Jenkins Jefferson Award

Dr. Martha C. Jenkins Honored with Jefferson Award

             Dr. Martha C. Jenkins was one of the four local residents selected for the prestigious South Central Kentucky Jefferson Awards for selfless public service, sponsored by the Daily News and the WBKO-TV, and presented April 19, 2012. Her story is one of decades of community service and numerous volunteerism awards and recognitions. In addition to teaching in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) at Western Kentucky University over a period of 40 years, she had continued that service after retiring from her faculty position.

             Although she has worked with numerous service organizations and groups over the years, her particular passions are working with the WKU Beta Delta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron (Phi U) National Honor Society, which she has done since 1964 in various capacities, including on their professional service projects involving the community, and with the Dream Factory, Inc. of Bowling Green making dreams come true for critically and chronically ill children. The Beta Delta Chapter Phi U honor society has won national recognition for their projects in 13 of the last 15 years Jenkins has advised the professional service project. She says it is particularly rewarding to see students turned on to the joy of providing service to others. It is also rewarding to her to see the delight in the faces of Dream Factory children for whom she has been the dream coordinator.

          Cynthia Jones, current Chapter Advisor to the WKU Phi U honor society, writes that Jenkins' story is one others should try to model themselves after and that the world needs more people like Dr. Jenkins.