- (male announcer) The 12th 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.

[upbeat music] - When I think of Delta Dental now, it's really their core values.

It's the volunteerism, it's the giving back.

- Delta Dental gives us 10,000 toothbrushes, so twice a year we have these children that are going home with food that may not have weekend food, and they're also getting a toothbrush.

- The best partners are the ones that truly do impact the community together, and I don't think there's a better example of that than our partnership with Delta Dental.

- 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 community.

- We want to congratulate all of this year's honorees and thank them for making a huge impact in our great city.

Have a great holiday season.

[upbeat music] - (male announcer) Additional funding for the SPARK Awards is provided by United Way of the Mid-South, EcOp, the Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, First Tee Tennessee-Memphis, and by the Medical Education and Research Institute.

[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.

This truth is the power behind The Spark.

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

And here are your hosts, Rob Grayson and Pat Mitchell Worley.

- Welcome to the 12th Annual SPARK Awards, twelve years of lifting up the leaders, dreamers, and doers who light up Memphis and the Mid-South.

I'm Rob Grayson, here with my co-host this year, Pat Mitchell Worley.

- Well, thank you, Rob.

The SPARK Awards are all about celebrating the heartbeat of our community, the people and organizations who show up, speak out, and serve with purpose.

Tonight we shine a light on those who make the Mid-South brighter.

- Over the next hour, we'll present 13 awards with stories of grit, grace, and generosity behind everyone.

From emerging changemakers to our Legacy Award honoree, each one reminds us what's possible when service meets soul.

- But first, let's hear from the man who keeps the flame burning year-round, the CEO of cityCURRENT and host of the TV series "The SPARK", Jeremy Park.

[audience claps] - This is our 12th year celebrating the SPARK Awards, and we're so glad you're here.

Over the years, we've honored more than 140 incredible individuals and organizations, and tonight we add 13 more recipients to that legacy.

The SPARK Awards grew out of our monthly TV series, "The SPARK", which launched in 2013 and continues to spotlight the good happening across Memphis and the Mid-South.

Our mission has always been to share stories that inspire action to show the heart of our community and encourage more people to get involved.

This annual broadcast is an extension of that mission, a chance to recognize the everyday heroes who roll up their sleeves and serve with purpose.

These champions rarely seek the spotlight, but their impact is undeniable.

And in a world that often focuses on what's wrong, we believe it's vital to celebrate what's right.

Earlier this year, the public submitted hundreds of nominations across 13 categories.

The Midtown Memphis Rotary Club, which has been our longtime partner in the final selection process, reviewed those nominations and selected this year's honorees.

And now with this special hour-long broadcast, we have the privilege of recognizing and celebrating the 13 honorees of the SPARK Awards 2025.

Before we introduce you to this year's honorees, let's take a moment to learn more about the Midtown Memphis Rotary Club and how the selection process works.

- The Midtown Memphis Rotary Club is proud to serve Memphis and the Mid-South by working to improve quality of life across our community.

We meet weekly Tuesday evenings after work on the eighth floor of the Southern College of Optometry on Madison Avenue, and guests are always welcome.

It's been our honor to partner with the SPARK Awards over the years, and we're proud to help select this year's honorees for the 12th annual presentation.

In reviewing hundreds of nominations, we considered each nominee's leadership, volunteerism, and activism across the five-county Memphis metro area.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations, not only to the winners, but to all the nominees who help make our hometown a better place for all of us.

- Businesses do more than build bottom lines.

They build communities, they create jobs, spark innovation, and meet everyday needs with heart and hustle.

Tonight, we honor the companies that go beyond the expected, investing in people, lifting up neighborhoods, and helping Memphis and the Mid-South thrive.

The first award in the Corporate Category is for companies with 50 employees or fewer.

Our first honoree is a professional services firm providing accounting, tax, and consulting solutions.

And since its founding in 1985, it has supported a wide variety of organizations spanning education, healthcare, the arts, and social services throughout Memphis and the Mid-South.

- (Rob) Johnny Pitts of Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is our awards presenter for the Corporate Category.

- The award goes to The Marston Group.

[bright music] - I'm Chip Marston.

I'm the founder and managing partner of The Marston Group.

We're celebrating our 40th anniversary this year.

We're an accounting, tax, and advisory firm, heavy on the advisory, and I'm having the time of my life.

I was fascinated with business, I was fascinated with the personal dynamics between people, and so I got great training, worked for another large CPA firm, regional firm.

I just had this dream of taking what I had learned, starting a business, and that's what we did.

We've got 45 people approaching 50 employees.

This is the best group of people I've ever had.

I've got four phenomenal partners, and they let me do what I do, and they are much better at what they do than I ever could have been.

You know, in terms of philanthropy, I had some of the best mentors and role models.

I suppose I first saw it with my parents, just the way they were so involved in our community and in West Tennessee, it was Jackson, Tennessee.

Through every iteration of our core values for the firm, there has always been an element of community contribution and community leadership, and that is a big, big part of what we do.

Really our business model, the things that are important in our business model, apply 100% to the charitable organizations in which we work.

And so it's seamless, and it develops great leadership, it gives opportunities for great leadership for our younger people, and it truly fuels, each field fuels the other.

I guess the advice for anyone is just find something that really speaks to you that you can pour your heart and soul into, and you'll be greatly rewarded.

[upbeat music] [audience claps] - (Rob) That's Chip Marston of The Marston Group accepting the first Corporate Award from Higginbotham's Johnny Pits.

- Our second award in the Corporate Category is for companies with 51 to 150 employees.

This honoree is one of the largest consumer packaging manufacturers in North America.

Its culture of giving back has led to sponsorship of conservation, efforts through direct action like tree planting and support for STEM education through mentoring and school engagement.

The award goes to Ring Container Technologies.

[bright music] - My name's Fred Geyer, and I'm an executive vice president at Ring and the CFO, at least for the next few months before I retire.

But if you don't know Ring, it's headquartered out in Oakland, Tennessee.

We manufacture plastic containers, and it was founded by a gentleman who's a native Memphian, Bob Ring, who set up the company almost 60 years ago, along with a gentleman by the name of Jim Gilliland Sr.

The two of them invested to start this company that at the time made metal cans for lard and fat for cooking food in restaurants.

And over time, that has morphed into a company which makes plastic containers, both for food service products as well as retail food products.

We're headquartered, like I said, in Oakland, that's part of Fayette County.

And so Ring has been involved with Fayette Cares for many, many years, and I just think it's a really a needed service in the Fayette community.

And we've just gotten behind it both financially as well as giving employees an opportunity of contributing, whether it's volunteer time or sometimes we do food drives or clothes drives or that sort of thing.

But a lot of this all is driven by the leadership at the top.

Jim Gilliland really was instrumental in getting us involved in the Wolf River Conservancy, but our former CEO, Ben Livingston, who's still a member of our board, also has an enormous philanthropic heart.

And so he got involved in certain things that he was passionate about and just started kind of pulling the company in as well.

And two of those, two of those examples would include AngelStreet, the mentoring program for young girls here in the Memphis community, where they're trying to mentor young girls who have an interest in the performing arts and specifically in singing.

And so they come alongside them, give them an opportunities to learn to sing, to perform in front of others, but also really invest in their lives mentoring-wise.

And Ben just really loved that mission, got behind it, and people from Ring started getting involved alongside him with that.

Ben's also a passionate golfer, so he was one of the founders of what's called Gurus of Golf, which a lot of people haven't heard about, but it's actually been a really successful fundraiser for Le Bonheur.

What we're trying to do is not only encourage people to participate in events, like the Habitat for Humanity build we did this morning, but if there's something they're really passionate about, go ahead and do it.

It's just that type of mindset with the leadership that kind of becomes infectious for the rest of the organization.

[gentle music] [audience claps] - (Rob) There you see Fred Geyer accepting the SPARK Award on behalf of Ring Container Technologies.

- Our final award in the Corporate Category is for companies with 151 employees or more.

In the history of five decades, this company has successfully acquired, developed, and managed thousands of apartments across the Southeast, and its employees take a proactive approach to giving back to their communities financially and as volunteers, serving areas like food banks and wherever services are needed.

This award goes to ALCO Management, Inc.

- I'm Sarah Jemison.

I am the chief strategy officer and head of the board of ALCO Management.

We are a 51-year-old affordable housing company that's been based in Memphis that whole time.

And we are dedicated to really three main things, providing quality, affordable homes, quality jobs, and doing it for the long term.

We have homes across the Southeast.

We have about little over 5,000 apartment units in about 50 communities.

Those can range in size from 15 units to almost 300.

Here in Memphis, we have about 14 communities and house, I think, a little above 2,000 families in those communities.

There are places across the city, unfortunately, where somebody could find a place to live for 400 or 500 bucks that's not quality.

Where it's not a place that a kid is safe to grow up, it's not a place that you would want to live.

And so our goal is to be a community of quality and a community of choice.

It is the bread and butter of property management.

It's making sure that AC units are working, that heating is working, that water's going, that when we make repairs, we are making those repairs with the intention of someone being able to live there for the long term.

And we're going to be also be looking at what we can provide in terms of amenities, whether that's a place for communities to gather.

We work hard to ensure that it is a high-quality place to live.

And that's something that we take a lot of pride in.

Every single role at ALCO is contributing to that overarching mission because we know that for the 2,000 families who are living in those properties, they are some of the families in Memphis who are struggling the most.

They sometimes have no income at all, up to about 30% of the area median income.

So there are a lot of challenges those families are facing.

We want it to be that when they come home to their apartment, they have a place where they really feel, "This is mine.

"This is a place where I can thrive, where my family can thrive, where we can grow and flourish."

And that's ultimately our goal.

I really believe that if something can be done and accomplished in one of our communities, it can be accomplished across the city.

And so we wanna be a testing ground for what can grow and be.

And so as we embed that commitment to quality, commitment to collaboration, that commitment to community in every single part of what we do, it's going to be what drives us forward, what makes us stronger as a company.

And so I think that that can be true in any industry, but it's certainly true for us as we provide homes.

[bright music] [audience claps] - (Rob) Here we have Sarah Jemison and Berkeley Burbank for ALCO Management, Incorporated to accept their award.

[gentle music] [audience continues clapping] Compassion meets action in the people and teamwork of local nonprofits.

Mission-driven and dedicated, they show up for the vulnerable, speak out for justice, and stitch hope into the fabric of our daily lives.

They are the quiet powerhouses behind progress, and tonight we celebrate their tireless work and transformative impact.

- (Pat) Missy Acosta with Delta Dental of Tennessee is our awards presenter for the Nonprofit Category.

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

This year's honoree is an organization providing affordable, high-quality housing for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, following the principle that a better home means a better life.

This award goes to Intunity Housing Foundation of West Tennessee Incorporated.

- I'm Earle Schwarz.

I'm the executive director of the Housing Foundation of West Tennessee Incorporated, which does business in the community as Intunity or Intunity Homes.

We are a affordable housing solution for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities so that they can live comfortably, safely, independently in safe neighborhoods and pay a substantially below-market rental rate.

We've been around since 2012.

The original focus was to house folks as they were coming out of the Arlington Developmental Center, which was formerly a congregate care facility in West Tennessee serving this population.

The mission remains the same, but the motivation 13 years later is vastly different because we are now able to be an alternative for folks who are trapped in high-rental housing.

So our mantra is, a better home leads to a better life.

We presently have 38 houses, fourteen in Jackson and twenty-four in Memphis, with one house underway.

We are in the process of building a prototype house for this population that we are very excited about.

We designed it with the help of LRK, the local architectural firm, and input from a number of stakeholders as to the type of housing that our population needs.

And if I do say so myself, this is the perfect home for that population.

It's completely ADA accessible, barrier-free entries, wide hallways, large, wide turn radiuses with technology that increases independence for the folks who live there.

Provides greater security.

All of our houses are adapted to serve the folks who live there.

We value meeting the needs of any marginalized population and the opportunity to create a normal and independent living opportunity for tenants such as us who many of whom did come, who lived in an institution for a long period of time and are enjoying the freedom from living in an institution and enjoying the opportunity just to go outside, right, and sit on the deck and just live a fulfilled life.

[audience claps] - (Pat) There you see Earle Schwarz accepting the award for Intunity Housing Foundation of West Tennessee from Missy Acosta of Delta Dental of Tennessee.

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

This organization has a hundred-plus-year history of philanthropic leadership, funding some of the area's cornerstone institutions.

Its impact across the fields of social services, education, stewardship, and culture is fueled by the thousands of hours its members dedicate each year to hands-on service.

This award goes to the Junior League of Memphis.

- My name is Lori Evans.

I am the president of the Junior League of Memphis, which is a nonprofit organization of women that was founded in 1922 here in Memphis, Tennessee.

We're 103 years old, and we're still making a change in this community.

We are an organization of women that believes in giving back to our community through community service, developing the potential of women, and training.

And we are just really excited about this opportunity to be a recipient of the SPARK Award.

Well, where we are today, WKNO, Junior League of Memphis had a hand in starting WKNO, the Children's Museum of Memphis, Church Health Center, Hope House.

We also were instrumental in saving the Orpheum when the Orpheum was about to be demolished.

And just thinking about where Hope House is today, for example, 30 years later, and knowing that it started in the kitchen of a member of the Junior League of Memphis, who was the president at the time and still living.

And when they celebrated the 30th anniversary last year, was able to come back and see the impact that started in her kitchen, at her kitchen table, but see what had actually birthed 30 years later.

We have several community programs, GROW is one of them.

And what it is is an opportunity every Thursday for our members to go to Lester Community Center to provide dinner, supper for the families, but they bring them together at a table.

And then we also have a pre-K program at Brewster Elementary School, which is right down the street, where our volunteers go out two or three days a week to work with the pre-K classes to do read, they read to the classes.

And then we also provide additional support and resources to the teachers in the building.

We also have a partnership with Sweet Cheeks Diaper Ministry, which is really amazing.

And we also provide, you know, supplies for women and young girls for those special times of the month.

And it is just really impactful to see how we are still pouring into the community, but how also how the community still needs the work of the Junior League of Memphis.

And I'm just always really just touched by that, and sometimes when I feel like I'm questioning myself about, you know, what are we doing and what is the impact that we're making, I go place myself in a community program, and I just volunteer, and that's kind of, it just brings it back to center to know that the work that we're doing is still relevant, and it helps us as a organization to continue to be visible, viable, and valuable, not only to our members, but also to the community.

[gentle music] [audience claps] - (Pat) Here we have Lori Evans to accept the SPARK Award on behalf of the Junior League of Memphis.

- The final award in the Nonprofit Category is for organizations with an operating budget over $5 million.

Over just this past year, the organization has directly served more than 40,000 children and families.

It expanded its early childhood education initiatives by over 3,100 preschool children.

Increased access to vital family support services and leveraged public-private partnerships to multiply the impact of every dollar received.

The award goes to Porter-Leath.

- I'm Rob Hughes, vice president of development for Porter-Leath.

We were founded in 1850, and our mission is empowering children and families to achieve a healthy, optimal, and independent lifestyle.

This year marks a major milestone for us with our 175th anniversary.

Porter-Leath started in 1850 as a small orphanage dedicated for serving about a dozen orphans around Memphis.

We've evolved into a major early childhood nonprofit over our 175-year history, really making sure that children and families are supported from the beginning.

So again, Porter-Leath's mission is empowering children and families to achieve a healthy, optimal, and independent lifestyle.

We do that through eight core focus areas, really centered on early childhood development, but we are true to our roots.

We started as an orphanage.

We still do foster care through our Connections program, largely working with teenagers.

Most of our work is in the early childhood space.

So if you look at our preschool program, we serve over 4,500 local children and families every single day, making sure that they get the best start educationally but also at home.

We start serving children as young as six weeks in our preschool program.

And when children leave us at age five, they leave us kindergarten-ready.

Many people probably know Books from Birth.

We are home to Books from Birth.

We send over 35,000 children an age-appropriate book across Memphis and Shelby County every single month with a local affiliate for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Our Teacher Excellence Program provides ongoing professional development for our early childhood educators as well as partners around the community, really trying to make sure that we have sustained quality and investment in our staff who do a phenomenal job taking care of children and families every single day.

Our Teacher Excellence Program really creates remarkable outcomes, both for the child but also for the teacher, to ensure their continued success.

So our volunteers have a blast in our classrooms.

They get to be the big kid plugging into that classroom's activities, really supporting our staff as they implement the curriculum throughout the day.

But we also have a lot of fun in our preschools.

It's a really great way to engage with the youngest children in our county.

As Porter-Leath, we know that we'll never be able to serve every child and family in Shelby County, but we wanna work with great partners.

We've really been focused on building partnerships, continuing partnerships so that we can support other providers with our work, like the Teacher Excellence Program, to make sure that early childhood caregivers and early childhood teachers at other centers have the same access to high-quality professional development.

With the public and private partnership coming in on funding, Porter-Leath is able to invest over $70 million per year in our community.

We've been saying all year long, "Our work is not done by any means, but this is a major benchmark," and I think the SPARK Award really testifies to the work that we're achieving in Memphis and Shelby County.

[gentle music continues] [audience claps] - (Pat) That's Sean Lee from Porter-Leath accepting the final Nonprofit Award.

Educators don't just teach, they ignite.

They open doors, nurture your dreams, and shape the future one student at a time.

Whether in classrooms, community centers, or beyond, these changemakers light the path forward.

Tonight we honor those who make learning a launchpad for possibility.

- (Rob) 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 historic local university that has enriched the experience of their students and served its community through its Nonprofit Internship Community Experience Program, fully funding summer internship programs for dozens of students in helping to create the next generation of nonprofit leaders.

The award goes to Christian Brothers University.

[bright music] - My name is Amy Ware.

I'm the assistant vice president of Career Services at Christian Brothers University.

CBU considers itself to be Memphis' university.

We've been here over 150 years in the heart of our city.

Over 80% of our students stay in the Memphis area upon graduation.

Our students have a 98% placement rate, so all of our students are employed and/or in graduate school within 6 to 12 months after graduation.

The national average is around 64%.

So we're doing everything that we need to be doing to make sure that our students are employed and giving back to our great city once they graduate.

We have undergraduate student population.

We also have three graduate programs.

We are very proud of our student-to-faculty ratio.

Our faculties-to-student ratio is 10:1, so our students get one-on-one attention from our faculty members, and I really believe that that's why our students fare so well after graduation.

The Nonprofit Internship Community Experience Program, better known as NICE, was created nine years ago to be able to provide our Memphis nonprofit partners with interns to be able to serve the Memphis community.

And the NICE program was created for three reasons.

The first was to really allow students to obtain worthwhile career-related experience at a nonprofit to help them accomplish their career goals upon graduation.

The second was to really help our Memphis nonprofit partners accomplish their organizational goals and help them really move forward in making their mission happen.

And then the third was to really connect students to Memphis, to introduce them to our great city through the nonprofit sector, further endearing them to our city and its people.

It's sad that our city sometimes gets a bad rap, especially now, but we all know, who live here in Memphis, how amazing the city is.

And by serving our nonprofits within the Memphis community, you can see the good in our city.

You can see the good work that our nonprofits are doing to better our city and to move our city forward.

We are a city that is unlike any other city in the world.

The diversity, the concern for others.

We all come together, and I love our city, and our students love our city.

And so being able to go out and see our city firsthand, giving back, making a difference, we're unlike any other city in the world, and I'm really proud that NICE has been able to really connect students with the greatness of our city and the nonprofits that we have there.

[bright music] [audience claps] - (Rob) There we have Amy Ware accepting the award for Christian Brothers University.

- Our next award is the Educator Award.

This honoree is an associate professor who launched a first-of-its-kind initiative where college athletes and psychology students mentor students with autism through weekly peer-led fitness and social sessions.

As a teacher and mentor with a commitment to volunteerism, he has had a transformative impact on his students and the community.

This award goes to Colby Taylor.

[gentle music] - My name is Dr.

Colby Taylor.

I'm an associate professor of psychology at Christian Brothers University.

I have one of the coolest jobs, something I've always dreamed of.

So I get to work with undergraduate students.

I get to teach psychology, which is my passion.

I'm also a practicing psychologist.

So one day a week I see patients which tend to be younger individuals.

I tend to see kids.

And then I get to translate sort of my clinical work into teaching at Christian Brothers University.

We have this organization here at CBU called STARS, which is Students Tackling Autism-Related Syndromes.

I served on their board of directors.

One of the things that I noticed in working with college students was there were so many college students that stayed in their dorm room, whether they're autistic or not.

They were playing Xbox or PlayStation 5 and not really getting out and doing stuff.

In my own undergraduate experience, I found that exercise was really therapeutic to me as a way to clear my head.

So I said, "You know, what if I started an exercise program within STARS where I taught students how to exercise?"

So we started what was called the InsideOut Program.

Once a week we meet and we exercise together.

And I'm not a professor necessarily in that role, I'm not a personal trainer.

I'm just a guy that is sort of their friend, and we talk about how the week's going.

We exercise together and hold each other accountable, and it's been a really great program.

In my clinical work, I diagnose with autism.

That's the number one thing that I do.

And a lot of times I'm talking with moms of two, three, four year olds, and I'm delivering heavy news.

But when I can tell them, "Hey, look at these students that I'm working with "that are 18, 19, 20 years old "that are just killing their college classes, "that are getting great jobs out of school, autism can be a strength."

And I think sort of having the continuity there where I can talk with parents of younger children and give them these success stories that I see every day at Christian Brothers, I think, has been really cool too.

My words of encouragement to the autistic community and people that work with the autistic community in Memphis would be just do it.

Put your neck out there and volunteer even if you don't quite know what you're doing at first.

It will evolve into what you want it to evolve.

Sitting back and doing nothing is not gonna get you anywhere.

Sometimes you just have to take the risk and, you know, put yourself out there and try to make a difference.

[upbeat music] [audience claps] - (Rob) That's Colby Taylor of Christian Brothers University receiving his award from WKNO's Felicia Peat.

[audience claps and cheers] - Now for our final award in the Education Category, the Leadership Award.

This year our honoree is the head of a small medical college with an outsized impact.

The Southern College of Optometry enroll students from 40-plus states and Canada.

It's one of the most academically competitive in the nation.

It provides high-quality healthcare for over 60,000 patients annually, including some people from the area's most vulnerable communities.

The Education Leadership Award goes to Dr.

Lewis Reich.

- My name is Lewis Reich.

I am the president of Southern College of Optometry.

Southern College of Optometry is a private not-for-profit institution.

We are approaching 100 years old.

I am the seventh president in all that time.

So the presidents of SCO tend to stick around.

We see on average about 300 patients per day in the eye center on Madison Avenue.

A lot of our patients come from our surrounding zip codes, and they are not receiving any other kind of eye care, and in some cases, any kind of healthcare.

I love being involved in my position, not because I get to be president of SCO, but I get to interact with students who are amongst the brightest in the country.

I used to think I really love to teach, and I realized I don't like giving grades, but what I do love is interacting with students on a daily basis.

Second to the students is our 200 employees at Southern College of Optometry.

I get to learn a little bit about them each day, and it's a job that I take very, very seriously because we are one big family.

I also think that SCO has developed even a stronger sense of community.

About a little over 10 years ago, we redefined our mission statement.

And our mission statement now includes a service component.

We believe and believe very strongly in service and service activities.

If somebody goes to Memphis to Southern College of Optometry to four years, one of the things that they take with them is that our culture of service and service learning.

And I think it's really, really important that Southern College of Optometry isn't just a tower on Madison Avenue that lights up pretty colors at night, but we're doing positive work for the community, and I want more people within the city and within the region to understand the impact.

[audience claps] - (Rob) Here we have Dr.

Lewis Reich of the Southern College of Optometry accepting his Leadership Award.

Every spark starts somewhere, with a person who dares to care, to act, to lead.

Our Individual Award honorees remind us that one voice, one vision, one act of service can ripple outward and change lives.

They are proof that impact begins with intention.

- (Pat) Matt Thompson of the Memphis Zoo is presenting our SPARK Individual Awards.

- Our Individual Youth Award honoree is a young man who exemplifies the spirit of youth leadership and service through his commitment to the American Red Cross of the Mid-South.

He has volunteered in multiple areas, including disaster preparation and volunteer services, and additionally has volunteered as an umpire for the National Veterans Golden Age Games.

This award goes to Keiran Barlow.

- My name's Kieran Barlow.

I go to Houston High School, I'm a junior there.

I play soccer for both club and at the school.

I also volunteer with the Red Cross for their youth division.

My mom works for Blood Services and also volunteers with the Red Cross, so I naturally also wanted to volunteer with the Red Cross.

I started volunteering, I guess, with the little things a while ago, like 2020, 2023.

And I've started to get into the bigger things in the recent years, like 2024 and this year.

The American Red Cross of Mid-South Tennessee focuses on disaster relief, like the frequent tornadoes we usually get throughout the area.

We have a disaster trailer that will go around the Mid-South area, and we'll provide relief for the areas that are affected by a tornado.

And they will set up cots and everything, tents, anything you need, food and water.

And we'll also provide like medical services for anyone that has been injured or affected from the disaster.

I've been able to play the role of repacking and inventorying the disaster relief trailers.

So we take all the items out, count what we need, and get rid of all the bad items, replace them with the new items, and then repack the trailer so it's ready to go for when it's needed.

You try to get all the work you can get done in a short amount of time, so you have to prioritize the bigger things first, and then you work your way down to the smaller things that take less time.

One of my favorite experiences is the Veterans Golden Age Games that was held down at the Renasant Center.

And my experience with that was I was an umpire for disabled veterans who were stuck in a wheelchair 'cause of their actions that they did for their country.

And I think my favorite part about that was meeting all of them and them telling us their stories, and when we did a friendly match with them, they beat my butt.

The veterans, they all, looking back on it, they all love to do what they do.

So I think volunteering, leading into that, would also help by giving back to your community, starting with the small things and leading up into the bigger things like joining the military.

I'm hoping to apply to West Point and hopefully get into West Point.

Volunteering, giving back to your community is one of their top priorities they look for in their applications.

This SPARK Award, it means that I've done a whole lot of volunteering, but it also means I can still do a whole lot more throughout our community.

[gentle music] [audience claps] - (Pat) Here's our Individual Youth honoree, Keiran Barlow, receiving his SPARK Award from Matt Thompson of the Memphis Zoo.

- The second award in the Individual Category is the Collegiate Award.

Our honoree is part of a nationally recognized program to empower students to lead through service and social justice.

She's become a powerful advocate for sickle cell education, helping to raise awareness about the disease.

Her efforts have directly contributed to identifying and cultivating blood sponsors, expanding access to life-saving resources for underserved populations.

This award goes to Anaya Bond.

[gentle music] - My name is Anaya Bond.

I am a junior and an environmental science major and Africana Studies minor at Rhodes College, and I'm also a Bonner Scholar.

One of our core values as Bonners is to work with the community and not for, and essentially that means that we respect the autonomy of our community partners.

We try to let go of our biases and really just listen to the nonprofits about what they need.

It's a part of the just assignment as a Bonner scholar, dedicating 8 to 10 hours a week.

I would say volunteering, especially through the Red Cross, it's humbled me, it's made me get out of my comfort zone and really just connect with people who I probably wouldn't have had the chance to before.

I started my freshman year, so now I've been there for almost three years now, and I've just enjoyed every second of it.

I've been helping out with their annual Red Ball Bash to raise funds for victims of house fires, which is a pretty big problem in Memphis.

Sickle cell is also a prominent issue in Memphis and throughout the Delta region.

And so through the Red Cross, I'm helping them promote blood drives because it's an essential treatment for people who have sickle cell.

And I'm just hoping to spread more awareness about the disease.

I'm just getting started with a research project with a professor at Rhodes.

She knows people who are also part of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee.

So hoping to somehow do a collaboration between the Red Cross and the Sickle Cell Foundation.

And yet this is just a start of something really amazing that I hope I can continue even after I graduate.

[gentle music] [audience claps] - (Pat) You're seeing Anaya Bond accepting her Individual Collegiate Award.

- Our individual adult honoree this year is a compassionate leader whose impact extends across Memphis and beyond.

As chief program officer of Tennessee Nonprofit Network, she equips hundreds of nonprofit leaders with tools to grow, sustain, and thrive.

And as chair of the Mentee Program for Beautiful Spirited Women, she's shaping the next generation of community leaders, not just telling young people to give back, but showing them how.

This award goes to April Carter.

- My name is April Carter.

I'm the chief program officer with Tennessee Nonprofit Network.

I've been with about four different iterations of that organization, so obviously I love it.

But in addition to that, you know, I serve with the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis in a couple of capacities.

One my favorite, GiVE 365, and also I'm on a committee for the grant processes.

The reason why I love to work in nonprofits now because I realize now how impacted my family was with nonprofits that I didn't realize were nonprofits.

I grew up in North Memphis community, where we would go to afterschool programs or go up to Winchester Park and take advantage of the lunches that they served.

And I didn't realize that it was nonprofits, but I can identify one of the volunteers or the workers, but Ms.

Jennifer.

I remember Ms.

Jennifer at Winchester Park.

And every time we would go up there, she would tell us that, "Oh, you're so beautiful, here's your lunch."

Or "Oh, you're gonna be a doctor one day."

And I just remember how that made me feel.

This woman that didn't know me at all would pour into me, will tell us about different resources that were available in our community, and I wanted that for another young lady when I grew up.

Beautiful Spirited Women, you will hear BSW.

METOW BSW.

We are a girls mentoring program.

We're celebrating a 15 years in service coming up, and we work with girls from ages 4 to 17 to basically to pour into them some of the things that we may not have gotten as children.

You know, I had fantastic parents, and my mom was great, but she couldn't be there for all aspects of my life until I got a little bit older.

So with BSW, we worked with the girls on soft skills, self-confidence, understanding that we are all connected here locally and abroad.

I like to serve behind the scenes.

I think God called me to a very much supporting role.

You tell me your vision, I will be behind the scenes just making sure that it happens.

And so to be recognized and to be told that that matters, that really changes things for me, and it's such inspiration for all of the girls that's in the mentoring program because you don't have to be the boss per se, but you are a boss.

You are a leader in whatever role that you play, and you will impact the community.

[gentle music] [audience claps] - (Pat) That's April Carter accepting the Individual Adult Award from the Memphis Zoo's Matt Thompson.

[uplifting music] And now our final award of the evening.

The Legacy Award honors a life lived in service.

A person's whose enduring contributions have shaped Memphis and the Mid-South in lasting, meaningful ways.

Their story is one of vision, dedication, and deep-rooted love for this community.

- Our Legacy Award honoree has dedicated her career to shaping a more equitable and prosperous Memphis.

As president and CEO of EDGE, the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County, she leads with a vision that centers on people, places, and the promise of progress.

- Whether she's mentoring students through Junior Achievement, building bridges between public and private leaders, or helping entrepreneurs navigate tough terrain, she leads with clarity, compassion, and vision, making growth in Memphis not just possible but sustainable, equitable, and transformative.

- This year's Legacy Award is presented to Dr.

Joann Massey.

[bright music] - I'm Dr.

Joann Massey.

I like to say when I'm introducing myself that I'm a proud Memphian.

Born, raised, and educated right here in the heart of Memphis, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods actually in our community, New Chicago, North Memphis.

There I was adopted by my godparents, Geraldine and Wendell Collins, who took me in at six weeks old from my teenage mom.

And that hope that I saw there in New Chicago is the reason why I serve.

I'm a numbers girl, so I always loved numbers, and so it just became a natural for me to help businesses with their operations, help them with their funding and financing.

And then I landed the opportunity here at EDGE.

So I'm the first woman, the first black person to lead economic development across Shelby County.

And as president and CEO, I get to serve small businesses and corporations, but the work with the small businesses is what fuels me.

It's my heart.

And they're growing in those neighborhoods that like I grew up in.

In our city, there are so many bright and talented children, and I love to spend time volunteering through Girls Inc., through the Women's Foundation, my sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, we have mentorship opportunities.

And in those little faces I see myself because one day they will be here where we are.

And the only way they could do that is to be able to see what they can be.

There's a African proverb that says, "They cannot be what they cannot see."

So I knew that I wanted to be able to give back and mentor girls.

I also believe that, especially with girls, there comes a time at their age where their self-esteem changes.

And because again, I had those experiences myself, I knew that it was really, really important for someone like me and many other women in our community to give back.

And so I spent a lot of time doing that.

It's something that I will forever do.

I will do it until the day I leave this earth and as long as I can because I consider it to be an honor.

I want the youth in Memphis to know that there is absolutely nothing that you cannot be.

That whatever you dream, whatever you desire, and whatever you believe, you can make it happen.

And there are people, organizations that will help you.

But the first step is believing in yourself.

You don't need to come from a wealthy background, you don't have to have had a perfect life in order to create a future for yourself because the reality is is that you control your destiny.

No matter what you've been through, those storms are meant to make you better.

They're not meant to crush you, and you can't allow it to.

I'm not doing this for me.

And the reality is I don't ever think that, from a career or a professional aspect that I ever thought that I was doing it for me or about me.

So pouring into our kids and our community is what we have to do, and I just want people to really, really understand that part of the story.

I wouldn't be sitting here today if not for dozens and dozens of people who helped me believe in me.

You know, I was 14 years old.

Dr.

Herenton was the mayor, and, you know, they were building big buildings downtown.

I was walking down on Main Street.

My very first job was his inauguration because he identified high school students who were bright, and he hired them to work his inauguration party.

Well, I'm walking down Main Street, I look up, and I was like, "I think I could stay here."

Because Memphis is such a big, it's a city with a big heart, and there's opportunities there for even, you know, kids like me who would've been counted out as a statistic a long time ago if not for people who believed in me.

- Our 2025 Legacy Award honoree, Dr.

Joann Massey.

[audience claps and cheers] Look at that.

- Wow.

Good evening, everyone.

It is a tremendous honor to accept the Legacy Award tonight and to do so in a time when so many of us are witnessing new chapters of leadership and accomplishments, particularly among women, being written.

I'm inspired by so many women like myself who are first, such as Mary Sheffield out of Detroit.

Like me, she was raised in humble beginnings, but that's not where we would stay.

As the first of many to achieve accomplishments in my family, my line of work, and my community, our stories intersect.

But they also remind me that leadership is shaped over decades by the hard work and sacrifice of our families.

I'm joined here tonight by my husband, Qubbie Massey, Sr., our twin daughters, Brianna and Bianca Massey, and our son, Qubbie, Jr., who's watching from home.

Being a first isn't just a historical footnote, but a responsibility to lift others up and to make a path a little wider for children like my own and everyone else who will follow.

With that in mind, I want to take a moment to acknowledge each of tonight's award recipients.

Your hard work and commitment are paving the way for future generations entrepreneurs and changemakers in Memphis and beyond, but keep pushing those boundaries and keep making change.

For those pursuing their dreams, remember that every step forward, no matter how small, contributes to something bigger.

Your ideas, your courage, and your commitment matter.

Community is at the heart of success.

Support one another, celebrate each other's wins, and keep sparking the change you wish to see.

Thank you, Jeremy Park, and all involved again for this incredible honor.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for inspiring us all.

Let's continue to spark innovation, positivity, and uplift one another every day.

Thank you.

[audience claps and cheers] Thank you.

Thank you.

[gentle music] [audience continues clapping] - Rob, Pat, come on up.

Now we get to close out the show.

- After that wonderful selection of Memphians, that is all.

Y'all gonna keep me going all week.

[laughs] [audience laughs] - See, I told you.

It's inspiring, right?

Like, it's absolutely amazing.

Thank you for joining us for the 12th Annual SPARK Awards.

On behalf of cityCURRENT, WKNO, our incredible production team and tonight's host, Rob Grayson and Pat Mitchell Worley, I give a big thank you to our honorees, our guests, and everyone watching who helps power the good in Memphis and the Mid-South.

Thank you for being a spark.

Good night, everyone.

[upbeat music] [audience claps] - (male announcer) The 12th 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.

[upbeat music] - When I think of Delta Dental now, it's really their core values.

It's the volunteerism, it's the giving back.

- Delta Dental gives us 10,000 toothbrushes, so twice a year we have these children that are going home with food that may not have weekend food, and they're also getting a toothbrush.

- The best partners are the ones that truly do impact the community together, and I don't think there's a better example of that than our partnership with Delta Dental.

- 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 community.

- We want to 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, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, First Tee Tennessee-Memphis, and by the Medical Education and Research Institute.

[upbeat music] [audience claps and cheers] [upbeat music continues] [acoustic guitar chords]