The City of Arkansas City’s 11th annual Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award presentation will return Tuesday night after taking a year off for the pandemic.
A special awards presentation ceremony and reception will begin at 6 p.m. October 26 at USD 470’s Avery Learning Center, located at 2500 N. 15th St. Doors unlock at 5:30 p.m. Social time starts at 5:45.
Mike Evinger is the award recipient for 2020. Although he was presented with the Avery Award during this year’s Tacolalah Festival on July 7, he will be honored again at this reception ceremony.
A pair of recipients will be honored for 2021. Their names will not be announced until Tuesday night.
This award was given each year from 2009 through 2016 during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Unity at Cowley College. It was resurrected in 2018 as part of a kickoff event for Arkalalah, with several award recipients being honored for both 2017 and 2018 in a similar recognition ceremony.
“When Mr. Charles Jennings graciously agreed to take over the Celebration of Unity event a few years ago, it was agreed that he could start giving out his own award, the Spirit of Progress Award, while the City would reserve the Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award for a different time of year,” said Charles Tweedy, chairman of the Community Spirit Award Committee, which now administers this annual award. “We quickly zeroed in on Arkalalah to create another nice tradition for this special celebratory week in Arkansas City.”
Unfortunately, that tradition was disrupted by Arkalalah’s cancellation last year as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but now it will resume again in 2021.
Members of the committee and the City Commission will be present for the awards presentation.
A social reception will follow the awards ceremony, with free cookies from Steamy Joe and drinks provided by USD 470. Community Spirit Award engraving services were provided by Schmidt Jewelers.
About the Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award
Joe B. Avery, a former member of the Ark City Human Relations Commission, passed away in 2008.
He was the first recipient of a new award created in his honor, the Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award. Avery made a long-term commitment to effecting change in the community by identifying or creating resources that improved the quality of life for those who live in Arkansas City. He gave many years of service to Arkansas City in developing conversations and relationships that benefited the greater good.
This award has been bestowed each year since upon a deserving community member who displays the values of community spirit and diversity, as selected by a City-appointed commission or committee.
The award was created to celebrate those who make an effort to enhance the lives of others through service and a passion for furthering cooperation and humanitarianism among the citizens of Ark City.
The City Commission voted 5-0 on June 7, 2016, to combine the Human Relations Commission and the Accessibility Advisory Board, creating the new Equal Opportunity and Accessibility Advisory Board.
The members of this new board did not wish to continue administering the Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award, but the City wanted to keep the tradition and spirit of the award going, so a new Community Spirit Award Committee was created and tasked with planning an annual recognition event for recipients.
Joe Avery’s widow, Donna Avery, served as an honorary advisor to this committee until her death.
The recipients of the Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award have been:
2009 — Joe B. Avery and Bruce Watson;
2010 — Dr. Nick Rogers;
2011 — Pastor James Watson Jr.;
2012 — James Fry;
2013 — Curtis Freeland;
2014 — Delphia Jennings;
2015 — Kerry Schnackenberg;
2016 — Jim and Carol Owens;
2017 — Carlla Pike, Kalin Taylor and Rob Carroll’s Sandblasting & Painting;
2018 — Christopher and Mitchell Gingher;
2019 — Jill Hunter;
2020 — Mike Evinger;
2021 — ??? and ???
The specific criteria for award eligibility, as adopted by the Community Spirit Award Committee with inspiration from the criteria for the former Community Cornerstone Award, include the following:
1. A candidate must make a significant humanitarian contribution to Arkansas City. This should be a high priority.
2. The candidate must live in Cowley County and have lived in Cowley County for five years.
3. The candidate must have contributed in his or her achievements something that has had a lasting effect on Arkansas City.
4. These achievements must be something above and beyond his or her line of work.
Individuals, groups and organizations all can be eligible for this award, depending on the circumstances of their humanitarian contributions to and lasting impacts on the Ark City community.
To nominate an individual, group or organization for the 2022 Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award, please email their name and accomplishments to alawson@arkansascityks.gov or call (620) 441-4415. Award nomination forms for 2022 also will be available at Tuesday’s reception and www.arkcity.org.
About the Community Spirit Award Committee
The City Commission of Arkansas City voted 4-0 on Sept. 5, 2017, to create the new Community Spirit Award Committee. The first members of this committee were appointed throughout that autumn, drawn mostly from the Human Relations Commission and Community Cornerstone Award committee.
After formalizing the new criteria for the Joe B. Avery Community Spirit Award in 2018, the Community Spirit Award Committee has met regularly each year since to pick that year’s winner(s).
Current members of the Community Spirit Award Committee are:
• Chairman Charles Tweedy III, a former city commissioner and planning commissioner;
• Vice Chair Arleta Rice, a former city commissioner and hospital board member who also was a member of the original Community Cornerstone Award committee;
• JoAnn Bierle and Kim Hager, former members of the Human Relations Commission;
• Joni Curl, the newest appointment, who also currently serves on the Planning Commission.
Public Information Officer Andrew Lawson serves as the committee’s secretary and staff liaison. Bierle’s three-year term will expire January 1, 2022. Hager and Rice have three-year terms expiring January 1, 2023. Curl’s and Tweedy’s three-year terms will expire January 1, 2024.
Terms on the Community Spirit Award Committee are for three years.
This committee meets as needed (typically just a few times each year) at various locations throughout Arkansas City.
Anyone interested in applying to join the Community Spirit Award Committee may download and fill out a City board/committee volunteer application form in PDF format at https://bit.ly/ACappform.
Completed forms should be returned to Lawson at alawson@arkansascityks.gov. They also can be dropped off at the Utility Billing Office or City Clerk’s Office on the main floor of City Hall, 118 W. Central.
