"Last

year the committee felt that we needed to do something special for those

partners who have really gone above and beyond for our schools so we decided

it would be nice to honor them with an award," says Jim Pittman,

co-chair of the Partners in Education Committee.

The nominees

for the second annual Partner of the Year Award were Fairbanco, First

Union Bank (Fayetteville), J & R Clothing, Inc., Publix (Fayetteville),

SunTrust Bank (Peachtree City), Wachovia Bank (Fayetteville), Fayette

Chiropractic Center, Florida Rock Industries, Leslie Contracting, Publix

(Peachtree City) and Ultimate Security.

The winners

of the 2001 Partner of the Year Award were Fayette Chiropractic Center

(small business) and SunTrust Bank (corporate).

The Fayette

Chiropractic Center has actively participated and supported two of the

school system's volunteer programs, the Friends Mentor Program and the

Partners in Education Speakers Bureau. More than half of the staff at

Fayette Chiropractic are active mentors in several of the county's elementary

schools. In addition to mentoring, the business also works hard to help

the school system's volunteer recruiting efforts by displaying program

brochures, news articles and pictures of their staff's mentoring activities.

Additionally,

staff members have gone before local business and civic groups to talk

about the impact mentoring has on children and to encourage stronger community

participation. Rather than focus on their business, the advertisement

they purchased in this year's Town Planner publicized the mentoring program

and served as a reminder to the community as the new school year begun.

SunTrust Bank

has been actively involved in several programs and activities in the school

system. As a partner to Oak Grove Elementary School, the business has

provided "pat on the back" ribbons to students which recognize

outstanding performance. A donation of $525 was given to the kindergarten

class to purchase equipment for their Poetic Journey Portfolio and another

$500 was donated to the school's running club for the purchase of team

shirts for all of the students to wear to their events.

For the holidays,

each staff member prepared a stocking for a family in need whose children

attend Oak Grove. The stockings were for grandmother, grandfather and

three children and included items such as toys, school supplies, toiletries

and candy.

Schools and

businesses nominate companies and organizations for the Partner of the

Year award. A maximum three-page letter describing what the nominee has

done for the school is part of the formal nomination process. A group

of judges made up of community members read the nominations and select

one small business and one corporation as the recipients of the award.

Both the small

business and corporate partner of the year received trophies. All nominees

received a certificate.

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