The Eleventh Annual Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards ceremony will honor volunteers from 61 counties at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin on February 10, 2019. The awards will celebrate the efforts of 108 volunteers statewide who have strived to improve their communities through service. Miss Tennessee 2018, Christine Williamson, will present the awards, and NewsChannel5 weekend anchor, Jennifer Kraus, will serve as emcee for the event.
One youth and one adult volunteer were selected from participating counties to receive this prestigious award. Nominees were judged based on the community’s need of the volunteer service performed, initiative taken to perform the service, creativity used to solve a community problem and impact of the volunteer service on the community. The individual awards are sponsored by Tennessee 4-H.
Claude S. Morse – Coffee County Adult Honoree – Claude devotes endless hours to his community. He has been on the Arnold Community Council since 2000. He is the President and Chairman of the Board for Honor Flight of Middle Tennessee, which provides two flights a year for veterans to visit war memorials in Washington DC. This past year, he sponsored 65 people and, on the last flight alone, spent over 60 hours of volunteer work. Claude is a Committee Member for Wreaths Across America, a group that decorates hundreds of veteran graves at Christmas. He is the President of the local Arnold Air Force Association, which runs a scholarship program for military members and their dependents and provides grants to promote science and math education in schools. As a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10904 he helped coordinate the Toy Soldier Project to collect 58,479 toy soldiers, one for every veteran killed in the Vietnam War.
George M. Gannon – Coffee County Youth Honoree – George served as a state officer for SkillsUSA where his responsibilities included running the state conference, teaching workshops to rising leaders, and advocating to government representatives. During his time as State Officer, his community service hours contributed to his team receiving the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award. George also currently serves in the Coffee County Student Government Association as Student Body President. As Student Body President, He secured a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank to ensure the Thanksgiving Food Basket Program would be able to provide for everyone who participated. He is involved with Project Graduation, helping foster kids buy Christmas presents for their families. He also started a Christmas food basket program with his dad.
Each year, 1.6 million Tennessee volunteers give more than 137 million hours of service, contributing the equivalent of $3.3 billion to Tennessee’s economy.
