Presentation of the award, scheduled for 9 a.m. in Baird Lounge of the Alumni Building, will be the opening event of "Connecting and Collaborating in Appalachia: Developing our Nonprofits," a day-long conference sponsored by the College's Center for Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS) and the Office of Special Programs, for professionals and volunteers involved with non-profit organizations in the region.

The Service Award was established in 1978 to recognize persons who have rendered outstanding service to society in achieving the ideas of Berea College’s Great Commitments: the cause of Christ; liberal education; interracial living; service to Appalachia; and equality between men and women.

Emel Atkins, a retired dentist and a 1957 graduate of Berea College, and his wife Margaret Atkins, a former guidance counselor and a 1958 Berea alumna, are co-founders of Missionary Health Service in Springfield, Ohio. This interfaith, non-denominational Christian organization has sponsored 15 trips to its main clinic in Honduras. There are now volunteers from 15 states and Canada, including physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care providers. The clinic offers a wide range of medical services to people who would otherwise lack needed care.

At 9:30 a.m., following the Service Award presentation, Franki Patton Rutherford, director of Big Creek People in Action in Caretta. W.Va., give the keynote address titled "Life Again in the Coalfields."

Rutherford has been a community activist in southern West Virginia for 25 years. She is the coordinator of Just Connections, a network of college faculty and community activists dedicated to social change and democracy in the mountains of Appalachia.

For additional information, contact Dreama Gentry, office of special programs at (859) 985-3853.