The Pennyrile Area Development District celebrated a return to near normalcy and the steadfast work of the organization at the annual Dinner and Meeting Monday evening.
It was a full house at the James E. Bruce Convention Center, with Executive Director Jason Vincent saying it was a record crowd for the event. He thanked their sponsors, supporters, legislators and more that make the work PADD accomplishes possible, and says while the last two years have had more than their fair share of hardships, that only encouraged them to keep moving forward.
There were several awards and recognitions handed out at the meeting, including a Service Award to Bernard Standard, and Representative Jason Petrie received a Legislative Champ Award. Representative Petrie was surprised to receive it, and says western Kentucky is blessed to have stellar representation in Frankfort.
The John C. Mahre Award was presented by Kentucky’s Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman, who awarded it to the five Long Term Recovery groups in the region, saying the work they’re doing to help those impacted by devastating tornadoes will continue into the foreseeable future.
Keynote Speaker Doug Griffiths spoke on the importance of revitalizing communities, and gave advice on key ways on how to keep them from stagnating and bringing people into the area to live and make a future.