The Gadsden State Community College Cardinal Foundation is hosting the third annual Everyday Heroes Breakfast at 9 a.m. April 12 at the One Stop Center on the East Broad Street Campus.
A committee was formed to select five honorees from among the nominations submitted. Nominations came from the three counties where Gadsden State educational sites are located – Etowah, Cherokee and Calhoun counties.
The honorees will be introduced by those who nominated them for the Everyday Hero Award. Honorees include:
Marilyn Burke
Marilyn Burke, the special education supervisor for the Oxford City Schools, has been an inspiration to many students, including Courtney Varrichione, a Gadsden State student who nominated her for the award. Marilyn has taught her accountability on the road to recovery as well as to never give up on having a new chapter in life. Through the years, Marilyn has helped Courtney make it through an eating disorder and has advocated for her children, all of whom have developmental delays.
Joe Hall
Joe Hall volunteers as the coordinator of the Baptist Campus Ministry at Gadsden State Cherokee. Once a week, he enlists the help of Baptist churches in Cherokee County to provide meals and speakers to student members. He assists in providing nourishment and spiritual peace. BCM participates in Operation Christmas Child and collects items for those affected by flooding and severe weather. He was nominated by Kelli Davis, a Gadsden State instructor at Gadsden State Cherokee.
Cotina Houston-Stroud
Cotina Houston-Stroud is the director of Family Links in Calhoun County. Family Links is a non-profit organization that provides a continuum of support services for children and youth. She also serves as a licensed professional counselor working with individuals and families to address and treat mental and emotional disorders. She was nominated by Pearl Owens, director of Upward Bound on the Ayers Campus.
Heath McLeod
Heath McLeod is the counselor at Gaston Elementary School in the Etowah County School System. He regularly goes on home visits to ensure that students and their families have what they need. He created the Donors Choice Project, which raised money to purchase a washer and dryer used at the school to launder nap mats
and dirty clothes, and he coordinated the Pennies for Patients fundraiser for those battling leukemia and lymphoma. He was nominated by Kimberly Wyckoff, a fourth-grade teacher at Gaston Elementary School.
Joe Simmons
Joe Simmons is a pastor who has a passion for repatriating fathers into their families and the community following incarceration. He believes in healing the whole person by intensive therapy, career training and personal advocacy. He owns a kennel and dog obedience school, serves as the pastor of New Liberty Tabernacle of Praise and is the founder of the Etowah County CommUnity Thanksgiving, which is the largest Thanksgiving mission in the state. He was nominated by Heather New, president of The Chamber of Gadsden/Etowah, and Dr. Cynthia Toles, Gadsden city councilwoman.