The Madison Rotarians have chosen Carolyn Mullins as the 2012 Madison Rotary Club Citizen of the Year. The announcement was made Thursday evening at the club’s annual dinner held in the fellowship hall of the Madison United Methodist Church.
For the past 15 years, the Madison Rotary Club has chosen an outstanding citizen in the community to receive this award. The selection is based on the recipient’s worthwhile contributions to his/her community, and with Carolyn’s history of volunteer service to the City of Madison, principally through the REV UP revitalization program, as well as other activities involving church and county, she more than meets the criteria to receive this prestigious honor.
Carolyn is a member of the New Hope Baptist Church where she serves as church secretary. She is a member of the Women’s Missionary Society and a Sunday School teacher for 9 to 11 year-olds. One of her greatest passions is helping children.
Another passion is the revitalization of the City of Madison, especially the downtown area. She has been a volunteer with REV UP Madison since the group formed in 2008. She has served as secretary, and has been president of the group for the past two years. And if that isn’t enough, she is also the grant writer for REV UP.
In addition to her church work and REV UP duties, Carolyn is a member of the Boone County Community and Economic Development Corp board of directors, an active member of the All About Health group, serves on Madison City Council, and is Queen Mother of the Madison Red Hat Society chapter. Previously she was a volunteer tutor with West Virginia Literacy.
Carolyn is a 1961 graduate of Scott High School and Capitol City Commercial College, 1963. She worked in the insurance industry for 40 years—two years for Continental Insurance Company in Charleston, and 38 years with Ferrell and Hill Insurance Agency in Madison, retiring in 2008.
She is the proud mother of Susan K. Shreve who resides in Madison with her husband Bruce and their daughter, Emily Kate, a highest honors graduate of Scott High School Class of 2012. Katie will be attending WVU this fall and is a 2012 recipient of a Madison Rotary Club Scholarship.
Being named the Rotary Citizen of the Year also comes with the honor of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow, the highest recognition given by Rotary International, and named for Paul Harris, a Chicago businessman who founded Rotary more than 100 years ago. The Madison club has made a $1,000 donation to the Rotary International Foundation in Carolyn’s name. Donations to the Foundation are used to provide grants for humanitarian projects in countries around the world.
Carolyn received a certificate and pin authenticating her a Paul Harris Fellow.
“I am very honored to receive this award,” Carolyn said in learning of this special recognition. “I never imagined becoming a Paul Harris Fellow. Rotary is such a wonderful organization that works to make this a better world for everyone.”
Founded in the spring of 1925, the Madison Rotary Club is celebrating its 87th anniversary this year. The Madison club is one of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries whose members number 1.2 million. The world’s largest service club organization, Rotary’s mission is to provide humanitarian service and build goodwill and foster peace throughout the world through a range of humanitarian, intercultural and educational programs and projects.
Most often individual Rotary clubs develop their own service programs, however, all Rotarians are united in a global campaign to eradicate polio, Rotary’s primary goal, PolioPlus, a project to immunize all the world’s children against polio, was created in 1985, and to date Rotary has contributed well over $800 million and countless hours of volunteer service to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries.
The Madison club has for many years contributed to PolioPlus and other worthwhile Rotary International projects while also focusing on our local youth through the awarding of scholarships and support of youth leadership programs. Since the beginning of the Madison Rotary Scholarship Program, the club has awarded scholarships totaling in excess of $100,000 to dozens of local youth who have excelled academically and who have an outstanding record of volunteer service, and/or in need of financial help. Most of these scholarship recipients have gone on to become very successful in their careers and outstanding leaders in their community.
The Madison Rotary Club is grateful to the local community that has generously supported the club’s fundraising efforts for many years that have included pancake breakfasts, auctions, golf outings, musical programs, sports tournaments, and other projects that fund the scholarship program.
Madison Rotary Club outgoing president David Quisenberry made the 2012 Citizen of the Year award presentation.
As his 2011-2012 club year came to an end, President Quisenberry handed over the gavel to incoming president Nick Smith whose term began July 1.
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