United Way of Etowah County — 2018 Community Report

Tom McKenzie was honored
in 2017 with the first
TOM MCKENZIE COMMUNITY
IMPACT AWARD
LEADERSHIP SOCIETY
Alexis de Tocqueville Society
Members — $10,000+
Devan & Hilda Lowe
Builders Society
Members — $5,000-9,999
Hightower also took the occasion to honor former United
Way President Tom McKenzie with the first Tom McKenzie
Community Impact Award.
“If you could see the list of things he’s done, it would be a
whole lot easier to list the things he hasn’t been president
of,” joked Hightower, before firing off McKenzie’s lengthy
résumé: the Kiwanis Club, the Boy Scouts, the Red Cross,
the YMCA, the Quarterback Club, Capstone Engineering and
several more.
“At St. James (Catholic Church) you’ve been in charge of
everything — except I don’t think you’ve been the priest,” said
Hightower, earning laughs from the audience.
Bob & Alicia Guyton
Julia Nolen Knox
Scott & Teresa Hindsman
Tommy & Mary Stonebraker
McKenzie said he hadn’t expected to receive an award, or to
see six of his and wife Charlotte’s eight adult children having
a mini-family reunion at the theater. He joked that if he had
known about the award, he’d have worn a tie.
McKenzie said that he believed he was preaching to the
choir, but still offered a reminder about the importance of
community service.
“People in the community need to remember, you’ve got to
give something back,” said McKenzie. “It’s so important, because
everybody can’t do that. If you’ve got the opportunity,
you need to do it.”
— Excerpt from The Gadsden Times
11
Bill & Marian Stone
Gold Feather Society — $3,500-4,999
Patricia & Collier Cropp
Bill & Helene Haller
Dr. Bill & Mandy Hartzog
Frank & Susie Orr
Wayne & Karen Owen
Names italicized are self-identified Loyal Contributors – giving 10+ years