Photo by Sue WatsonFront row seated from left are Chris Thompson, Barton Fire Department; Rodney Bell, Red Banks Fire Department; Leslie King, Chulahoma Fire Department; Cindy Calhoun, Cayce Fire Department; Ron Ray Jr., Watson Fire Department; Alan Montoria, Waterford Fire Department. Back row from left are BEAM board members Bill Scott and Anita Cowan; Chris Gray, Mt. Pleasant Fire Department; Steve Gresham, BEAM; P.K. Thomas, CREATE; Fred Carlisle, BEAM; Adam Stone, Marshall County Fire Coordinator; Bill Stone, NMHC; Trey Hannah, Victoria Fire Department; Tim Owens, Wyatte/Chulahoma Fire Department; Cody Garrison, Byhalia Fire Department; Jonathan Daniel, Wyatte/Chulahoma Fire Department; Corey Blaine, Potts Camp Fire Department; Rodney Crane, Holly Springs Fire Department; Jason Motz, Emergency Management Director; Michael Holmes, Holly Springs Fire Department; Blake Bagwell, Waterford Fire Department; Sylvester Hollowell, Holly Springs Fire Department; and Angela Mayfield, BEAM board.
BEAM celebrates fire chiefs
Building Excellence and Advancing Marshall, also known as BEAM, a Marshall County affiliate of the CREATE Foundation, met Tuesday, Aug. 4 at the Marshall County Industrial Development Office in Holly Springs to present awards that honored several fire departments in the county, its fire chiefs and assistant chiefs.
BEAM president Steve Gresham opened the ceremony by acknowledging special guest Bill Stone, Chief Executive Officer with North Mississippi Health Care. NMHC donated to counties after the Ice Storm this January.
Gresham said BEAM was organized as a county affiliate to support nonprofits and special projects in Marshall County.
The BEAM board is still learning how to serve the community, he said.
Gresham noted P.K. Thomas, vice-president of development at CREATE and Bill Stone, Chief Executive Officer at NMHC, for their assistance in providing funding for awards to Marshall County fire departments and the Memorial for former board member Gemma D. Beckley.
CREATE was founded in 1972 to serve a 17-county foundation to support philanthropy in its service area. BEAM became one of 17 county affiliates in 2022, Gresham said.
The affiliate is a way to make gifts to nonprofit organizations and for special projects in Marshall County,
“We play a small role in that,” Gresham said.
Board member Bill Scott, a founding member of BEAM, announced a $5,000 award from BEAM and NMHC, as a memorial to the Gemma D. Beckley Family and Community Resource Center at Rust College. Scott, a Rust graduate, is president of the Marshall County Industrial Development Authority board and a Rust College faculty member.
“Gemma and I were not only friends, but we had teaching careers at Rust College,” he said of his former colleague.