Marion-Grant County Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on Aug. 26.
Indiana Wesleyan University awarded Teresa Campbell with the 2019 Tony Maidenberg Award for community service on Monday, Aug. 5. A video of IWU President David Wright presenting Campbell with the award was shown during the annual employee convocation ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Wright presented the award commending Campbell for her 9 years of service as the Director of St. Martin Community Center in Marion, IN.
Through the St. Martin Community Center, Campbell has been serving the community by providing daily meals and a food pantry to satisfy basic needs. In 2018, St. Martin provided more than 70,000 meals and over 12,000 food pantry visits for those in need in Grant County. Volunteers at the center note that Teresa often says, “The Bible promises the poor will always be with us. How we serve them is what makes God smile upon us”.
“At St. Martin, we aim to help satisfy those lower level needs, and work with the community of Human Services partners in Grant County to assist the poor in working out of poverty,” said Campbell. “Over the years we’ve helped many of those impacted by poverty become self-sustaining members of the county, and each one of those successes is worth our life’s mission to do God’s work and serve the poor.”
In addition, under Campbell’s leadership the center has a thriving reading program for the children of guardians who come to the food pantry. She has continued to invest in the reading program by expanding the program to include learning computational thinking skills, which has resulted in a local grant to fund computers for these children to learn computer programming.
“Teresa is an unsung hero in our community. She is wise and caring in her dealings with all people. Trained as a social worker, she understands how best to meet people’s needs in a variety of ways,” commented Wright when he introduced Campbell as the 2019 Maidenberg Award recipient. “As a Christian she understands the depth of sin and the need for grace and truth in the lives of those who have been abused and who have abused themselves and others.”
In 2002, IWU introduced its annual award for community service as a way to recognize specific individuals for exceptional commitment and selflessness among their neighbors. Maidenberg, a former mayor of Marion and a former Indiana state senator, was its first recipient. The award was later named in his honor, and has been presented to 18 recipients to date.
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