The Community Foundation of the Ozarks has announced Morey Mechlin as this year’s Humanitarian Award recipient.
The executive director of Care to Learn, Mechlin is a longtime community volunteer and advocate for children. She’ll be honored at a noon luncheon on Monday, Dec. 15 at the Doubletree Hotel in Springfield.
The year’s event marks the 25th anniversary of the award, which was founded in 1990 by Springfield donor Jewell Thompson Schweitzer to honor individuals in the region who excel at serving others in a humanitarian capacity. The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce organizes a committee to review nominations and select the annual recipient.
Mechlin was nominated by Care to Learn Founder Doug Pitt for her previous work building the Foundation for Springfield Public Schools in its early days as well as for her participation on a large number of civic committees and activities. Calling her a “Champion for Springfield,” Pitt, also a previous Humanitarian winner, cited her work mentoring local nonprofits and noted that Care to Learn has now filled more than 350,000 health, hunger and hygiene needs for students in the communities it serves.
Mechlin’s volunteer activities have included serving as president of the Junior League of Springfield, the Greene County Medical Alliance, the Springfield-Greene County Library Board of Trustees, and the Rotary Club of Springfield. She also served as co-chair of the Citizens Keeping Our Commitment campaign committee for the City of Springfield’s referendums to support the Police-Fire Pension Fund.
“Morey is the poster child for a humanitarian and humanitarian causes!” wrote Jim Anderson, CoxHealth Vice President for Marketing & Public Affairs in a letter supporting her nomination. “It is who she is. It is how she thinks, and acts her life. It is how she models her behavior and her living.”
The Humanitarian award winner receives a $3,000 cash award, which has traditionally been donated to a charity of the winner’s choice.
Tickets for the luncheon are available by contacting Winter Skelton, Community Foundation of the Ozarks, (417) 864-6199; or wskelton@cfozarks.org. More information about the award and a link to purchase tickets online for $20 each is at: www.cfozarks.org/humanitarian.