Chamber honors those who contribute to the community

Margot Fosnes • April 28, 2010 • Robertson County Times

Last week at the Robertson County Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting and Dinner, the chamber took the opportunity to recognize some special people who have made outstanding contributions to our programs.

Our 2010 Business of Year award went to Bath Fitter. Bath Fitter came to the Springfield community in 2006, moving their bath and shower enclosure manufacturing operation into the vacant All American Homes site in the North Springfield Industrial Park. Anyone who has visited their facility will agree that Bath Fitter has a unique corporate culture which inspires their employees to be contributing members of the team and places a high value on being an integral part of the community by giving back through charity and volunteer work. They truly live up to their word that their employees are their first priority – as they will be receiving the Governors Award of Excellence next week in honor of their commitment to employee safety, logging 352,107 hours without a lost time accident.

For the past two years in December, Bath Fitter has held an employee food drive to help replenish the shelves at the local food bank. Employees had a very creative competition between departments and filled a large transfer truck with non-perishable food items. A group of employee “elves” and Santa himself delivered and unloaded the truckload at the Robertson County Emergency Food Bank. They also support the Robertson County Schools’ Backpack Program.

On the chamber front, Bath Fitter employees have been involved in our Education Committee, pledged support for the third year operating costs of our new college facility, and been leaders in the formation and development of the LIFE program which sends industry representatives to Career Technical classes at Springfield High School to give students a real world perspective on the expectations of businesses of their prospective employees. They also participated in a pilot Career Day for seniors at East Robertson High School this spring.

They have been huge supporters of our leadership programs, sponsoring an employee each year to participate in the adult class and hosting both adult and youth leadership classes at their site for Industry Day.

For their contributions to both the chamber and our community, we are proud to honor Bath Fitter as our 2010 Business of the Year.

Our 2010 Volunteer of the Year award went to Freda Herndon, chair of our Education Committee. In addition to the projects that the committee normally supports like parent surveys, recognition of students and teachers for outstanding achievements, and the Pep Rally on the Square, this past year the Education Committee launched an ambitious agenda to build a strong partnership between our public schools and the business community. Inspired by the work of the Chattanooga Chamber’s Education Initiative, we have surveyed teachers and industry, raised funds through chamber businesses and grants, and prioritized goals for making a real difference in both the perception and the reality of our schools. We start our 2010 year ready to launch the Robertson Education Initiative, which will fund mini-grants for teachers who need financial help with innovative projects, a publicity campaign celebrating the successes of RC schools, and the expansion of the highly successful Renaissance program into all five of our county’s high schools.

Ask any member of our Education Committee and they will agree that this program would not have been possible without the work and passion that Freda Herndon brought to her role as chair. Freda has searched for and written grants, asked local businesses for financial support, collaborated on surveys and attended countless meetings to keep this project moving forward. We stand now ready to interview candidates to fill a new part-time position at the chamber as director of the Robertson Education Initiative, a position that is being funded by grants and donations that Freda has secured. As further testimony to her passion for our schools and education in general, Freda will be embarking on a new career this fall as an English teacher at Springfield High School.

Nothing else is as important as education in our work to bring economic development to Robertson County, and for her work to help make our Robertson County schools an asset which will encourage businesses and individuals to make Robertson County home, we honor Freda as 2010 Chamber Volunteer of the Year.

The Chamber annually recognizes one senior and one teacher from each of our county high schools with the Education awards. Every January forms are sent out to principals and guidance counselors asking for nominations from seniors and teachers for consideration. Seniors are asked to nominate a teacher who has made a significant impact on their k-12 experience and to write a one-page essay on that teacher. Teachers are asked to nominate seniors who have shown all-around excellence in academics and school and community activities. The winners are then selected by the Education Committee.

The awards at the faculty level were announced at the annual dinner. Outstanding Seniors will be honored at the Tennessee Scholars Recognition Dinner on Thursday, April 29. This year’s Outstanding Educator Awards went to: Mike Coley, East Robertson High School; Kristie Wooten, Greenbrier Middle School; Harriett Heard, Jo Byrns High School; Brandon Gonzalez, South Haven Christian School; Sharon Tyson, Springfield High School; Shelley Carlson, Christian Community School and Richard Roberts, White House Heritage High School.

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