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There was serious browsing along the
tables lined with the silent auction
items. There was spirited bidding in
response to auctioneer Jay Hoy’s rapid
chant and teasing for the live auction.
An anonymous woman said she would match
cash contributions that night, and there
had already been contributions from the
event’s sponsors.
It added up to $50,000,
organizer Donna Marshall said this week
about the Koinonia Foundation’s annual
fund-raising dinner at The Forks
Cafeteria Saturday night attended by
about 180 people.
The Koinonia Foundation will
use the money, $5,000 short of this
year’s goal, for grants to local
charities and organizations and to help
individuals in need who are referred by
churches and ChurchNet. Koinonia is now
asking for grant applications.
A highlight was the naming
of the Russell Dew Community Service
Award to Carolyn Furr.
“She thrives on taking care
of others,” Heather Holding, chairman of
the foundation’s board of directors,
said. “If there’s an event happening to
benefit a community group in Wake
Forest, you can bet she’ll be there and
working.
“From the Fourth of July
Committee where she’s helped with the
fireworks show, the children’s parade
and art in the park – in fact none other
than Fourth of July Chair Rhonda
Alderman has called her ‘my right arm’
in planning the Fourth of July
celebration – to the Historic Homes
Tour, the Well-Dressed Garden and Art
Tour, and Hoops for Wake Forest, she’s
always there to help with the volunteer
effort,” Holding said.
Furr, who is the executive
assistant at the Wake Forest Chamber of
Commerce where she organizes hosts for
the Parade of Homes and sells tickets
for every community event, is the
chairman of the Wake Forest Community
Council and president of the Wake Forest
Woman’s Club. She has also served on a
variety of boards.
Furr’s son, Tommy, was at
the dinner, and her daughters, Lenora
and Elaine, and her grandson, Zachary,
were surprise guests.
The award was first given in
1996 to Jim Adams, who helped organize
the foundation, and since then to Anna
Sumerlin, Thelma Wright, Beverly
Whisnant, Durward Matheny, Rhonda
Alderman and Evelyn Jones.
Along with Holding,
Koinonia’s board members are Jimmy
Allen, Sue Anthony, Kenille Baumgardner,
Velma Boyd, Lee Darch, Mark Fleming,
Mark Johnson, Mike Johnson, Donald Moss,
Todd Warrick and Beverly Whisnant. |
