Winners at the annual Greater Pell City Chamber of Commerce Celebration Luncheon were announced Thursday. From left are chamber Executive Director Lynn Batemon; chamber president Bernard White; Citizen of the Year winner Pam Adamson; Charley Jones and Helen Powell with the Animal Shelter of Pell City, winner of the Small Business Award; Gary Smith with CenturyLink, winner of the Large Industry Award; Ronnie Harris with Northside Medical Associates, winner of the Large Business Award; and Linda Crow, chamber member and chairwoman of the luncheon.
And when all was said and done, all 120 in attendance were heroes.
Five awards were handed out, including the Citizen of the Year, which went to Pam Adamson, The Daily Home/St. Clair Times marketing director
The Small Business Award went to Animal Shelter of Pell City; The Large Business Award went to Northside Medical Associates; The Small Industry Award went to American Waste Services: and the Large Industry Award went to CenturyLink.
Chamber Executive Director Lynn Batemon said she stood up and looked out as Willis was singing and thought, “You know, there is a little bit of hero in everything. The businesses and individuals who were represented here today are what make Pell City go. It’s just a good feeling and my heart just filled up.”
Guest speaker was Pell City High School head football coach David Shores.
Citizen of the Year
Adamson said it is an honor to be named Citizen of the Year, but the other four women nominated were just as deserving.
“I have lived in Pell City since 1974, and it is such an honor to be named its Citizen of the Year,” Adamson said. “It’s great to have grown up here, and to be able to work civically side by side with people I grew up with. It is great to see Pell City growing like it is. It’s wonderful just to be part of it all.”
Small Business
Helen Powell is president of the Board of Directors for the Animal Shelter of Pell City Inc. She said being named Business of the Year is wonderful.
“We’ve been in business now for 11 years and we’re making progress because we’re trying to work ourselves out of business,” Powell said. “What we want to do is decrease the number of animals that come to us for care. This is the first year since we’ve been open that our incoming numbers have declined during the year. I do believe that’s because of our spay/neuter program so we can fix the animals in the county so they don’t reproduce. We also hope it’s because of our education program where people are learning not to let their animals roam and not let them reproduce at will.
Large Business
Ronnie Harris is Human Resources manager with Northside Medical Associates. He said it is a great time and a great recognition for the employees at Northside Medical Associates.
“Our employees work very hard in doing what they do in serving the community,” Harris said. “We have seven physicians, six nurse practitioners, four managers and 53 employees. I am proud of every one of them.”
Small Industry
The winner was American Waste Services.
Large Industry
Gary Smith is with CenturyLink and he thanked mainly the 40 employees who are located specifically in Pell City.
“We have a large group who are very dedicated to the community,” Smith said. “On behalf of CenturyLink as a company, with the acquisition of Quest, we have become the third largest telecommunication company in the country and 45,000 employees strong. We want to thank the city of Pell City for this award.”
Contact Gary Hanner at ghanner@thestclairtimes.com.
