Magazine presents annual honors

BENSON — Johnston Now Magazine has announced this year’s Johnston Now Honors.

The awards program, now in its seventh year, spotlights the accomplishments of Johnston County residents and groups.

“We’re so proud to celebrate this year’s honorees,” said Shanna Capps, general manager of JNOW Media. “These people go above and beyond every day to make a difference in our community, and it’s a privilege to shine a light on their positive work.”

This year’s honorees are Joy Callahan, Spirit of the County; Activate Selma, Nonprofit of the Year; Eugene and Glenda Worley, Exemplary Volunteers; T.J. Blake, Veteran Service; Kim Minshew Robertson, Legend Award; Mackenzie Murphy, Rising Star; Catina Hartley, Best Healthcare Professional; Phillip McDaniel, Outstanding Firefighter; Pam Ryan, Dynamic Entrepreneur; Tomeka Moore, Distinguished Police Officer; Austin Turnage, Inspiring Coach; and Magen Hill Pike, Excellence in Arts.

Callahan, the executive director of the Johnston Community College Foundation, has supported JCC in several capacities since 1999.

“I’ve got a sign on my door in my office that says ‘hope,’ and that’s a lot of what we are at JCC,” she said. “We are hope for people that may not have thought they could do it. … They get that education and they get out and get those better jobs. So it’s been a blessing of just being able to do the things that I’ve been able to do.”

From little things like beautification efforts and outdoor murals to more ambitious projects like Rockin’ on Raiford, Activate Selma has been a change agent in that corner of Johnston County since its inception.

“Everyone wants to grow individually, but you have to grow as a town; we grow together,” board member Ron Hester said. “It’s not really a personal agenda. … It doesn’t work if it’s all about you.”

The Worleys served as missionaries in places like Ethiopia, Norway and England for more than half a century.

“It is a challenge, but we look back and we don’t think of the negative things; you think of the positive things,” Eugene said. “But I think that’s the main thing: If you know that God has called you … you can deal with anything.”

A chance meeting with a Navy recruiter changed the course of Blake’s life. He went from being a high school dropout to 21 years of naval service. He lost his way a bit after an injury forced him into early retirement, but he found it again in serving his fellow veterans through organizations like Benson’s Veterans Helping Veterans.

“As a veteran for 21 years, I had a mission,” he said. “I knew what my purpose was. When you get sent home and you’re sitting around twiddling your thumbs, you don’t have that mindset or those stresses, so you start creating them and creating a bad environment. Doing all of this stuff with actual boots-on-the-ground nonprofits actually gives me that sense of purpose.”

Robertson is on the Four Oaks Board of Commissioners, retired in 2018 as the director of Johnston County Emergency Services and is currently associate vice president of public safety at Johnston Community College.

“I have been so truly blessed,” she said. “I have met a lot of people at the lowest points in their life, but to be a part of that process to help them get back up to where they needed to be” is a blessing.

At just 16 years old, Murphy is a student ambassador for the nonprofit Reelin’ for Research and started a branch at South Johnston. The nonprofit holds a fishing tournament in Morehead City each year and to date has raised more than $7 million for childhood cancer research. All money raised goes to support research at UNC Health Children’s Hospital.

“I attended (the fishing tournament) with my family in support of our friend, and I just loved it, and we were trying to figure out a way to volunteer,” Murphy said. “That’s where we found out that you could volunteer with your high school, and they had student ambassadors. … My sophomore year, we started raising money and we raised about $1,500 our first year.”

Hartley grew up in Princeton, and as a preacher’s kid, she learned a bit about service and helping others. She took those lessons and applied them to a 27-year career in nursing, where she’s touched countless lives.

“I’ve always loved to take care of people,” Hartley said. “My grandmother took care of people in her home, so I guess it’s kind of part of who I am.”

McDaniel has spent more than 30 years fighting fires in Johnston County, and these days as the chief of Selma’s Fire Department, he’s paying that experience forward.

“I had the honor of pulling a guy out of a window that probably just had a few seconds to live, and I can replay that every day,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff that you don’t want to remember, dealing with death and things like that, but that’s part of the job. The most memorable thing is seeing my guys go to work. I really do love to see them just perfect their job and see the passion that they have for it.”

Ryan and her young family faced a childcare crunch in Wilson’s Mills in 1985 with the birth of their second child. That need was the origin story for Kid’s Country, a child-care center with two locations that has served thousands of families in the last 39 years.

“I conjured up this plan that I would just start keeping kids,” Ryan said. “I involved my parents and we sat down and figured it out. … My husband came home from work, and I said, ‘I got it all figured out. I’m not going back to work.’ And he was like, ‘Oh, really?’ ”

Moore grew up in Kenly and graduated from North Johnston High School. She took a job just down U.S. 301 in Selma, and 17 years later, she’s still on the force at the Selma Police Department.

“I’ve actually been in the community for a while now but actually just started being the community policing officer,” she said. “So I actually love working with kids. You know, Selma has its low-poverty area, and there’s a lot of kids that don’t have much. And some kids, you don’t really know what they go home to. So it’s always good for me to try to make them feel good when I can.”

Turnage never set out to become a coach or a teacher, but a chance interview with his former track coach led the Benson native down both paths at North Johnston Middle School.

“I’ve always been the person that wants to go and jump in and do the jobs nobody really wants to do, the ones that don’t get paid well — the community jobs where I’m out talking to people and making people feel better,” he said.

Pike, a Smithfield-Selma High School art teacher and Princeton resident, has taught at several schools in her nearly 20-year career in education. In each school, she has left a lasting impact, both on the students and the buildings that house them.

She and her students can often be found out and about, most recently working on several murals in downtown Selma.

“I think what’s cool about it is when the community saw the students out there, they would just walk up and talk to them and kind of introduce themselves,” Pike said. “It honestly just started to feel like family,” she added.

The post Magazine presents annual honors first appeared on Restoration NewsMedia .