MCC President Dr. Tom Huebner receives Reconciler Award
At the awards presentation are Jinnell Miller, left, Stacey Miller, and MCC President
Dr. Tom Huebner.
Meridian Community College President Dr. Tom Huebner received the Reconciler Award
from the Rev. Charlie J. Miller Foundation and Reconciliation Committee during the
Rev. Charlie J. Miller Memorial Luncheon.
The Reconciler Award honors those who work to build bridges across racial lines, said Stacey Miller, foundation vice president and reconciliation committee chair. "The committee looks for people who are making strides in bringing together people of diverse backgrounds," she said as a criterion for the award.
Miller noted it was one action that caught her attention. “I was impressed when Dr. Huebner was at the MLK Day Parade. That, to me, showed he has a heart for bringing people together," she said.
Judge Veldore Young Graham, Lauderdale County Court and Juvenile Court judge, also received the award. Miller noted, "Judge Young has worked tirelessly in the same vein.”
Dr. Huebner was honored and humbled to receive the award from the committee. “It serves as a powerful affirmation of the transformative potential within our community to foster unity, understanding and healing,” he said.
“This award is not just a personal achievement, but a reflection of the spirit and determination in our community and our college as well,” he said.
The luncheon was a part of the 16th annual Reconciliation Week Celebration that remembers the 20th anniversary of the Lockheed workplace shootings that took the lives of Rev. Miller and five others. Though he worked in his later years at Lockheed, Rev. Miller was a brick mason, business owner, and pastor known for his love of God, family, youth, people at every level, and reconciliation.
According to the foundation, its mission is to continue Rev. Miller's legacy by catalyzing positive change in the community through promoting reconciliation and the acceptance of others with continuous dialogue and education among diverse groups and meeting social needs through outreach.
For more information about MCC, visit meridiancc.edu. To learn more about the Rev. Charlie J. Miller Foundation, visit the RWC – Reconciliation Week Celebration Facebook page.