On Tuesday, May 7th, we held our annual Awards Luncheon in which we honor community members and club members for various accomplishments.
Nancy Osman (above right) of the Ty2 Foundation was honored as the Woman of the Year for 2013. Club member Rosemary Frank (above left) introduced Nancy and her story of faith, love, and service.
Nancy and her husband lost their son, Ty Osman II, in March 2012. Ty was on a spring break road trip with friends in Texas when he was hit by a car while trying to help the victims of a different car accident. Nancy and her husband created the
Ty2 Foundation as a lasting memorial to the life of Ty. As their website states, Ty had a servant's heart and through the Ty2 Foundation his work continues. Although Nancy and her family have always lived lives of service, they never imagined the opportunities that would evolve during the last year.
In August 2012 the Ty2 Foundation, along with the Solomon Builders and 400 volunteers, renovated the former cemetery caretaker's home in the Hard Bargain neighborhood in Franklin, TN and converted it into a community center. The new community center, named Ty’s House, offers classes, events, and
an Internet Café so children and adults can have access to computers and
the internet.
Another mission of the Ty2 Foundation is to educate people about organ donation. Before Ty's death, he had already registered as an organ donor.
His donations saved the lives of three people and helped others to have a better quality of life.
Many of Nancy's friends joined her at the luncheon to show their support.
At the luncheon we also honored three high school graduating seniors who were each awarded a scholarship for $1200.00. Their proud parents joined them for the luncheon.
Natalie Elaine Bennett (above left) of Brentwood High School plans on studying biochemistry or neurobiology with the ultimate goal of becoming a doctor and researcher. She will be attending The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Irtiqa Fazili (above right), a senior at Brentwood High School, will be attending the University of Pennsylvania and will focus her studies on the biological sciences. She looks forward to becoming a doctor one day and to making a difference in people's lives through her research.
Taylor Streaty (above left), also a senior at Brentwood High School, will be attending Stanford University. With a passion for medicine and languages, her goal is to become a pediatric surgeon and to eventually work with Doctors Without Borders.
Sarah LaFebvre (above center) of Ravenwood High School won first place in our first ever short story contest, headed up by member Marilyn Tolk (above right). Sarah's story
Breath by Breath also won first place at the state level and will now move on to the GFWC international short story competition. Congratulations to Sarah, and her mom of course!
Our First Vice President
Paula Uhlir (above right) was honored as "Member of the Year". Paula has been invaluable to the club since joining in 2009.
For the last four years she has taken on the huge task of chairing our
main fundraiser which takes place in March. She has a knack for seeing
the big picture and making sure that all five senses are awakened at
these events. Paula also co-chairs our Education Community Service Area and takes
on the time-consuming job of getting the word out to female high school graduating seniors about our scholarships. She and her co-chair, Evelyn, spend hours evaluating the scholarship applications and selecting the winners.
Club member Nancy Overton (above left) was honored as "New Member of the Year". Nancy joined the club last year and dove in head first. She spent hours creating beautifully handbound books that contained the works of our 2012 art and poetry winners. She has since become our "go to" geeky gal - that's a compliment! Last year and this year she created art and poetry winner books for parents to purchase through Blurb, and this year she put together mini member directories that we all use and love. She also keeps our sweet tooth satisfied with her yummy cookies.
Shari Martin was honored for her 35 years of service to the BWC. Thirty-five years! This calls for its own blog post. Until that happens we'll mention that Shari served twice as the BWC president, from 1988-1990 and from 1991-1992. She is also a dedicated Bingo supporter and has developed special family-like relationships with some of the residents there. Shari is one of those people who lights up a room when she walks into it. The club wouldn't be the same without her.
Suzanne Burns received a pin for 15 years of service. Donna Almond, Nora Montgomery and Janet Wald received their 5-year pins.
As a fairly new member, Pat Grove (left) stepped up to chair the Conservation Community Service Area this year. Pat took on the task of distributing 4,000 dogwood, maple, oak, and pine trees. Laurie Rousseau (right), Recycling Specialist with Williamson County and member of the Keep Williamson Beautiful Advisory Board, attended the lunch and presented Pat with a volunteer service award for Best New Community Program 2013 called "Tree Wise for the Community." Nice work Pat!
