naturally her favorite color
is red for the former red apples, but red is also for “heart.” The team
of Joyce and Jack are the heart of OKO. We, the Sertoma Clubs of
Decatur, Illinois, believe that Jack and Joyce Keller truly represent
Sertoma's motto of service to mankind. We’re extremely proud to present
them our 2008 Service-To-Mankind Award.
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The Sertoma Club of Decatur and the Decatur Breakfast Sertoma Club are
proud to present Miss Jessica Thornton with their ninth annual
Sertoma Youth Service Award. Jessica is a senior at Warrensburg-Latham
High School where she is an outstanding scholar and leader. She is a
volunteer at numerous local agencies and several school groups. She is a
member of Northwest Christian Church of Decatur. Jessica’s quiet and
compassionate nature and her innate leadership qualities make her highly
esteemed by all her associates.
Jessica Thornton was born on April 16, 1990, in Decatur, Illinois, the
only child of Rick and Sharron Thornton. Rick is a Caterpillar, Inc.
employee and Sharron works for Barbeck Communications. Jessica enjoys
playing the guitar and plays a tenor saxophone in the Warrensburg-Latham
concert, pep, and marching bands. She works twelve to twenty hours a
week at Kirlin’s Hallmark Card Shop as a sales clerk and loves to read
and write.
Jessica attended
elementary and middle schools in Decatur and now attends
Warrensburg-Latham High School. Her primary interests in school have
been English and History. She is co-editor of this year’s school
yearbook. She has been on the high honor roll throughout high school. As
a member of the Student Council she assists in organizing dances and
other events including the school’s Cinderella Project that recycles
prom dresses to inner-city girls who cannot afford a new dress. During
the past two years she has assisted in painting and building the sets
for her school’s musicals. She has received recognition as an Illinois
State Scholar.
When our joint-club
committee met with Jessica and her parents to discuss her volunteer
activities, we were overwhelmed with the number and variety of them. We
learned that she was an active 4-H member; she worked at the 4-H food
stands at the Macon County Fair and the 2007 Farm Progress Show held in
Decatur. She has been an auxiliary volunteer at DMH where she delivered
items to patients and worked in the coffee and gift shops. At Northwest
Christian Church she has helped in the nursery. At Promiseland
Ministries she has helped teach Sunday School for teenagers, and
participated in a mission trip to Delbarton, West Virginia, through
Maranatha Church Camp.
At DOVE, an ecumenical organization that helps homeless families and
victims of domestic violence as well as supporting the Coalition of
Neighborhood Organizations (CONO), Jessica frequently assisted with
preparing its monthly newsletters for mailing. She rang Salvation Army
Kettle bells and collected money at school for the Christmas Food
Baskets they distribute each December. Some other beneficiaries of
Jessica’s volunteering included the Children’s Museum of Illinois, the
Macon County Conservation District’s Mini-camps, the Good Samaritan Inn,
and the Big Brothers – Big Sisters Etiquette Dinner.
To illustrate where her heart really is, she helped raise funds for
World Vision and fasted for 30 hours in recognition of the starving
population of Uganda. She then wrote letters to President George W. Bush
and Congressman Phil Hare expressing her concern for the Ugandan
children suffering from rebel attacks on their homes. She helped
organize and lead lessons about diversity and teen problems while
attending Youth Summit meetings. She also helped raise funds for
rainforest conservation and twice donated blood at the Decatur Chapter
of the American Red Cross. Her parents gave her their fullest support
throughout all of these activities.
What a joy it is to
recognize a humble young woman with such abilities and caring nature.
Her schoolmates know Jessica as a dependable leader, a compassionate
friend, and an accomplished musician. Her positive influence is so
appreciated by all of the school staff. Her parents, and all of us, are
extremely proud of her responsible character and volunteer activities.
Our committee wondered how she had time to study, volunteer and work.
We, the Sertoma Clubs of Decatur, Illinois, believe that Miss Jessica
Thornton truly represents Sertoma's motto of service. Therefore, we’re
extremely proud to present her with our Sertoma Youth Service Award for
2008.
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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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