From Duane Gordon

Terry Sherrer and Carole Schul will be honored with special awards at the Middletown Community Foundation’s 25th anniversary gala and annual meeting next month, the organization has announced.

Sherrer, executive director of the Middletown Family Y downtown, will receive the Mary Maurer Volunteer of the Year honor, and Schul, a retired pre-school educator and longtime community volunteer, will take home the Mary Jane Plamer Nunlist “I Love Middletown” Award. The honors will be given at the Community Foundation event which will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10 at Savannah Center in West Chester.

The Middletown Community Foundation was originally created as a component of the Middletown United Way in 1976 but separated into its own independent organization in 1986, the anniversary being celebrated at this event.

“With the closing of the Manchester Inn, where I believe we’ve had the Annual Meeting for the past quarter century, we had to find a new location,” explained Executive Director T. Duane Gordon. “Unfortunately, we were unable to find a facility locally that met all of our needs for this anniversary gala, so our committee chose the Savannah Center, which is a bit of a drive but best suited this particular event. However, with some recent developments in the city, we hope to be able to return the Annual Meeting to Middletown in 2012!”

The evening will also serve as a look back at the Middletown Community Foundation’s impact over the past 25 years in Middletown, Monroe, Madison Township, Franklin, Trenton and Lemon Township. In that time period the Community Foundation has distributed more than $30 million in grants and scholarships throughout the community.

Sherrer, who lives in Cincinnati, first came to town in late 2007 as executive director of the Middletown Family YMCA downtown. He immediately devoted his attention to becoming part of the community, initiating a Stop the Violence Rally in 2008 and a Celebration of Character Awards, being held for its third year the night after he accepts the Community Foundation award.

He is the immediate past president of the Middletown Rotary Club and a member of the Middletown Area United Way executive board, Downtown Middletown Committee, Family Service of Middletown board, Pigskin Roundball Committee and Middletown City Schools Curriculum Committee. He also served as Principal for a Day and spoke at Malachi’s Perry Thatcher Youth Conference.

Schul has been a fixture in Middletown since relocating here 40 years ago with her husband, Dave. She retired as a Middletown City Schools kindergarten teacher in 1995 before serving as director and teacher at First Presbyterian Nursery School from 1995 until her second retirement last year. For a decade and a half she has overseen the Middletown Symphony Orchestra’s scholarship program and over the years has served on the boards of Summer Youth Theatre, Artists in Residency and MiddFest International.

She has also served as president of the Middletown Symphony Women’s Association and member of the board of the Middletown Symphony Orchestra since 2004, having won its annual Conductor’s Auction with her husband in 2001.

In addition to the arts, she has been very involved at Atrium Medical Center, serving as an active volunteer at the hospital in addition to president of the Atrium Auxiliary Middletown and board member of the Atrium Medical Center Foundation. She is recording secretary of Soroptimist International of Middletown, a member of the Middletown Community Foundation Board of Trustees, hospitality chair for the MidUSA Ohio Challenge balloon festival and member of PEO, Middletown Women Teacher’s Club, Shovel and Hoe Garden Club and Holy Family Church.

Each honoree designates a charity to receive a cash prize in his or her honor. Sherrer chose for his $500 award to support the YMCA Celebration of Character Awards, while Schul chose for her $1,000 award to be split between the Middletown Symphony Orchestra and Women’s Health Issues In Miami-valley Sisterhood (WHIIMS), each of which will receive $500.

In addition to honoring Schul and Sherrer, the Ron Ely Presidential Award will be presented that evening. Its honoree is not announced in advance, Gordon said, so that it may be a surprise, even to the person receiving it.

The Annual Meeting and 25th Anniversary Gala is open to and free for all current members of the Middletown Community Foundation and invited guests. For information on becoming a member, call 513-424-7369.