Ray Black Jr., Executive Director of the Lide White Boys & Girls Club, was awarded the Jeff Garrett Community Service Award during the Chamber's annual dinner on Jan. 21, 2009, at Hanover College.
The text of the nominating speech follows:
The Jeff Garrett Community Service Award is given annually to a
Jefferson
County
resident who has made major contributions to improve the quality of life in our community.
For this year’s recipient, it is hard to separate his work life from his volunteer time. This gentleman has devoted his adult life to helping the youth of our community. He is a lifelong resident of
Madison
. He was an Eagle Scout, a graduate of
Madison
High
School
and an alumnus of
Hanover
College
. He has served as a teacher in the Head Start program and worked for several years as an electrician at Robus Leather.
Meanwhile, he became a volunteer and a board member at the Lide White Boys & Girls Club, starting on the board in 1976. A couple of years later he became assistant director at the club. He became the executive director 25 years ago this month, in January 1984. He has started all the sports programs that are available at the club, and has personally served as a coach for softball, baseball, basketball and wrestling. Boys & Girls Clubs of
America
honored him with the National Professional Service Award in 2001.
Aside from his work at the Boys & Girls Club, this individual was head wrestling coach at MCHS from 1998 to 2005, coaching 18 state finalists and 3 state runners-up. He is an IHSAA wrestling official and a junior high cross-country official and starter. He is a member of the Elks Lodge and formerly belonged to the Optimist and Kiwanis clubs. Through his donations or volunteer time, he supports Girls Inc., Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Boys Scouts, Red Cross and Senior Citizens.
This person gives back to the community every day by mentoring the boys & girls of
Jefferson
County
. One friend wrote, “He cares so much about the children that I have seen him take kids into his home and treat them like they are his. He always puts the children ahead of himself and teaches them right from wrong. He always makes time for the kids for whatever reason even if it means getting up at 2 a.m. to help a child in distress.” He keeps a food pantry at the club and offers a Christmas shopping spree so he can help needy families he learns about in his work. Of course, he would modestly say these are all
programs of the Boys & Girls Club – but they exist because this man goes above and beyond his job responsibilities, and makes it HIS responsibility to take care of people who need it the most.
Case in point – during the unexpected September windstorms from Hurricane Ike, Ray Black and his staff worked 24 hours per day transforming the Boys & Girls Club into an emergency shelter that served 300 meals, gave out 500 cases of water and provided showers and shelter to more than 150 families.
Ray Black and his wife Vicki are two of the most generous, caring people you will ever meet. They have three children and one grandchild, with another on the way, and their two daughters are with them tonight. Please give a warm thank you to the 2009 recipient of the Jeff Garrett Community Service Award, Mr. Ray N. Black Jr.
