- (male announcer) The Spark Awards 2022 is made possible in part by the following.

- From our very beginnings in 1954, Lipscomb and Pitts insurance has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is honored to be a presenting sponsor of the Spark Awards.

- On behalf of the entire Champion promotion team, we're honored to be a presenting sponsor of the Spark Awards.

Champion is proud to have helped design the custom award given to each of the honorees and to be a presenting sponsor since the very beginning.

We'll continue to support this wonderful tradition.

- For over 50 years, Champion has been helping companies and organizations in Memphis and the Mid-South to grow and expand their brands with branded products.

We can provide everything from printed and embroidered apparel to promotional items and custom awards such as the Spark Awards.

Our commitment to our customers extends from being on brand, on everything to being a catalyst in our community.

- We wanna congratulate all of this year's honorees and thank them for making a huge impact in our great city.

Have a great holiday season.

- (male announcer) Additional funding for the Spark Awards is provided by ECOP, the Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, My Town Miracles, and by Meritan.

- Have you ever been excited by a new idea, inspired by watching someone lead by example?

When we talk about creating change, we start by sharing the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their own way so we can learn and do the same.

This truth is the power behind this show.

I'm Jeremy Park and this is the Spark Awards.

And here are your hosts, Tracy Bethea and Rob Grayson.

- Hello and welcome to the 9th Annual Spark Awards.

I'm Rob Grayson.

- I'm Tracy Bethea, and it's great to be here among the everyday heroes of our community, those who are out there making a difference in Memphis and the Mid-South.

Whether you represent a business, a service organization or charity, an educational institution, or just yourself, you are the upstandards that make our world a better place.

- In the next hour, we'll present 13 awards from 4 categories and our Legacy Award, which honors a lifetime of service.

- But before we begin sharing the stories of our honorees, let's hear from the man who keeps the spark shining all year long, the CEO of cityCURRENT and host of the TV series, The Spark Jeremy Park.

- Let me start by saying thank you.

This is the 10th year and anniversary of The Spark, which is our monthly television series here on WKNO.

The Spark focuses on sharing positive stories so we can see the good taking place here in our community.

Be inspired and learn how to make an even greater difference.

The Spark Awards now in its 9th year, allows us to recognize and honor those who are doing the hard work and the heart work to make a difference because every day in the Mid-South, there are countless organizations and individuals rolling up their sleeves, gi ving back and helping others.

These community champions are working hard every day and we're a better city thanks to their efforts.

Earlier this year, the public sent in hundreds of nominations for individuals and organizations in 13 categories.

Those nominations then went to the Midtown Memphis Rotary Club which has been our longtime partner in selecting the honorees for the Spark Awards.

And now with this special hour-long broadcast, we have the privilege of recognizing and celebrating the 13 honorees of the Spark Awards 2022.

Before we start the ceremony and introduce you to this year's honorees, let's learn more about the Midtown Memphis Rotary Club and how the honorees were selected.

- The Midtown Memphis Rotary Club's mission is to improve the quality of life in Memphis and the broader community.

We meet after work on Tuesday evenings in the Annex building of the Southern College of Optometry on Madison Avenue.

Guests are always welcome.

It's been a pleasure over the years to participate in the Spark Awards and we're honored again to select this year's recipients.

Before selecting the honorees in each category, we consider the nominees philanthropic leadership, volunteerism and activism, and impact within our five county Memphis Metro area.

We congratulate not just the winners, but all of the nominees who make Memphis a better place for all of us.

- Business is the bread and butter of any thriving community.

Our corporate awards honor those businesses that devote resources to nurturing and improving the place they call home.

The first award in the corporate category is for companies with 100 or fewer employees.

Our honoree is a company that helps homeowners and businesses recover from fires, flooding, and other disasters.

But more than that, they support local first responders by sharing both their cleaning skills and their Christmas dinners.

This award goes to ServiceMaster by Cornerstone.

- ServiceMaster by Cornerstone is a family-operated business here in Memphis, Tennessee, and we're focused on fire and water restoration along with mold on a commercial property or also in a residential setting.

We provide those services to insurance agents, brokers, any adjusters, and also we work with the fire department, police department on different properties around town as well.

Our motto or our purpose at ServiceMaster by Cornerstone is to impact others at every opportunity to lift people up.

And so if we are constantly talking to our staff and our employees about, you know, how did you impact someone today as a business, we wanna go out and do that as a company and do that holistically in our community.

So by serving on first responders and the people that respond in our community, we feel like that's a great way to give back, we have that partnership and we love that opportunity.

So almost 10 years ago, fire department and our business started talking and chatting about what it looks like to disinfect turnout gear.

Turnout gear is any clothing that the fire department provides to the firefighter for safety when fighting the fires.

We take those and we wash them in our sport of technology and we third party test it to make sure and verify that we do have decontaminants taken out.

That provides their firefighters wi th a peace of mind and also the unions and Shelby County Fire Department with a peace of mind that their firefighters are safe and that they have us to rely on.

So during Covid, we engaged the Shelby County Sheriff's Department along with extending our partnership with the fire department.

We were able to go in and disinfect vehicles and we would go and do that weekly to just make sure that anybody that gets into the vehicle that may have been exposed to COVID, that we are protecting the first responders.

Again, just a peace of mind an d impact the first responders in every way we can.

So during the holidays, we have a Christmas butt cook-off, our staff for the last seven years, this will be our 8th year, we provide Boston butts to the fire stations on Christmas day.

Our members of our team will go out with their families, kids and all and provide Boston butts to meals to the fire stations so the firefighters that can't go home and can't be with their families get to eat.

There's been times where the fire station was empty because they're fighting a fire, and then there's been times where everyone was sitting around in their PJs and just waiting on the meal to show up.

So kids love it.

We get to sit in the fire trucks and shoot water out the fire trucks, so it's a great experience.

We are always looking for different ways to serve on boards.

We partnered with a CBRE recently on a shoot that all of that goes to the Boys and Girls Club.

So just different events that we use through all of our associations, all those opportunities that are out there, we get involved in and just again, live out our purpose as ServiceMaster by Cornerstone.

I just think it's important that you show your face and you show up and you allow the actions that you are talking to your employees about, the actions that you interact with your customers.

You also give back and you impact the community.

There's a lot of darkness in our community and so by being able to show a little bit of light, with all of us doing it together, it'll shine pretty bright.

[upbeat music] [applause] - That's Tyler Pattat accepting the Spark Award from Matt Thompson of The Memphis Zoo.

- Our second award in the corporate category is for companies with 101 to 499 employees.

Our honoree is a food manufacturer headquartered in Memphis with facilities in seven states.

Through its charitable fund and its annual gala, its people raise millions of dollars to benefit the needs of children and their families.

The award goes to Monogram Foods.

- I am Gary Giles and I am proud to be the Chief Operating Officer at Monogram Foods.

Monogram is one of the country's largest full service solutions partners that serves the specialty food and snack industry.

We like to consider ourselves a growth partner that really enables the growth that our customers have.

It's a source of pride, not just for me, but for everybody within Monogram.

It is a part of the way we conduct our business and the way we live our lives.

We care about our community and Monogram Loves Kids is an outreach of that, where we have raised a little more than $15 million since its inception about 10 years ago, we have put together some outstanding initiatives to serve the communities where we operate, and we've made it a point to make sure that our people have a big voice in how those funds are deployed.

The Meet Me in Memphis Gala happens every year, just happened this past fall and it's the first time that it's happened on a full scale since COVID.

We had a smaller version of it last spring, but it's an annual event and we're pretty proud of it.

We raised a little over 5, $600,000 and what's more exciting is what we're gonna go do with that 5 or $600,000 to help children and their families in the communities where we operate.

Right here in Memphis, one of the organizations that comes to mind particularly is the Child Advocacy Center and the Dorothy Day House.

So it's a passion of ours, we like to raise money for it, and we like to deploy money to work.

I couldn't be prouder of the people that come into Monogram every day and consider it a mission and a privilege to be there.

It's really meaningful.

Our founder, Karl Schledwitz, when he started this company almost 20 years ago, envisioned a legacy of good citizenship and it's one that we all try to live out every day.

So this, the Monogram Loves Kids Foundation is a reflection of that, but it's more than that.

It is just trying to encourage people to be mindful of their neighbors and helpful.

[gentle music] [applause] - Accepting the award on behalf of Monogram is founder and CEO Karl Schledwitz.

- Our final award in the corporate category is for companies with 500 employees or more.

This honoree is a global medical technology company headquartered in the Mid-South.

Their support of Samaritan's Feet and the Make-A-Wish Foundation has improved the lives of thousands of area kids.

This award goes to Smith & Nephew.

- Smith & Nephew is a medical device company that's been around a really long time.

Started in the UK, came to Memphis when they actually acquired, I think it's Richard's Medical, and they've been here since.

We're about 18, almost 19,000, about 18,600 employees at Smith & Nephew, about a $5.5 billion business.

We are global.

It's an amazing medical device company.

We live on three pillars at Smith & Nephew, which is care, collaboration, and courage, and we start with care.

Care is very important and it's caring for our patient, caring for our employees, and caring for our community.

And we never deviate from that, right?

It's that sort of care.

It's collaborating with companies such as cityCURRENT and it's actually having the courage to go after just some phenomenal products and phenomenal giving back to the city that we live in.

I'm fortunate enough to be at Smith & Nephew and be in the role where not only am I over inclusion, diversity and equity, but I also am the lead for the philanthropic arm for Memphis, which we call Moving Memphis Forward, and it's an appropriate name because that's what we're always doing is looking how can we improve Memphis?

How can we make it a better place to live?

Whether you're new or you've lived here for a long time, we are constantly looking to give back to the community and at all ranges.

So whether that's working with pre-schools, whether that's working with cityCURRENT whether that's working with St. Jude or the American Cancer Society, Ha bitat for Humanity.

So 12 years ago Smith & Nephew participated with Samaritan's Feet and I think we were so moved, right?

Because again, when we think about our pillars of care, collaboration and courage and Life Unlimited, what Manny does with Samaritan's Feet is he changes one's life.

It was very easy for us to partner with Manny and his organization.

We're glad to participate with Samaritan's Feet globally, but we're even more proud to participate with them in Memphis and continue to give back to the schools in Memphis to ensure that every child always have a pair of shoes to wear.

We're fortunate in that actually this is one of our biggest philanthropic hub is moving Memphis forward within Smith & Nephew.

None of our other locations have such active volunteerism within the company as Memphis.

We really have just a tremendous love and support for Memphis and we are always looking to improve the city.

[gentle music] [applause] - Craig Gaffin and Kelley Grusin ar e representing Smith & Nephew.

- There are needs in every community that aren't addressed until those with the vision and heart make a plan.

Our non-profit category honors organizations that have answered the call to serve and make the Mid-South a better place for all.

Our first award is for nonprofits with an operating budget under a million dollars.

This year's honoree is an advocacy center with a dedicated staff that supports the victims of child abuse in DeSoto and Tate counties.

This award goes to Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center.

- At Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center, we serve both DeSoto and Tate County, Mississippi as well as some surrounding counties.

Our mission is to respond to child abuse with a supportive team approach that reduces trauma through advocacy, treatment, prevention, and education.

We've been doing that since 2013.

Before child advocacy centers were around, you may have had other entities around that are there to protect children.

They may have done their own investigation without collaborating with each other.

And it's very important to lo ok at a child advocacy center with our multidisciplinary team model that we use where we bring all the in vestigating agencies together so that we can share things that maybe one entity found out that the other didn't, so that we can collaborate and make sure that we are keeping that child and family at the center of investigation to make sure that that child's past trauma does not become their future.

We want to make sure that they're finding healing, justice and just hope somewhere to find hope.

Last year in 2021 alone, over 900 children and families were served.

Then we trained over 2,000 individuals in our community regarding signs and symptoms of child abuse and how to recognize that and then how to report it because so many in our community are unaware of what that may look like or what they should do, even if they do see it, and awareness is key to preventing child abuse and neglect in our communities.

Just recently we had a young nine year old come in and see us and he was vibrant and smiling and laughed and hugged us on his way in the door, but as he started telling his story and started opening up to us, Jordan began to shed some tears and cry to us a little bit.

And this is a nine year old child who lived in a neighborhood even down the road from us, a neighborhood that we pass every day.

And since Jordan told us his story, Jordan has received the help that he needed from Child Protection Services making sure that he is in a safe home.

And then Jordan has also gone on and he's in mental health therapy right now, which is so important.

So many people don't understand that you need mental health therapy to get over traumatic events and we wanna make sure that we're providing them the best possible services that they need.

And one very important thing that we do is each child that comes in gets to stop in our button room on their way out.

And our button room is where each child that comes in can pick a button that represents them and they get to put it in what we call our button machine and make a Wish.

And what's really impressive about this is when they get to see it go through the maze, they see it fall to the bottom with lots of other buttons in there and they know that all those buttons represent children that have been right where they have and they know that they're not alone at that point.

They're not the only ones that have gone through something like this.

They know that it's not their fault.

They know there's lots of other children who have come in just like them and have received these services and this help that they need.

And you know, just going in that room makes me know this is why I'm here, this is why I do this, because you see the numerous amount of buttons from the years from children that have come in and you go, this is it.

Every one of these children have come through here and they've left just a little bit better after they've come in and seen us.

[gentle music] [applause] - Sally Williams of Healing Hearts is accepting the Spark Awards from Johnny Pitts of Lipscomb and Pitts.

- Our second award in the nonprofit category is for organizations with an operating budget between 1 and $5 million.

Our honoree unites community organizations, businesses, and civic leaders in its effort to promote, support, and advocate for youth mentoring.

It supports over 55 youth serving organizations across our region.

This award goes to MENTOR Memphis Grizzlies of the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation.

- I am Tiffani Morrow Smith, senior manager of MENTOR Memphis Grizzlies.

And the mission of the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation is truly to harness the power and promise of sport to transform lives.

And in particular, we do that by focusing on youth mentoring.

Much of our work is really to support existing youth development and youth mentoring organizations throughout our community, primarily through training.

We provide best practice training to ensure that they have all of the tools an d resources that they need to serve people, young people well.

We also provide technical assistance or consulting.

We help to incubate new mentoring programs and in some cases we also provide funding because we know capacity building is so important for the organizations that we serve.

Sometimes we think mentoring is so insignificant, we underestimate the value that it can really have in a child's life.

I think about a young man who was really having a challenging time adjusting to high school.

He was really trying to figure out his way and really lacked self-confidence.

Because of his mentor and their relationship, the mentor found out that there were some simple things like learning how to shave that were really challenging to him, right?

He didn't have someone that had facial hair like he did and was able to show him that simple act, right?

And so that mentor spent time with him, brought in the shaving kits, took him to the restroom and they had that special moment together, something very significant to a young person but perhaps seemingly insignificant to an adult.

And so sometimes, it's just those little things that really matter for our young people, and adults can make a difference in a huge way as a result of that.

We were super honored to host the inaugural Mentoring Matters Summit of Tennessee.

We had an amazing experience.

We had a youth day exclusively focused on the things that mattered to young people.

And so the gratification that we saw, particularly from those young people, I can recall a moment where we were cleaning up and a young man was waiting for his ride to come and he said, "This was the best day ever, right?"

And I was like, "I'm done.

This is it, right?"

Like this is what I do this for.

Something that you think can be so insignificant can really change a young person's life.

There was also a young man who was like, "I didn't think I could do this."

He was very shy and reserved, but he felt so confident, so empowered, such like a strong leader as a result of having the opportunity to get up and share his perspectives in front of adults.

He said it was truly a life-changing experience.

Being able to see young people grow and develop, become professional athletes, work at major organizations like Google, go to the colleges of their choices, become chefs and entrepreneurs.

It's just so special to see the impact that we've been able to have in those young people's lives.

And so I look forward to many more success stories coming out out of of our mentoring program.

[uplifting music] [applause] - That's Tiffani Morrow Smith and Abusheri Ohwofasa accepting the Spark Award for MENTOR Memphis Grizzlies.

- The final award in the nonprofit category is for organizations with an operating budget over $5 million.

Thirty-five years ago, this health center started serving the needs of Memphians facing social and economic challenges.

It has since grown into an institution that conducts over 60,000 patient visits a year and become a model for health centers in communities across the nation.

The award goes to Church Health.

- Yeah, so I'm Scott Morris, and Church Health has hard to believe but been around for 35 years.

Our mission has not changed in that entire time.

Thirty-five years ago, Ch urch Health opened in a little small house in the corner of Peabody and Bellevue and we provide healthcare for the people who work to make our lives comfortable.

They cook our food, take care of our children, wash our dishes, cut our grass, one day, dig our graves, and when they get sick their options are very few.

Church Health is now the anchor tenant at Crosstown.

We have 150,000 square feet there.

It houses virtually everything we do.

We have 54 exam rooms.

We run a family medicine residency in partnership with Baptist Hospital.

We have literally the country's largest freestanding dental clinic, we have an eye clinic, we offer behavioral health, we have an incredible nutrition center.

Church Health currently cares for almost 80,000 people in Memphis.

We're the largest faith-based, privately funded health centers in America.

But we're able to do this because it's truly a reflection of all that's good in Memphis.

We have over a thousand physicians who volunteer with us.

The hospitals are all engaged with trying to figure out a way to take care of our neighbors.

It's really a wonder to behold.

Our mission is to engage the faith community in its broadest sense.

You know, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, we are all the same in terms of believing that God expects us to care for our bodies as well as our spirits and to care for poor people when they have nowhere else to turn.

And that's exactly what we do.

Sadly, there's still a lot more for us to do and we're gonna do it for a long time to come.

Thirty-five years ago, I never anticipated that we would just be here in Memphis.

The idea was always to create a model that was reproducible around the country and that has happened.

There are almost 90 clinics around the United States that have modeled themselves after Church Health and it's a wonder to behold in many ways, but it's also a reflection of what's possible in God's imagination.

That the work we do is driven by the fact that we feel that God has called us all to do this and we roll up our sleeves, we work together and it makes us all smile to just see what's happening.

[gentle music] [aplause] - There you see Dr. Scott Morris, founder and CEO accepting the award for Church Health.

- A community that believes in the future invests in education financially of course, but more importantly it invests time and effort and care to make the most of the potential of its people.

Our first award in the education category is the school award.

This year's honoree is a special program within the University of Memphis that helps students who have stalled out on their dream of graduating college.

The award goes to the University of Memphis Finish Line Program.

- I am Tracy Robinson, director of Innovative Academic Initiatives at the University of Memphis and I oversee our Finish Line Program.

The purpose of our Finish Line Program is to help students who got to senior status while they were on their journey to earning a bachelor's degree and stopped attending.

For whatever reason, whether it's money or job or health of a family member that something just life gets in the way of them earning that degree, and so we worked to help bring those students back and help them finish their degree.

The Finish Line Program was started in 2013 and we have helped almost a thousand students graduate.

The University of Memphis decided to start this program because in 2013 there were some changes to the federal financial rules and we realized how many students were at that graduation point that were affected by this change.

But we felt like there was something that we had to do.

We had to step in and figure out how to help those students get over that literal finish line, that last step.

And so we were very lucky to ha ve a lot of community support and corporate support.

For example, Sedgwick donated $300,000 to us within our first couple of years to establish a scholarship fund so that those students, whether they have three classes to take or seven classes to take, they would be able to tap into that scholarship fund and that would pay for the remainder of their fees until graduation.

The impact is just, it's amazing because it not only changes that student's life but also their family.

One of our first graduates, Anisha was a single mom of a two year old daughter and she finished her degree.

And seeing her at graduation and her daughter there with her, her family, they're celebrating.

But that daughter now knows, even though she was two at the time, knows that college graduation is important, and so it's going to change her perspective about going to college one day as well.

Obviously, it helps with graduation numbers for the university but what I know is that this is a purpose-driven work for the university.

It's if when students get that close, we've got to do something to help them finish and that's really the impact is doing the right thing.

[applause] [gentle music] - That's Tracy Robinson accepting Finish Line's Award from WKNO's Felicia Peat.

- Our next award is the Educator Award.

This honoree is a professor whose work builds relationships with health science focus institutions locally, nationally, and globally to train the next generation of health leaders.

This award goes to Dr. Nia Zalamea of the UT Health Science Center Global Surgery Institute.

- My name is Nia Zalamea, I am a general surgeon and assistant professor here at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

I have the honor and privilege of working here in the Department of Surgery as the director of the Global Surgery Institute and in the Office of Student Affairs at the College of Medicine as an assistant Dean of Student Affairs.

At the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, I have the opportunity to work with learners and this has been an incredible gift to me both personally and professionally.

We always say that our students keep us on our toes, but they are absolutely not only our future but our present.

That is one of my favorite parts of my job is to work with learners who are either interested in international work in surgery or just in medicine in general.

I am the proud daughter of a retired nurse anesthetist and a retired RN, my mom and dad who immigrated here in Memphis in the early '70s when there was yet another nursing shortage.

We understood very clearly and very early on what we had and how rich really we were in resources compared to our brothers and sisters overseas.

That interest translated into the founding of an organization called Memphis Mission of Mercy, which we thought initially was going to be a one time event where we provided free surgery to 25 people in a small town in rural Philippines.

Almost 24 years later, we continue to deliver care on an annual or biannual basis.

I had an opportunity to bring my personal passion and professional passion and working with the underserved in surgery together with my job, and first shared those experiences with our learners, students and residents so that they can participate in our work overseas.

Through that process, as we've grown, we've become something called the Global Surgery Institute and as a group of people who are interested in work with the underserved, regardless of whether they are found here in Memphis versus overseas in a different part of the wo rld with a different language.

When we began this work, my dad very clearly told me, he said, "If we help one person, our goal is accomplished."

The reality is that every person matters whether they're here in Memphis, whether they're in the Philippines, whether they're in Zambia, whether they're in Ukraine, and that's how we view it.

So if we have an opportunity to make a difference in one person's life, then it's worth it and we do it.

And that's the the blessing and the opportunity that we're faced with every time we do this work.

[uplifting music] [applause] - There's Dr. Nia Zalamea accepting the Educator Award.

- Now for our final award in the education category, the leadership award.

This year our leadership honoree is the chief operations officer of an education nonprofit that works tirelessly to empower youth to take an active role in their education.

The Education Leadership Award goes to Malcom Rawls of Peer Power Foundation.

- My name is Malcom Rawls, I'm the Chief Operations Officer of Peer Power Foundation.

Peer Power is a youth development experience.

We have this pipeline of young people.

We start with high school students that matriculate to the University of Memphis and they become success coaches.

Those success coaches then in turn go and work as mentors and tutors in high schools all across the city of Memphis.

My role with Peer Power began as a senior at East High School.

Charlie McVean and Bill Saner came and talked to me about tutoring after school, starting at after school me ntoring and tutoring program.

I was on the football team, had a lot of influence throughout the school as a senior and they talked to me about using that influence to help kids, to help kids graduate and experience success.

That initial conversation has led to 17 years of escalating youth development experiences, really refining and redefining how we help kids.

'Cause since day one that's what the mission has been is all about, how can we take advantage of this underutilized resource, which are the kids in our schools and use them to motivate, inspire and empower their friends, their associates, the kids that are in their school, and we've had amazing results through that process.

One of my favorite impacts of the Peer Power Foundation is our ability to become a sort of teacher pipeline.

We have almost 200 college students working for us in our schools across Memphis-Shelby County School's District, but not a gr eat majority of them come into the organization with the ex pectation to become teachers.

What they're doing is experiencing excellence as a part of the Peer Power Foundation.

Once you get used to experiencing excellence, then you're no longer content with mediocrity.

So these success coaches have the ability to work with some of the best teachers in the city and they see they have this ability to make a difference and have an impact in the lives of children.

Next thing you know, they're having these conversations with our principals about working in the school.

It's an amazing pipeline.

Since about 2015, we've had a hundred of our success coaches go into the classroom and become teachers.

As we grow and go into more high schools, we're seeing more and more of our success coaches that are now teachers in these schools, and it's absolutely by far one of my favorite experiences to go into a school meeting brand new faces and see a familiar face.

It means a lot for me to receive the Spark Education Award because it means Peer Power is working.

We impact schools all across the city.

Our ACT Prep University, our kids are earning millions of dollars in scholarships.

We know there's a lot of op inions about public education, but I'm fortunate enough to work with an organization where we see superstars every day, unrecognized superstars that have the ability to create and define their own futures.

[uplifting music] [applause] - There you see Malcolm Rawls accepting his Spark Award from WKNO's Felicia Peat.

- If there's one thing we learn from the stories of our Spark Award honorees, it's that change begins with one person taking one small step toward making the world a better place.

Our individual awards honor those who step up and step forward no matter what their age.

Our individual youth award honoree is a student at St. George's Independent School who stepped up as a youth volunteer to manage a food donation program for the Mid-South Food Bank.

This award goes to Megan Yost.

- I'm Megan, I'm a senior at St. George's.

I run cross country and I play tennis.

I got involved in the Green Bag program two years ago because my friend kind of introduced it to me and it was really important to me to kind of just be able to make an impact on the greater Memphis community and it's really cool to be able to see that in action 'cause it's my job.

The Green Bag Program is an organization that kind of allows volunteers around like 300 plus like families to gather donations every like six times a year.

My job is to coordinate everything and make sure everything gets to the food bank.

So I send emails and I run logistics and communications between all of those volunteers and the people who go around picking up the bags every two months.

The friendships I formed are so cool.

All of the volunteers that go around driving and picking up the donations every two months, they're so kind and I've gotten to know who kind of, they want to get involved in the community more because they want to see that impact that they can make as well and it's really cool to see that happen.

Of course, like every donation is appreciated.

Most often we get like non-perishables pantry items but definitely women's products and infant care items are really appreciated because they're often overlooked and sometimes expensive.

It's really cool to see all of the donations once they come together at the food bank.

So my mom and I, we donate, we actually drive to the food bank, sometimes I'm in school so I can't be there but the times that I can be there, it's really cool to see all of the donations once they're together and all of the numbers once they're weighted and everything.

So since 2015, over a hundred thousand pounds have been donated to the food bank.

It's a big deal and a lot of responsibility.

It's really important to me to just like make sure that everything gets done.

So it's really cool to just like work with William Gotton and everyone else involved.

It's a really easy program to get involved into because you only donate six times a year.

And even that like, although it's like it makes such a difference with all of the donations we get, it's really important to just say like it's only six times a year, it's so easy to get involved.

You just make a step to get that non-perishable item out in your front door every six months.

What puts a smile on my face is just seeing all of the people at the food bank once we deliver everything there.

And then also just like all of the donations once they come together and just seeing it.

Once like I'm there in person every like, not all the time 'cause I'm in school sometimes and I can't be there, but when I'm there and I see all the donations together, it's really cool just to see everything altogether.

I definitely wanna find more ways to grow the program.

I have a club at my school that also kind of coordinates with the Green Bag program.

We have like certain people in our club that also donate every two months along with the people outside of my school.

So I wanna kind of grow that more and make sure that the program continues once I'm gone.

Once I get home, it's really satisfying and it makes me really happy to just know that I've made a difference.

[triumphant music] [applause] - That's Megan Yost receiving her Spark Award from Noel Fenderson of My Town Miracles - The second award in the individual category is the Collegiate Award.

Our honoree is a graduate student in the University of Memphis Creative Writing MFA program who makes use of her talent by volunteering with local theaters, helping promote a farmer's market, and providing hunter education in North Mississippi.

This award goes to Holly McGinnis.

- My name is Holly McGinnis.

I'm currently getting an MFA in creative writing at the University of Memphis.

I actually live in Hernando, Mississippi.

I've lived there all my life.

Kind of consider myself an honorary Memphian 'cause this is the area that I call home that I love.

If there's something that has always made you happy and you admire the people who have brought that to you, if you can be a part of making that happen, for me that was theater.

I've always enjoyed it as an audience member and so being a part of bringing the theater and the stories to life was a great way for me to be involved.

I worked spotlight for the Marvelous Wonderettes at DeSoto Family Theater and that was really fun.

Theater goers aren't really conscious of the spotlight hopefully, but it's a important job.

You know, if you don't turn it on at the right moment, the characters are in the dark.

The farmer's market was, we have kind of a personal relationship with Gia Matheny a little bit.

Seen her around.

She's always, I call her Hernando's cheerleader.

Anything that is helping to benefit Hernando, she's a part of.

And so we had chatted with her a little bit over different Hernando things and when she realized I was getting an MFA in creative writing, she said, "Would you like to help us with our marketing?"

And so what I would do is go to the farmer's market, interview vendors and our farmers and then I would take that information and write one to two paragraphs of a Facebook post to kind of highlight the vendors, what they offered to get people interested in our farmer's market and to highlight the farmers and vendors who do so much work to benefit our community.

My father kind of started teaching hunter education in DeSoto County.

I think I was one or two years old when we started, and so growing up it's been kind of an inherited passion, but also something as I've gotten older, I've become passionate about as well.

I think a year or two ago I finally went and got certified myself.

I'm a certified hunter education in structor doing our part to keep that healthy and available for the next generation.

I think looking at how you are an asset to your community, that sounds kind of a big responsibility, but it can just be how are you making the people around you happy, how are you trying to improve where you live, bring joy to people, support the people around you.

[uplifting music] [applause] - There you see University of Memphis graduate student Holly McGinnis ac cepting her Spark Award.

- Our individual adult honoree this year is a career UPS driver who also founded his own nonprofit organization.

When he learned of the challenges many families experience caring for children with cancer and other serious illnesses, he made it his mission to help.

From financial assistance with household bills, to rides, food, scholarships and more.

This award goes to Chris Hope of the Chris Hope Foundation.

- My name is Chris Hope.

I am a four-time UPS driver.

I drive over the road for the company I've been employed there for over 35 years and basically the Chris Hope Foundation was started when I heard stories from the families themselves at St. Jude about their struggles and all the different things they were going through other than their child receiving treatment.

The very first family that we assisted when I went to visit them, the mom was on the telephone talking to the mortgage company in tears and I'm thinking that she was in tears because she found out some bad news about her child, but come to found out it was the mortgage company telling her that she needed to make a payment or they were gonna be evicted.

And that's when I got with some friends and we pitched in some money and saved them from losing their home.

The reaction that I received from that just kind of sparked something in me to wanna be able to do more for other people.

I always tell people that this is all him.

It has absolutely nothing to do with me other than the name, that song, the paperwork.

Running a nonprofit was not in my vision.

It wasn't my goal.

It wasn't even in the cards, it was just something that he gave me and put on me and guided me in the right direction, guided me toward the right people to be able to do this.

One other thing I like for the Chris Hope Foundation to do is the start full-time staffing.

Everybody on our team is volunteers and know when it comes to volunteers, they give what time is allowed and we need a lot of time.

I mean, this is literally a 24-hour organization.

I want us to be able to have locations in Alabama and in Louisiana because that seem to be where a lot of cases come from.

One of the things I get asked is, what do I get out of helping the families?

And basically it's the smiles, the hugs, the look of relief when they know they're getting assisted on say a light bill.

They don't have to worry about the electricity being cut off.

They don't have to worry about being evicted or their cars being taken.

The biggest reward is to see their reaction and to see the kids smile, give them surprise birthday parties or give them gift cards to Amazon or anything like that.

You can't really just put into words the feeling that you get, the joy that you give them.

I mean they're giving you that same joy so it's like we're giving and they're giving back and they're not even realizing they're doing it.

And it's a wonderful thing.

I'm not gonna lie, I enjoy it.

I enjoy it a lot.

[upbeat music] [applause] - There's Chris Hope of the Chris Hope Foundation receiving his Spark Award.

- The Legacy Award honors an individual who has served others and the community throughout his or her lifetime and has created a positive legacy in Memphis and the Mid-South.

Our 2022 Legacy award honoree is a designer who has used his talent and creative drive to build a nonprofit company that raises awareness and funds for worthy causes locally and across the globe.

- Ten Years ago, he launched SoGiv, the world's first nonprofit awareness shoe design company based right here in Memphis, Tennessee, using shoes as a pathway for philanthropy, volunteerism, and charitable causes.

SoGiv has brought support to local charities like the Mid-South Food Bank and Restore Corps, as well as global causes and sponsors an annual coat drive for local children.

This year's Legacy award is presented to Edward Bogard.

- I'm Edward Bogard, founder and philanthropic designer at SoGiv, the world's first nonprofit shoe design company.

The name SoGiv was derived from our slogan, every pair sold we give taking the S-O out of sold and G-I-V out of give.

And through the organization, we raise awareness towards worthy causes globally.

Our shoes are making a di fference right now in Romania in partnership with Salvation Army.

The SoGiv Red Awareness Shoe was featured in front of the Parliament with the captains over in Romania.

Just to give you an idea of the reach and the impact of, SoGiv Awareness shoes.

We've partnered with Steven Tyler's organization, Janies Fund out in LA, raising awareness for abused girls and what Steven autographed a hundred pair to give to his top tier donors, Janie's Angels.

At Janie's Fund.

Today, we've provided over 13,000 plus meals in partnership with the Mid-South Food Bank through our Hunger Awareness Shoe.

One pair of the SoGiv Hunger Awareness shoes provides 150 meals.

I was really inspired to start SoGiv from my mom's philanthropic spirit.

She was a school teacher for Me mphis City Schools, 35 years, and she was teaching me at a very young age how to pay it forward and how to give back to those less fortunate.

And that was just ingrained in me at a very early age when I would wake up some mornings looking for my favorite pair of shoes or coat and it'd be in the lockers at her class.

She taught in Orange Mound, which is a very poverty stricken area here in Memphis, Tennessee.

The average household income is less than 10 grand a year there, just to give you insight.

But again, that's what she was doing at a very young age, teaching me how to give back to those with less than what you have.

My father was an amazing artist.

He was a Vietnam Vet, but his hobby was art and I was just blessed to merge the two and birth this philanthropic shoe design company called SoGiv.

It starts out for me in elementary school.

So I was creating or recreating th e iconic Air Jordans in grade school, putting Air Bogard on the back of 'em and I'd have a classroom full of students hovering over me, watching my latest greatest creation.

But I've always had a strong infatuation with footwear design and I st arted studying Tinker Hatfield at a very early age.

Tinker Hatfield is the designer behind all of the iconic Air Jordans, Air Maxes at Nike.

I wanted to follow in Tink's footsteps.

I received a portfolio scholarship to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.

That's where I earned my BFA in product design, and the rest is history.

Our current shoe is in partnership with JUICE Orange Mound and it's eradicating homelessness in Orange Mound one shoe at a time.

It takes a homeless person off the street, gives them shelter and basically the counseling that they need to get back into society.

The SoGiv Pepto Pink Awareness Shoe, I'm a real man of pink this Breast Cancer Awareness month and it's coinciding with the Real Man Wear Pink campaign and that's another one of our latest awareness shoes that's really doing some good benefiting the American Cancer Society.

We have our Ukraine Awareness Shoe that also is launching in December, benefiting those affected by what's happening in Ukraine right now.

For SoGiv, it's been a decade, over a decade, this is our 11th year and you just stop long enough to look at the accolades and the impact.

And this is just making me pause once again to realize the difference that I've been blessed to make and we want to continue to do more of that.

Create timeless footwear with a cause that's giving back.

[upbeat music] - Our 2022 Legacy Award honoree Edward Bogard.

[applause] - Thank you so much my friend.

Thank you.

This is awesome and fun.

Wow, this is quite a moment.

I first like to thank God who's the head of my life, my mom, who is my life and here with me tonight.

Thank you Mom, I love you so much.

My father, who I inherited my creative abilities from, who watches over me daily, Jeremy Park and the Spark Awards, Bard Cole at WKNO, Lipscomb and Pitts, Midtown Memphis Rotary Club, and everyone who voted, big thank you to all of you.

I will forever cherish this moment.

It's quite a moment and thank you so much for that.

SoGiv I created with the sole purpose of, no pun intended at sole purpose of changing the world through a shoe.

That's simple for me.

Our signature mark is featured on every SoGiv shoe and its symbolic of the entire world racing towards what we all believe is a finish line.

Through creative and thought provoking footwear design, we donate 100% of the proceeds to benefit the missions that we partner with at SoGiv.

We've been blessed to provide over 13,000 meals to date through the SoGiv Hunger Awareness Shoe, and the shoes are making a difference in Romania.

So while this is a legacy award, just know that the legacy continues.

Thank you so much for this honor.

[applause] - Congratulations.

- Thank you so much.

- Nice to see you.

- Nice to see you, man.

Thank you man, thank you so much.

Thank you very much, thank you so much.

- Thank you for joining us for the 9th Annual Spark Awards.

On behalf of the Spark Team, cityCURRENT WKNO, Tracy Bethea, Rob Grayson, and myself, I wanna extend our profound thank you to our honorees.

Thank you for your contributions, thanks for your inspiration and most of all, thank you for being the spark.

Thank you everyone and good night.

[applause] - (male announcer) The Spark Awards 2022 is made possible in part by the following.

- From our very beginnings in 1954, Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power of the good.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is honored to be a presenting sponsor of the Spark Awards.

- On behalf of the entire Champion Promotion team, we're honored to be a presenting sponsor of the Spark Awards.

Champion is proud to have helped design the custom award given to each of the honorees and to be a presenting sponsor since the very beginning.

We'll continue to support this wonderful tradition.

- For over 50 years, Champion has been helping companies and organizations in Memphis and the Mid-South to grow and expand their brands with branded products.

We can provide everything from printed and embroidered apparel to promotional items and custom awards, such as the Spark Awards.

Our commitment to our customers extends from being on brand, on everything to being a catalyst in our community.

- We wanna congratulate all of this year's honorees and thank them for making a huge impact in our great city.

Have a great holiday season.

- (male announcer) Additional funding for the Spark Awards is provided by ECOP, The Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, My Town Miracles, and by Meritan.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]