By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – More than 150 volunteers from across the Mountain State joined Governor Earl Ray Tomblin June 7 at the Culture Center on the State Capitol Complex for “Spotlight on Main Street,” the Main Street and ON TRAC annual awards program. Although this year, no one from Parsons attended the event, PRO ON TRAC received a grant and a local PRO ON TRAC volunteer was recognized by the Governor for her many hours of volunteer service.
Bonnie Swyter Smith was nominated for the PRO ON TRAC Volunteer of the Year by Debbie Stevens. In her nomination letter, Stevens said Swyter Smith works hard to organize events such as the Bike and Hike and leads the committees with all events. Some of those events include the Celebrate Parsons Home Tour, 1st Night Dance, Music in the Park and cakewalks. She said Swyter Smith was instrumental in forming a Run for It team and helped design the new rack card for promoting all of Parsons’ events.
Tomblin said he was proud to recognize the hard work of the ON TRAC award recipients and celebrate their accomplishments. “The projects these programs support help build a strong foundation for economic growth, rejuvenate downtown areas and revitalize historic commercial districts across the state. These programs are the building blocks to help create a bright future for our communities now and for years to come,” Tomblin said.
Swyter Smith said she started with PRO ON TRAC about two and a half years ago.
“I am not the on-site supervisor for AmeriCorps – I started that in January of this year,” Swyter Smith said. “The rack cards all around town which tell of the Parsons events are what Sydney Haltom and I designed.”
Swyter Smith said she started the Parsons Bike Hike and said the group is getting ready to work on the Christmas House Tours.
“I helped with ArtSpring and painting the rocks in the park,” she said. “I also worked on painting the sidewalk crosswalk painting. I put a lot of the what’s happening things into the paper to let folks know what is going on with our program.”
Swyter Smith said Parsons is great because of the people and the cooperation of the business owners.
“Personally, I enjoy the rivers and the bike trail,” she said. “I am on the bike trail about every opportunity I can get.”
ON TRAC stands for organization, training, revitalization and capacity and helps communities boost economic growth with evaluation, education and training in local revitalization. There are currently 11 ON TRAC communities including Belington, Beverly, Charles Town, Kenova, Marlinton, Parkersburg, Parsons, Romney, Rowlesburg, Shinnston and Sutton.
ON TRAC Implementation Awards were given in the amount of $1,000 to assist ON TRAC communities with completion or continuation of a project within its comprehensive work plan. Parsons was awarded one of the ON TRAC Implementation Awards for $1,000 to be used for the renovation of the historic Masonic Lodge third floor community room, which will eventually provide space for offices and community events.
