- (male announcer) The 11th annual Spark Awards is made possible by the following: - From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency 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.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be a presenting sponsor of the Spark Awards.

- At Delta Dental of Tennessee, we know our success begins and ends with providing superior quality service, and that includes serving those who need it most.

This year, we're celebrating 25 years of giving back to the community we call home.

Delta Dental, along with our Smile180 Foundation, supports Tennessee's dental colleges and oral health education, children's hospitals, free and reduced cost dental clinics, and other like-minded charities.

Here's to the next 25-plus years of ensuring healthy smiles.

- 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 will continue to support this wonderful tradition.

For over 50 years, Champion has been helping companies and organizations in Memphis and the Mid-South 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 United Way of the Mid-South, EcOp, the Memphis Zoo, and by My Town Movers, My Town Roofing.

[upbeat music] - 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.

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

[upbeat music] And here are your hosts, Tracy Bethea and Rob Grayson.

- Welcome to the 11th Annual Spark Awards, eleven years of honoring community engagement, leadership, and service in Memphis and the Mid-South.

I'm Rob Grayson, here with my co-host, Tracy Bethea.

- Thank you, Rob.

You know, the purpose of the Spark Awards is to celebrate the incredible people and organizations that make our Mid-South community shine.

We're here to honor those who have gone the extra mile to make a difference.

- Over the next hour, we will present 13 awards, including our Legacy Award, honoring a lifetime of dedicated service.

Each award tells a story, a story of hope, resilience, and impact.

- But before we begin, let's hear from the man who tends the Spark all year long, the CEO of cityCURRENT and host of the TV series, The Spark, Jeremy Park.

- The Spark Awards grew out of the success of our monthly television series, The Spark, here on WKNO.

The Spark focuses on sharing positive stories, empowering the good news, so we can see the good taking place in our city, be inspired, and learn how to make an even greater difference.

Your support of The Spark is what led to the creation of the annual broadcast, The Spark Awards.

It 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, giving back, and helping others.

These community champions don't seek attention, and so we rarely see their efforts showcased during a newscast, but they're working hard every day, and we're a better city thanks to their efforts.

It's important to celebrate them, because we need to see the good that's taking place in our community, so we know we're surrounded by people who care and have hope for the future we're building together.

The Spark Awards is an opportunity for us to thank these community champions, and for you as the public to play an important role in the process.

Earlier this year, throughout the month of August, 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.

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

- Our 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 on the eighth floor of the Southern College of Optometry on Madison Avenue.

Guests are always welcome.

It's been our pleasure over the year to participate in The Spark Awards, and we're honored to select this year's recipients for the 11th annual presentation.

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

We congratulate not just the winners, but every nominee who makes Memphis and the Mid-South a better place for us all.

- Businesses are the lifeblood of our community, driving economic growth and enhancing our quality of life, an essential part of our daily lives for those who work there and for those whose needs these businesses meet.

We're grateful to those businesses that go the extra mile, giving back to Memphis and the Mid-South and making it even stronger.

- Cynthia Graham of United Way of the Mid-South is our awards presenter for the corporate category.

- The first award in our corporate category is for companies with 50 employees or fewer.

Our first honoree is a local realty agency specializing in the sale of multifamily properties, and it gives back to the community through its scholarship program, which is open to students who live in apartment complexes or rental homes.

This award goes to Woodyard Realty Corporation.

- Woodyard Realty Corporation has been around since 1984.

We specialize in apartment sales, just as any realtor specializes in selling homes.

This year, we gave away two $5,000 scholarships.

Those were obviously scholarships for college.

We are so excited about the scholarship program.

This has just been, I mean, beyond our wildest dreams that we could do this.

We just saw the need that we had so many talented young adults in the city of Memphis that are just so talented, that are working hard, they're doing all the right things.

They're just trying to get out of that chain of not going to college, and we came up with that idea that just really my son and I saw John Carroll, city leadership.

He was talking about investing in Memphis, and we started talking about what could we do.

We talked about a number of things, and then we just saw the kids running around the apartment complexes, and the young adults living there, and how can we help them, and we wanted to give back to what has given to us so much, and that's the rental community, apartment complexes, and give the young adults an opportunity to go, because they've got the drive.

They've got the skills.

They've got the motivation.

They just don't have the money many times, and our gift has been able to allow a number of people that would not be able to go to college to actually go, and what we're looking to do is to get that one young adult in college so that they grow up, and maybe their children go to college, and maybe it just keeps on going, and it breaks that cycle of not having college opportunities.

We get the opportunity to read some of the winners' bios.

It has just been inspiring to read on their part, talking about, "If I can get this degree, "then I can go open up a business, then I can do these things for other people," and it is hard not to get emotional just thinking about the things that we have read and the opportunities that they've had.

Also, we saw the need in the apartment industry where you may have a maintenance man that's working on the apartment complex making a good salary.

However, if he could get a heating, ventilation, air conditioning system certification, his salary suddenly jumps.

He becomes more in demand, more employable.

Same thing with leasing agents.

They've got a number of certifications that they can go through.

So we just saw that it was very intentional to have those various levels of opportunities.

It's in the Bible, numerous places.

To invest in your city, to grow your city, it is our goal as a company, and I would like to hope it will be a lot more people's goal to just invest in whatever way, same goal.

How do we improve our communities?

How do we make Memphis better?

How can we do this together?

[audience applauds] - Our second award in the corporate category is for companies with 51 to 150 employees.

This honoree is a company that provides home repair and home maintenance services in the Memphis area.

Annually, it hosts local students for a week of hands-on experience in jobs that are essential, practical, and inspiring to help set them on a path of productive citizenship.

The award goes to Mr. Handyman of Memphis.

- My name is Andy Johnson.

I own three companies here in Memphis.

The first is Mr. Rooter Plumbing, which does residential and commercial service work.

The next is Mr. Appliance, does residential commercial appliance repair.

And then Mr. Handyman, which is probably the most interesting of the three, which does anywhere from hang a picture to remodel a bathroom.

We can get smarter and have computers do a lot of things for us, but I don't think they're gonna be able to unstop your toilets and fix your appliances and hang a ceiling.

And so not only are the trades good career-wise, but it's good for young people to learn how to use their hands and use a skill that nobody can ever take away from.

And so we focus on bringing somebody in new who's young, who's energetic, who's mechanically inclined, who wants to learn that, right?

Everybody wants it immediately right now, but it takes time to develop skill.

And so what we ask for is that if you give us a year or two to apprentice under somebody and to learn the skill, then we can pretty much guarantee a very promising career.

So every year we spend one week with the kids from Camp Chambers.

They come in on a Saturday before the week starts and we have different stations, eight to ten stations set up, and they'll patch sheet rock.

They will learn about electricity.

They will show them basic hand tools.

We even have a section that they get to drive the tractor, which that's always a big hit.

They get to break up concrete with a jackhammer, which is a big hit.

And so it kind of gives them an idea of what trade piques their interest.

They spend an entire week with one technician.

That technician gives his time and he is teaching that kid that's with him what he does every day and why he does it.

And so then we spend that whole week learning and then Friday we have a ceremony and we present the kids with a toolbox and with basic hand tools, things that they can start their own collection of tools and that they can use around their house and that they can help around the house for their parents and fix things that they've learned throughout the week.

At the end of the day, if we don't invest in the community, who will?

And I'm a big proponent of if you don't do anything about it then don't complain about it.

Don't complain that you can't find a worker, you can't find employees.

That's everybody's problem.

Or skilled employees, highly trained employees.

Yeah, it'd be great to hire a bunch of master plumbers.

Or master carpenters.

It'd be great to find those people but the truth of the matter is that those, that a lot of people aren't going into the trades.

And so we wanna pull back in the community and we wanna find local talent and grow up local talent because just overall it's better for Memphis.

You know, we service the Memphis community and it provides a living for us.

It puts food on our table and so therefore we feel like we need to do something to help make it a better place as well.

[audience applauding] - Our final award in the corporate category is for companies with 151 employees or more.

As one of the leading national corporations headquartered in Memphis, it works with outstanding nonprofits that focus on the short-term and long-term needs of our community.

In addition to financial support, this company enables its workers to spend time volunteering on projects that are meaningful to them.

This award goes to FedEx.

- My name is Rachel Kesselman and I'm a communications advisor at FedEx.

FedEx is a global logistics delivery company that services the world and we're headquartered here in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here in Memphis, we have about 40,000 team members that are in the metro area.

FedEx community engagement through our FedEx Cares program is so important because FedEx is in 223 countries around the world so we wanna service everyone in the communities where we live and work.

Operation Warm is such a special program.

We've been working with them since about 2008.

Started out as an in-kind shipping relationship and so far we've shipped over 1.5 million coats, shoes and other supplies with them.

Within the last eight years, we've been doing these FedEx team member power deliveries through volunteer activities.

Started in Memphis doing two events has grown to over 75 events in the US, Canada and around Latin America.

We're so proud to be able to deliver new coats to kids, especially in Memphis.

We've actually delivered in those last eight years probably to over 25 schools.

And most recently we started not just delivering coats but in the last two to three years, we've started delivering shoes as well.

The Fly Forward program is in collaboration with Operation Warm.

It's an extension.

It's a really a great way to empower the next generation of girls.

It's about delivering new sports equipment to them, specifically sports bras.

We know that girls who receive the right equipment and sports bras, they're gonna become the next leaders but it also encourages them to come to school, stay in school and those student athletes end up oftentimes going to secondary education which is so important.

We wanna see those girls succeed and be whatever they wanna be.

We've been working with the Women's Foundation in the greater Memphis for the last five years to reduce poverty by 5% specifically in zip code 38126 which is where our adopted school is, BTW Senior High.

So we've collaborated with them in the last year to work with Feed the Children as well to create a food and essentials hub.

And it was amazing.

They can go there to get food, essential supplies like school supplies, feminine products, whatever they need to be successful, no questions asked, they can get those items.

We even put a washer and dryer in there.

So for those people that need to get clean clothes, they can wash their clothes at the school.

It's just an awesome opportunity and we know that the school and the neighborhood are taking great advantage of that in that area.

To be able to interact, bring smiles, bring joy, I think that makes a huge difference and really makes people reflect that we are blessed with what we have, but also to be able to provide those blessings to others who will help everybody in the community succeed.

[audience applauds] - Nonprofits are driven by passion, fueled by purpose.

They provide essential services, advocate for the voiceless and shape a better future.

Behind every nonprofit is a team of individuals working tirelessly to make a difference.

- Shanda Tucker of Delta Dental Tennessee is our awards presenter for the nonprofit category.

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

This year's honoree is an organization that inspires preteen girls to discover, build and grow their self-confidence through physical activities, life skill development and teamwork.

This award goes to Girls on the Run Memphis.

- Girls on the Run Memphis was founded here in Memphis in 2018 by an intrepid group of women who saw that there was a need for a high quality afterschool program that would address girls, adolescent girls in particular, the decline in their confidence, the lack of connection they were feeling and introduced them to the idea that both your physical health and your mental health are connected and provide them with a program that would connect them to really strong mentors who would lead them through a curriculum that really was going to teach them life skills that would hopefully benefit them, not just now in this kind of critical age, but as they reached into their future.

So when we started in 2018, we just wanted to connect first with our Shelby County schools and try and find a partner who would take a risk on our program and pilot it at their schools.

So 3 schools, we served 45 girls in the fall of 2018 and now in fall of 2024, we will have served 1,400 girls across Memphis.

The mentors, the coaches, the volunteers who commit to leading this program and working with our girls, they are being trained and they're volunteering their time to lead this program, to really build a trusting and consistent relationship, which ultimately leads to them developing a kind of trusting relationship within the school community or within the neighborhood.

And I just feel like that is one of the things that I'm most proud of is that we've trained, I think over 400 coaches.

And every semester we have about 80 to 90 dedicated volunteers who actually are running the program and mentoring our girls through this curriculum.

What we're offering is such a, first of all, we're actually a part of a nationally recognized organization.

So Girls on the Run International is our parent organization.

Everything that we do, our curriculum, our standards, our training is coming from an organization that has been around since 1996.

And they are always looking at what is going on in young people's lives today that we need to respond to.

We are really, really teaching young people how to cope in the world, how to become empathetic and responsible citizens.

And we are also providing our adults here a way to feel like they're making a difference.

And they're not just showing up one time, they're showing up again and again and again.

And that is how you make change.

So investing in Girls on the Run means that you are investing in change in Memphis and investing in the young people who are staying in this city and will build lives here.

And they need to know that our corporate community and that our individual donors here really believe in them and want them to have the best life possible.

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

This honoree is an outstanding example of public-private partnership.

A conservancy that manages one of the city's most visited and most loved public spaces.

This award goes to Overton Park Conservancy.

- Overton Park Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that manages Overton Park on the City's behalf.

It's a City of Memphis park.

And we were established in 2012 to take that charge to create a beautiful, safe and welcoming park for our diverse community to explore nature, to be with each other and to find their best selves.

When the conservancy was founded in 2012, it was with a small investment and annual allocation from the City of Memphis.

And then the rest is raised from corporate sponsors, foundations, individuals.

And so that's a large charge that we have that we spend a lot of time stewarding our donors and inviting people in to fall in love with the mission of the conservancy.

We manage all of the free and open spaces in the park.

So no earned revenue or ticket sales that we really have.

And so it's mowing the grass and picking up the trash.

That's not an easy task, but we also offer programming.

All of our programming is designed three ways.

One, to help people connect with nature, to support people's whole health.

So mental, physical, social health, and to encourage self-expression, which is a nod to the history and the current culture of the arts and the music and activism that is found in Overton Park.

One of the most unique and sometimes unknown treasures, magic about Overton Park is the Old Forest State Natural Area.

It's a state natural area.

It's protected in that way.

What makes it unique, it's the only urban old growth forest in the Southeastern United States.

There are only three in the country and we have one right here in Memphis.

It is a major pass through for so many wildlife that come through in the spring and the fall.

It's a unique feature for our city, for people who might not be able to travel to a larger national park or a large forested area.

You can go right in the center of the city and right when you walk in, the temperature changes, it drops, the sound goes away, and the air, it just becomes different.

It's a truly magical space.

I think one of the most beautiful things about Overton Park is that you can find something to do at any time, and whether it's going to the Brooks Museum or going to a Shell show or going to the zoo, popping over after or before one of those events, it's just a magical place in the center of it all.

[audience applauds] - The final award in the nonprofit category is for organizations with an operating budget over five million dollars.

While you know their name, we'd like to share the full scope of what this organization does for the community, to spread hope, opportunity, and empowerment.

This award goes to Memphis Goodwill Incorporated.

- I'm Tony Martini, I'm the president and CEO of Memphis Goodwill Incorporated and the Excel Center School for Adult Learners.

We've been in business for 100 years.

Last year was our 100th anniversary.

We have 17 counties in Mississippi.

We have seven counties in Tennessee surrounding Shelby.

We have 30 attended donation centers.

We have 2 bookstores, 11 retail thrift stores, and our employee count is about 700.

Our employee pool is folks with disabilities and other significant barriers to employment.

That's the target audience for Goodwill and it always has been.

So we try to provide jobs for folks who have trouble getting jobs elsewhere, may have never had a job, may be retired, may have some sort of difficulty, barrier to employment.

So the Excel Center is an adult high school for people 18 and over.

It's free.

If someone dropped out of high school when they were a teenager, and you can't go back.

Once you're 18, those big doors close behind you and you'll never get your high school diploma.

You can always go and get another certification.

So the Excel Center is actually a school of the Memphis Shelby County School System.

It's a great way for an adult who really didn't see much in their future to go back and get their diploma.

So we also offer certification programs whereby if someone gets their diploma and walks across the stage, we also try to get them on a track to a living wage job.

And so we do offer certifications and training and we also have other partners in the community with whom we link.

We have great relationships with two-year colleges and trade schools and that kind of thing.

Well, it's just really inspiring.

We have two graduations a year.

We've graduated 1,500 students with diplomas and it is a life-changing experience.

For me personally, I always get choked up at the graduation ceremonies because to see the smiles on these people's faces and the feeling of achievement and success and we have very few students who only want to get a high school diploma.

They truly wanna change their lives.

They truly wanna get on the path to a better way of life and a living wage.

[audience applauds] - Great educators are the architects of our future.

By investing in their success, we invest in the potential of every student.

It's about sparking curiosity, igniting passions and building bright futures.

Felicia Peat, WKNO's Education and Outreach Manager is our presenter for the Education category.

- Our first award in the Education category is the School Award.

This year's honoree is a school that teaches music as a language for aspiring musicians from preschool age to adult.

This commitment to music education extends to its scholarship program, which ensures the talented, hardworking students from underserved backgrounds receive a full year of music education at no cost.

The award goes to Music Box.

- My name is Yelena Ovando and my husband, Alex Ovando and I co-founded Music Box five years ago together with our then small children, not so small anymore.

Right now we have two school locations.

One of them is in Germantown, one of them is in Collierville and we teach about 350 students at any given time, employ about 15 teachers.

Music Box is a school on stage, what we call ourselves.

We provide music instruction through music lesson programs and camps and a band program and other meaningful enrichment music instruction.

The way we do it is through teaching music as a language.

So students at our school learn how to read music, how to play with others, how to write music.

We teach music production because we want to raise a holistic musician of a future.

We are having fun at Music Box and all of our facilities are equipped with safe and inspiring and creative instruction spaces.

We have professional equipment and gear and technology and tools available.

All of our instruments are connected and we intentionally utilize growth mindset to supplement the music instruction because you can only learn from a fun, exciting, motivated space.

Music Box teaches everything that goes into a modern band.

So that is your piano, guitar, bass guitar, vocals, a drum set, music production, music orchestration.

We do a lot of things that are outside the box and focused on a future musician.

For example, we teach how to be an influencer, how to be responsible when podcasting, how to publish and copyright your own music.

So it is important because music is wonderful and enriching the lives and makes lives better, but it also helps you build those essential skills beyond just music notes, like emotional intelligence, like confidence, like ability to find your identity, foster it, and practice it in a very safe, nurturing, creative environment.

And that's what Music Box offers to our community.

Sometimes we feel like the days are long and the challenges are vast and overwhelming, but the reward on the other side, where you see impact that you make, when you see one student at a time, one teacher at a time, one partner at a time thrive and the lives are impacted for the better, it's all worth it.

My word of advice would be have faith in yourself, have faith in your community and your partner.

Always assume positive intent and just keep chugging along.

[audience applauding] - Our next award is the Educator Award.

This honoree is a professor at the University of Memphis with expertise in the fields of social work and education.

Her training and dedication has made her a leader with the Social Work Department, ensuring current students are trained and certified prior to graduation.

She is also a researcher, a grant writer, and a board member for local and national nonprofits.

This award goes to Dr. Susan Elswick.

- I'm Dr. Susan Elswick and I'm a professor at the University of Memphis in the School of Social Work.

I am currently a faculty director over ICHC and I-Impact as well as the director of the SMART Center.

So I'm really passionate about workforce development and ensuring that students have opportunities to enhance their skill sets for a couple of reasons.

One, we live in a healthcare shortage region here in the West Tennessee and so we don't have enough practitioners to serve the needs of the community.

And part of the reason that that's an issue is because students, once they graduate from college, have a really difficult time completing their licensure because it can be so costly.

And so what we hope to do through the University of Memphis clinics that we run is to not only provide a service to the community where we provide direct services to families in need, but also offer an opportunity for workforce development and training for our students.

Well, I really love what I do.

I love school-based practice.

I love being a social worker and our goal is to really enhance the community.

And so whenever there is a need, I'm excited about jumping in and helping with that.

I also love the concept of it's all about relationships.

So it's about being in a relationship with others and walking a journey with them.

So a lot of times people believe, well, I'm gonna come see a therapist and they're gonna solve my problems.

And we quickly remind them, no, no, no, you have exactly what you need to be successful.

We're just here with you to walk that journey.

And so I love seeing students be able to fulfill that role and to empower the community alongside their ability to feel empowered about being a practicing clinician and being successful in what they're doing.

We decided to launch the Play Therapy graduate certificate to the University of Memphis 'cause we realized one, we don't have as many play therapists in this area of Tennessee.

And we also understood that there were very limited opportunities for students and community practitioners to get the training that they need.

Many of them were having to leave the state.

So we wanted to bring it to the community where there is a large need.

We have a lot of children and adolescents that have great needs in the community.

We had practitioners saying that they really needed another type of skillset in order to serve that population.

I love working with students.

They bring in really great ideas, issues, and needs.

And when I hear a student go, "Oh, wow, that thing you told me to try really worked.

"Like it was like a magic."

And the beautiful thing is that they have the skillsets.

They're always questioning whether or not they're good enough to be practicing or providing that level of service.

And when they come back and they seem empowered and they realize they do have those skills and they are a great practitioner and they're gonna be fine when they move into programming and serving families.

I just really enjoy seeing that growth.

[audience applauds] - Now for our final award in the education category, the Leadership Award.

This year, our honoree is the founding head of an innovative charter school.

An award-winning classroom teacher, she drew on her years of experience to launch Tennessee Career Academy, a school that understands and addresses the societal dynamics that challenge our community's youth and steers them toward productive adulthood.

The Education Leadership Award goes to Meah King.

- My career in education started at the age of 22.

I'll go all the way back to say it really started at the age of 13 when I was a preschool teacher at my church.

I really was mimicking my mom, who was a teacher at the time and I went on to college and figured out that that was what I wanted to do.

And so at the age of 22, I returned to my alma mater and began to teach there.

Through that, it's been a journey, but I've enjoyed it the whole way.

It's been excellent.

And Tennessee Career Academy is a school where we offer career education.

It's driven by the Tennessee curriculum by the state of Tennessee, but what we do, we have classified four pathways according to our context here in Memphis.

We have four pathways of business, communications, health and human services, advanced manufacturing, as well as engineering with the STEM concept.

And what we're doing is we are exposing our children early.

We realize that children learn survival skills by the age of seven.

And what we're trying to do is address economical disparity in our communities for all of our children who are not served as they should be by exposing them early to the different opportunities that are here and accessible to them.

I always believe people deserve second, even third chances.

I've always been in love with the misfit, I would say.

Those who have, I believe, are forgotten or who are X'd out, who are marginalized for whatever reasons we may think, whether they're innate or whether they're true.

And we know by addressing economical disparity, we are producing economical mobility and we're doing all that through education.

- Well, the Milken Education Award, that award was, it was a surprise award when they said my name.

And it was me, I was so overwhelmed because I never thought about being awarded for what I knew was the right thing to do.

And that was going over and beyond to teach our children.

[audience applauds] - Our individual award honorees prove that one person, one idea can make a world of difference.

Our honorees inspire us to dream big and strive for a better future.

- Allison Carson of cityCURRENT is presenting our Spark Individual Awards.

- Our Individual Youth Award honoree is a student at Hutchinson School who has demonstrated philanthropical leadership at a young age.

Through her Engage platform, she's also been an advocate for inclusion and support for children with special needs and those feeling marginalized.

This award goes to Eliza Flores.

- My name is Eliza Flores.

I am a 17 year old senior at Hutchinson School in Memphis.

I moved to Hutchinson my second semester of sophomore year.

Being around all girls since Hutchinson is an all girls school has definitely taught me more confidence with myself.

I feel like I've gotten a better education from it because I'm not worried about having people like boys judge me for asking a different question than what they would ask.

I had a severe speech impairment when I was in preschool and all the way up until eighth grade and I still struggle with a little bit of speech now.

As I've gotten older and as I have gotten more confident, I have learned that I need to help people who have felt on the outskirts and people who do have a speech impairment or people who do have special needs because I never want anybody else to feel the way that I did and feel like an outcast.

Engage is my platform that I use for pageants.

The main concept behind Engage is just to get out and to volunteer into the world and into your community.

Whether it's helping people pick up trash or whether it's involving people with special needs or with disabilities, I just really wanted a way to use my platform to help people volunteer.

I am 75% Hispanic.

My dad is from Mexico and my mom is, my mom's dad is from Spain.

So I started Mexican Mondays to help raise money for St. Jude Leadership Society and the main concept behind it is just you go eat Mexican food at Margaritas, which are my dad's restaurants and then 10% of the profit that we made on the first Monday of every month would be given to St. Jude and we ended up raising around $6,000.

I would definitely tell other people to just be brave and to talk to people even if you are scared because as I have gotten older, I obviously have gotten more vocal with my friends and I've learned that it's helped me so much.

So I would definitely just say, I know it's hard but you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and you have to talk to people.

[audience applauding] - The second award in the individual category is the Collegiate Award.

Our honoree is a University of Memphis student pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, a member of Black Scholars Unlimited Honor Society and the Kappa Beta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

He is not just a campus leader, he also is passionate about community service locally and abroad.

This award goes to Anthony Miles.

- My name is Anthony Miles.

I'm currently a devout follower in Jesus Christ.

I'm born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.

I'm at the University of Memphis getting ready to graduate in December, so excited about that.

And right now I'm currently a member of Empowerment of Color as well.

Empowerment of Color is an organization mainly devoted to increasing the retention rates of minority black males on campus.

Since the creation of Empowerment of Color, the mission has shifted in a way in which it's not only to increase the retention rates, but more so to give minority black males a way to help increase their leadership, not only academically, but after they graduate.

So giving them tools and everything that they need.

I started off as community service chair in Empowerment of Color.

So during that time, I was able to put events together where we went out to serve the community.

In addition to that, as I matriculated over to president of Empowerment of Color, I was able to put in leadership workshops where people came in to talk about different life-needed skills.

In addition to that, having conferences where people come in and speak about important topics of society today.

And also, as student advisor, my main mission is to help not only give the exec board and committee chairs what they need to succeed and what they need to give members to succeed, but helping them get where they need to be, not only while they're in school, but what they need for after school.

The Alternative Break Experience is one of the first organizations I've gotten, was involved in starting off.

And so before getting involved in the organization, I had no idea what service was and how important service was.

But getting involved in Alternative Break Experience, which is an organization with more so a program that allows student leaders to prep a trip.

And so my first time being involved in Alternative Break Experience, I was able to go to Peru, Pacoco, where I was able to serve a community that did, a different community that wasn't like the one that I've always grown up in.

Coming into college, I didn't expect to do anything outside of getting a degree.

I have a passion to serve now.

And so being able to be around like-minded students and being able to lead those students helped my ability to serve in ways that I could have never imagined starting off in college.

My grandma always told me that people will never, people may forget what you say, people may forget what you do, but people may never forget how you make them feel.

And so that's carried me out throughout my entire life.

Always be willing to serve others no matter what, wherever you go, whatever you do, you're always gonna be making, you're always gonna be serving somebody.

So how you serving is very much important.

And anything you do, make sure you have that heart to serve.

[audience applauds] - Our individual adult honoree this year has a long standing commitment to charitable activities and community involvement.

The founder of her own marketing business, she has also been a mentor and leader for other professional women.

She's been a leader in the Collierville community, helped establish the Collierville Balloon Festival and is currently on the board of the Collierville Education Foundation.

This award goes to Susan Ewing.

- Hello, my name is Susan Ewing and I am the owner and chief navigator of Ewing Marketing Partners.

So my business, I've actually been in the advertising industry for over 25 years.

And almost 10 years ago, I went out on my own and started my own marketing communications firm.

And we focus on small to mid-sized businesses who really don't have their own marketing person.

And so I can come in and be their fractional CMO and help manage all their marketing efforts.

So I was born and raised here in Memphis and moved to Collierville about 12 years ago and really wanted to get involved in the community.

So first thing I did was I joined the Chamber.

Of course it helps for your business.

Then I got involved in other things and ended up doing the Collierville Balloon Festival.

And through that, because it was connected to the rotary, I met so many people within the rotary and they said, "Why don't you get involved?"

And so then I got involved in the rotary.

Then I got involved in the tourism committee for the town, served that term for two years.

And then I got involved in the Parks and Rec.

I'm a runner, so I wanted to get involved and we have some amazing parks in Collierville.

So I wanted to really be able to help support that.

And I just really, I like to get involved and do things.

And so I really, you know, hands-on and just, you know, whatever committee's out there, I'm helping out, volunteering.

And it's just amazing what we're doing in the town of Collierville and the impact we're having.

The Collierville Balloon Festival, I mean, it was started as an idea and the Collierville Rotary Club embraced that and really got involved.

So the first year, you know, happened, we actually raised $40,000 and gave that back to Rotary and Collierville Education Foundation.

So in the past two years, we raised $150,000 for that event.

And that went back to education and the whole Mid-South community.

Even though it's Collierville Balloon Festival, we wanted the whole Mid-South community and even outside of our market.

So it helped from a tourism standpoint, big benefit for the town, something for the whole family, something for children and adults with disabilities.

So it ended up being a win-win.

And then we raised money and it went to education.

Being involved in all these different organizations and programs have really brought together a very diverse group of people.

And so it helps you from collaborating with others.

You learn from others.

I've always said, you just kind of bring the smartest people together and you can make things happen.

So it's been great to really get other people involved and I learn from them.

I mean, there's things that other people are doing.

I'm like, that's a great idea and then I can use it.

So it's really feeding off one another in the community and bringing us all together with our gifts and our talents to be able to make an impact.

[soft music] [audience applauds] - This brings us to our final award of the evening.

The Legacy Award recognizes an extraordinary individual whose enduring impact has left an indelible mark on Memphis and the Mid-South.

- Our Legacy Award honoree has spent 30 years positively impacting a generation of children and families in our local community through her love, passion, and commitment.

As Senior Vice President for Porter-Leath, she leads early childhood services, programs, and initiatives that support nearly 40,000 children and families annually in the Mid-South.

- Through these early childhood services, she has been a part of the solution in improving birth outcomes, decreasing child hunger and homelessness, preventing abuse and neglect, enhancing early developmental social and emotional well-being, and increasing school readiness for children from birth to five years old.

- This year's Legacy Award is presented to Karen Harrell.

- So I'm Karen Harrell.

I've been working with Porter-Leath for about 29 years, almost 30 years.

I started off in my role as a case manager and I've been afforded an opportunity to just progress during the time that I've been at Porter-Leath to a Senior Vice President.

So the years have been great, still growing, still learning each and every day, and still smiling because I love what I do.

I grew up in Westwood in zip code 38109.

I grew up, I have a brother, and I grew up in a single parent home.

My mom raised me.

My dad was very active and involved in my life, which is a blessing.

But I think what led me to my career or my experience in early childhood is just some of those early years and early experiences.

I think sometimes we don't realize until we're later in life, why did we end up in this career?

Why were we chosen?

I like to say that I was chosen to work in the field of social services.

I was chosen to work at an organization like Porter-Leath for this season in my life.

So Early Head Start and Head Start is actually where I started in early childhood at Porter-Leath, and it's the foundation.

We start at prenatal all the way up to age five.

And when you look at a program like Early Head Start, Head Start, not only do we offer those services, but we do preschool and pre-K.

But all of our services, again, are designed to meet the needs of the entire family.

So whether a parent or a family comes to us and need a house, need food, have goals to achieve school completion, whether that child needs disability services, whatever it is that that family needs, we're working with them from the entire time that they enroll in our program.

And so that's the benefit of our early childhood services.

So when you think about the needs in Memphis as a whole, that's where my passion comes from.

And it's just doing what I do every day, being in a position where I can create policies, where I can expand programs and services to truly meet the needs of our children and families.

If we can connect with the parent at pregnancy, and if we can teach the importance of building relationships with their child, and if we can make sure that we're providing that child with the early intervention support or the developmental support that's needed in order to pass them off to the school system and make sure that they're ready for school, and they have that foundation, all of that leads to success as that child grows up and enters school and beyond.

And so again, it's not only about the child, but it's also about the parent.

We teach parents to advocate, learn how to advocate for their children and for the needs of their children.

I'm still speechless.

I think receiving the Legacy Award, I'm humbled, first of all, by receiving it.

When you think Legacy, you think of somebody with gray hair.

I have a little, not a lot, but you think of somebody with gray hair that's on the verge of retirement.

I am not ready to retire, still have more work to do, but it's very humbling.

And again, I don't receive this award for me.

I received it for all the staff members, my colleagues that have walked alongside me to do this great work and all the children and families that we serve because it's truly not about me.

It's truly about this community.

Even though I'm not in the trenches, I don't see it every day, I hear the stories.

I see the passion of the team.

It's not me.

It's definitely the team that's out there and that's doing the work each and every day.

And so it's made me more humble leader, more appreciative of what we're able to do to provide services and supports to our children and families.

But it's also made me more aware and more conscious of what my role should be as a leader to help move the needle in our city.

[soft music] - Ladies and gentlemen, our 2024 Legacy Award honoree, Karen Harrell.

[audience applauds] - Good afternoon.

Thank you so much, Jeremy, to Jeremy Park, to WKNO-TV and to the Spark Awards Committee.

I'm so humbled and I'll say I'm so blessed to be here before you to receive such a prestigious award.

This morning I did a little reflection and I thought about something that my mom consistently told me.

And what she often said to me was that God had a plan for me.

The reason she said that is because my mom had two major accidents while she was carrying me.

And my dad is here today and he could attest to that.

So I just wanna say that I know the plan.

When I connected with Porter-Leath, I've been there 29 years.

And as I stated on the video, I'm still smiling.

That plan was for me to be a part of an organization that could create change.

And so right now here today, I'd like to thank my president, Sean Lee, that's been such a supporter, been a great supporter.

I thank you for pushing me, for encouraging me each and every day.

I thank my dad and my stepmom for being here, for being a constant support for me.

And then of course, my husband and my daughter.

They're my biggest cheerleaders.

Of course, my daughter is 20.

She's my cheerleader, but she also tells me when I'm wrong.

So I thank them for being just a constant in my life.

Today is not about me.

And that's one thing that I often say.

This award is not about me.

I received this award on behalf of the many team members that are committed to moving our mission forward each and every day.

So to each one of those team members, I thank you.

Our mission is simple, but it's powerful.

It's empowering children and families to achieve a healthy, optimal, and an independent lifestyle.

And I encourage each and every one of you to join us in that fight as we work to change the lives of children and families.

Thank you so much.

[audience applauding] - Thank you for joining us for the 11th Annual Spark Awards.

On behalf of our production team, cityCURRENT and WKNO, Tracy Bethea, Rob Grayson, and myself, I wanna thank our honorees, our guests, all of our nominees, and everyone watching who's working hard to power the good.

Thank you for being a spark.

[audience applauding] Good night, everyone.

[upbeat music] - (male announcer) The 11th Annual Spark Awards is made possible by the following: - From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency 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.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be a presenting sponsor of the Spark Awards.

- At Delta Dental of Tennessee, we know our success begins and ends with providing superior quality service, and that includes serving those who need it most.

This year, we're celebrating 25 years of giving back to the community we call home.

Delta Dental, along with our Smile180 Foundation, supports Tennessee's dental colleges and oral health education, children's hospitals, free and reduced-cost dental clinics, and other like-minded charities.

Here's to the next 25-plus years of ensuring healthy smiles.

- 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 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 communities.

- 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 United Way of the Mid-South, EcOp, the Memphis Zoo, and by My Town Movers, My Town Roofing.

[acoustic guitar chords]