It was more than just business as usual at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Montgomery County Community Foundation. It was also a celebration of 25 years of serving Montgomery County through over $17 million in grants and scholarships! None of our accomplishments would be possible without the generosity of our donors throughout the years and the overall theme was one of gratitude for the tremendous support we have received in this community.
A highlight of our annual meeting is always announcing the adult and youth Volunteer of the Year. Every nominee was worthy of the honor for their outstanding volunteer work with various local nonprofits. The recipient of the 2016 Volunteer of the Year award was Dave Maharry. A retired college professor, Dr. Maharry now tutors high school drop-outs striving to acquire their High School Equivalency diploma. Dave was presented with a plaque and $1,000 was awarded to the Crawfordsville Adult Resource Academy in his honor. The Peggy Herzog Youth Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Makhalea Young for her work with Montgomery County 4-H/North Montgomery FFA. Makhalea received a plaque and $500 was awarded to both Montgomery Co. 4-H and North Montgomery FFA in her honor. We congratulate not only Dave and Makhalea, but all our volunteer nominees. A video of this presentation can be viewed below:
Executive Directory Kelly Taylor recognized our founding board members who were able to be present at the meeting: Nancy Doemel, Ken Newnum and Marsha Gephart. She thanked them for the vision they had 25 years ago and for the work they accomplished then and how it is still making a difference today. Kelly then recognized two very special volunteers, Nancy Doemel and Ken Newnum, for not only their visionary work 25 years ago, but for their continued efforts and support throughout the years. Kelly presented Nancy and Ken with a special philanthropy award which read, “Recognizing leadership, dedication, vision and selfless devotion for the betterment of Montgomery County.”
Our two guest speakers were Nancy Doemel and Michael Hole, the MCCF 2004 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipient. Nancy spoke about those early years and the challenges that were involved. Dr. Michael Hole graduated from North Montgomery high school in 2004 and after receiving the Lilly scholarship, he went to Butler University and graduated in 2008. He continued his education at Stanford and is a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital and is a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School. He was also named one of America’s top 30 social entrepreneurs under age 30 by Forbes Magazine. But Michael did not speak of his accomplishments; he spoke of how his life was changed through the impact of the Lilly scholarship. Michael expressed sincere appreciation to the MCCF for the gift of the Lilly scholarship and the enormous difference it made in his life. Nancy and Michael's speeches can be viewed in the videos below: