City honors 10 for service

The city recognized 10 people for their service to the city during the annual State of the City Address at City Hall on Monday night.

Mayor’s Award of Excellence

Sterling Wilder

submitted photos

Wilder is co-founder and ex-ecutive director of the Jubilee Family Development Center. His public service also includes nine years as a Lynchburg School Board member and volunteering on the boards of numerous or-ganizations, including the Hunton-Randolph Community Center, the Free Clinic of Central Virginia, Girl Scouts of VA Skyline Council and the Workforce Investment Board.

Wilder is also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and assistant pastor of the Prayer of Faith Temple Church. He has received a number of awards over the years, including Oprah Winfrey’s “Use Your Life” award.

Stuart D. Givens

Givens, better known as Danny, is the owner of Givens Books. Over the years, he has helped in efforts to promote literacy and reading, including sponsoring the Mayor’s Amazing Book Race and implementing a rebate program that has returned tens of thousands of dollars to the local schools.

Givens also volunteers with The Gateway, a shelter for homeless men, the Retail Merchants Association and the Jubilee Family Development Center.

Rhonda Fuller Callaham

In her professional life, Callaham works with at-risk juveniles, battered women, at-risk men, substance abusers, mental health patients and the HIV/AIDS com-munity. She currently is seeking a master’s degree in addiction counseling at Liberty University.

Callaham also co-founded the nonprofit Coalition for HIV Awareness and Prevention of Central Virginia and serves on the boards of the Free Clinic, the YWCA and Miriam’s House. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and The Links.

Ralph Wilson

Wilson, owner of Choppers Barber Shop, has used his busi-ness both to mentor young men and make significant contributions to Lynchburg’s downtown.

Wilson, better known as “Chopper,” has three local shops. He has developed a partnership with the prosecutor’s office to provide work for young men in the court system. He has also completed extensive renovations of two historic Main Street build-ings that now house the Parlor Ballroom and the Market at Main restaurant and grocery store, as well as several luxury lofts.

Wilson said his proudest mo-ments are when he can save an old building, a young man on the wrong path or a bad haircut.

Pat Harrington

Harrington is an accomplished artist who has exhibited her work across Virginia as well as a patron of Lynchburg’s art com-munity. She was an inaugural member of the Virginia Water-color Society, a member of the Maier Museum of Art and a volunteer with the Academy of Fine Arts, Riverviews Artspace and the Lynchburg Art Club. In 2006, she donated $500,000 to the Cornerstone Campaign of the Academy of Fine Arts.

Along with her lifelong passion for the arts, Harrington is a generous supporter of other local organizations, such as Meals on Wheels.

The Mitchell Sisters

Kathryn Mitchell Drayton, Louise Mitchell and Violet Mitchell are often referred to simply as “The Mitchell Sisters,” although each has individual accomplishments.

Kathryn, oldest of the five Mitchell siblings, built a 36-year career in publishing in New York, where she also developed an interested in art and became a founding member of the Nubian Women’s Art Circle and Sankofa Arts Incorporated. She relocated to Lynchburg five years ago and has exhibited many local artists through Sankofa Arts at Africa House and other Lynchburg galleries.

In nearly 25 years of community service, Louise has focused on empowering and educating women and girls. A former teacher, she is a founding member of several organizations, including Sisters Inc. and Phenomenal Women. She also volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Miller Home and serves on the board of the Economic Development Authority.

Violet developed a passion for community service while serving as the Commissioner for Youth and Community Development in New York. She is the founder of the Leadership Institute for African-American Female Executives and co-founder of the Nubian Women’s Art Circle. She recently joined the board of the Legacy Museum.

The Mitchell sisters together established the Ethel C. and Henry A. Mitchell Memorial Foundation, in memory of their parents, to provide college schol-arships. They also organized a “Pink Auction” to raise money for breast cancer research and edu-cation in memory of their mother and in honor of Louise, a 25-year breast cancer survivor.

Joyce Sachs

Since moving to Lynchburg in 1974, Sachs has served as PTA president at her daughter’s school, Brownie troop leader and unit chairman, a local Jerry Lewis Telethon organizer, a Community Dialogue on Race and Racism facilitator and committee member, a founding member of the Central Virginia Kidney Association and a Friday Cheers volunteer.

She also has served on the boards of the Family Alliance, Friends of the Community Market, Crisis Line, Friends of the Lynchburg Symphony, Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Lynchburg Lifesaving Crew, just to name a few. She is the current president of both the Police Academy Alumni and the Central Virginia Crimestoppers Board.

Vice Mayor’s Young Adult Award of Excellence

Erin Stover

Stover, the exhibitions and programs manager at Riverviews Artspace, also volunteers with organizations such as the Ameri-can Cancer Society, the Humane Society and the National Park Service.

In 2006, Stover began working with the Literacy through Photography program at the Amelia Pride Center, a joint endeavor of Riverviews Artspace and Lynchburg College. Through the program, Stover teaches photography to eighth-graders, creating lesson plans and organizing an exhibition of their final work.