Spirit of America Award

Editor's note: You can nominate individuals for the 2017 Spirit of America award through June 13 by submitting the printed application that appears in the newspaper or online at semissourian.com/spirit.

On July 4, 2016, I received the Spirit of America Award after being nominated by Mr. Charles Hutchings, the Bollinger County coroner. I was extremely surprised when I was notified that I had been selected for this great honor. A careful examination of the credentials of the other nominees assured me that one of them would certainly be selected for this prestigious award. Every one of them deserved this award.

It has been nearly a year since receiving this award and I want to say without a doubt, it is one of the highest honors that I have received. There are so many volunteers in every community that have done much more than I could ever have done. I started in my acceptance speech that I was accepting this award on behalf of all the volunteers and especially for those volunteers in the Emergency Services Community, i.e. firefighters, law enforcement, EMS.

I congratulate the Southeast Missourian for sponsoring the Spirit of America Award. I can think of no better way to recognize those who have committed their time, energy and yes, even their own finances to make their communities better places to live.

I will close by saying that there are numerous people in every community that deserve to be recognized for what they have done to better their communities. They should at least be given the opportunity to be recognized for their selfless contributions.

And finally, I want to thank the Southeast Missourian for considering me for this tremendous award as well as for the monetary gift which I have designated to two charities that I support. I also would like to again express my thanks to Mr. Charles Hutchings and his wife Marian for nominating me.

JAMES D. BOLLINGER, Marble Hill, Missouri