07 Apr 2016 Award recipients recognized for service
Story and photos
by Sonja J. Keith
Individuals who have given their time and talents to their community as well as outstanding local businesses were recently honored during the Greenbrier Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet.
Pastor Freddie Mark Wilcox was selected as the Citizen of the Year.
Tim Tyler was named the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award.
Greenbrier High School senior Jesse Buchanan was named Student of the Year. For the first time, the chamber added a $1,000 scholarship to the award.
Other honorees were:
New Business of the Year: Southern Savvy
Non-Profit/Service Organization of the Year: Greenbrier Police Department
Small Business of the Year: Wilcox Feed and Supply
Business of the Year: Greenbrier Family Medicine
Outgoing chamber board members Donna Spears and Treva Branscum were also recognized.
A 1978 graduate of Greenbrier High School, Wilcox said his father (the late Freddie Wilcox) was his greatest teacher. “He taught me one thing — to treat everybody alike. That’s not only nice and moral, that’s biblical. That’s been a real help to me.”
Wilcox is considered a visionary, a planner and a contributor — no task is too large or too small. He is committed to improving the quality of life for others. With nearly 18 years in the ministry, Wilcox’s role as pastor to LifeSong Baptist Church is just one of the numerous hats he wears. He’s also the chaplain for the Greenbrier Volunteer Fire Department.
“I tell people I don’t deserve to be Citizen of the Year because you can’t just stand one person alone. It truly takes a village,” he said. “I tell people I’m an ambassador for Greenbrier if I’m anything because what would you not love about Greenbrier.”
A lifelong Greenbrier resident, Tyler graduated in 1983 from Greenbrier High School. He followed in his father’s footsteps as a land surveyor and joined the family business, Tyler Group, which has done surveying, mapping and engineering since 1968.
For more than 30 years, Tyler has been a committed member of the Greenbrier Volunteer Fire Department. He currently serves as a battalion chief within the organization, recruiting and training firefighters.
Tyler also serves as commander of the Faulkner County Emergency Squad, which provides search and rescue operations as well as support services for the sheriff’s office.
Tyler’s extensive knowledge of soils and waste water treatment triggered his passion to supply clean water to villages in developing countries. He created a non-profit ministry, called Water for Christ, through the Baptist Missionary Association.
His goal has been to provide the tools and training for those in other countries to become self-sufficient to create wells to supply clean water. “We never go anywhere without spreading the Word of Jesus Christ.”
Currently ranked first in his class at Greenbrier High School, Buchanan has a GPA of 4.3 and an ACT composite of 33. He has taken eight AP courses and accumulated college hours.
In addition to being at the top of his class academically, Buchanan is also very involved outside the classroom. He has numerous hours of community service by volunteering with Greenbrier High School, Vacation Bible School, Habitat for Humanity, Tornado Disaster Relief, Bethlehem House and nursing homes.
Buchanan plans to attend Harding University and is interested in a possible major in engineering.
“This honor means so much to me personally because it shows that my hard work is paying off and that members of my community are recognizing what I’ve done,” said Buchanan. “I can’t take all the credit, though; this award shows that my parents have done their job and raised me right. There is no way that I would be receiving this award if they hadn’t taught me how important it is to put forth all available effort into everything I do, and to try as hard as I can to serve others.”
