MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce honored three area residents Tuesday night at the annual chamber banquet.

The awards recognized the Man of the Year, Ben Marion; the Woman of the Year, Lacey Herndon; and the Agri-business Person of the Year, Robert “Plenn” Hunnicutt.

Man of the Year

Ben Marion

Recently retired as CEO of Turning Point Hospital, Ben Marion has moved into private practice as a counselor, but the impact of his work, his volunteerism and his influence resonate throughout the community.

Marion, a licensed clinical social worker and a licensed marriage and family therapist, has been heavily involved in civic service through the YMCA, United Way, Boys and Girls Club, Colquitt County Arts Center, Healthy Colquitt Coalition, National Association for Mental Illness and First United Methodist Church.

He was nominated by the Moultrie chapter of NAMI, which emphasized his work in the mental health field, but letters of support came from people with a variety of experiences to share.

Becky Woods, of Hawkinsville, Ga., told how Marion practically grew up at her house; she described him as an “unofficial” adopted older brother. And she told how she had turned to him when she faced challenges in her own life and in raising her daughter, who struggled with opioid addiction.

His four sisters described a difficult childhood that helped turn Marion into the caring person he is today. Former patients and co-workers told many stories of how he helped them through difficult times.

“I first came to Moultrie almost seven years ago via rehabilitation services for a terrible opiate addiction,” one wrote. “I first met Ben at a long term program for recovering women. I never thought that the day I met him would determine the direction of the next several years of my and my daughter’s life.”

She described the “support, advocacy and unconditional love” showed to her and her young daughter by Marion and his wife, Jenny.

“The most important thing to consider about my story: There are dozens of others just like me,” she wrote. “Ben and his wife have played the same role in numerous lives. Ben lives for helping others.”

Superior Court Judges Brian McDaniel and Frank Horkan, who have each known Marion for more than two decades, told how he helped found the Colquitt County Accountability Court, better known as the “Drug Court,” by offering 10 to 14 days inpatient treatment at Turning Point to the court’s participants at no cost to the county or state before the county begins its outpatient program.

“Other judges who hear about this are always envious and wish they could have the same,” McDaniel wrote, noting that Marion’s successor, Judy Payne, has continued the program.

Woman of the Year

Lacey Herndon

When Bonnie Griner was getting ready for a double lung transplant, her friend Lacey Lanier Herndon was the one who stepped forward to lead volunteers raising money to offset the extraordinary expenses the operation would entail: not only the medical costs but lost wages, housing, meals, a multitude of things.

As community coordinator for the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, COTA, Herndon led The Bonfighters to raise $200,000 in about six months — double their initial goal. The money went to COTA, which used that and other resources to help Griner and her husband, Nick Chastain, keep going through a very tough time.

Griner was diagnosed as a child with cystic fibrosis, and for many years she dealt with the disease successfully. A bacterial infection in 2015 gave her health a sharp turn for the worse, though, and in 2017 she was on a waiting list for a lung transplant.

Chastain, who nominated Herndon for the Woman of the Year award, described his worries in his nomination letter: “I was worried about losing my wife. I was worried about losing my job. I was worried about losing our home. I was worried I was going to lose everything, including my future.”

“Lacey, one night with a group of friends at our house, started discussing the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) with all of us,” Chastain wrote. “Bonnie and I thought it was a great ‘idea.’ The thought of our friends raising enough money to cover our worries and needs seemed like a nice dream but realistically impossible. The evening wore on and they were still discussing COTA when someone mentioned the need for a president or leader — someone with the initiative to contact COTA and get the process started. One, two, three heartbeats passed and I heard the words that changed my life forever. Lacey Lanier Herndon said, ‘I’ll do it.’”

Griner received her lung transplant at Duke University in North Carolina May 1, 2017 — her birthday. She returned to Colquitt County the following September and began rebuilding her life.

A wide variety of fund-raisers by The Bonfighters made that possible, Chastain said. He wrote in his nomination letter that he wished he could nominate them all.

“In my mind, and all of the Bonfighters that I spoke to agreed, none of this would have happened if not for Lacey Lanier Herndon,” he said. “Her initiative. Her enthusiasm. Her determination. Her huge heart. Her dedicated and loving husband. Her drive for excellence in the name of others.”

Multiple members of The Bonfighters added letters of support to the nomination, as did Rick Lofgren, president of COTA.

“This volunteer group is the pinnacle of what a volunteer team can accomplish with the proper leadership and a hardworking, positive, motivational force like Lacey Herndon,” Lofgren wrote. “She exemplifies all attributes of a true leader. I only wish we had someone like Lacey to lead every COTA volunteer team.”

Herndon, a nurse and immunization coordinator at the Colquitt County Health Department, is a member of the Moultrie Service League. She’s the wife of Heath Herndon and the mother of two young children.

Agri-business Person of the Year

Robert “Plenn” Hunnicutt

Plenn Hunnicutt is the insurance agent of South Georgia Crop Insurance and a farmer himself with pecan trees and row crops.

Which gave last October’s hurricane a double impact for him.

A nomination letter from The Underwood Family and several letters of support from other local agri-businesspeople listed several good reasons to honor Hunnicutt, but most of the letters talked about Hurricane Michael.

“His true worth has become evident in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael,” wrote Tony Lasseter. “Since then Plenn has lobbied tirelessly on behalf of farmers who have been impacted by Michael. He has been in constant contact with legislatures and other policy makers in an attempt to procure aid for farmers. Without a doubt, no private individual in this area has done as much for farmers in this area in the aftermath of the storm as Plenn.”

Hunnicutt had the connections to reach out after the hurricane because last spring he formed the Georgia Producers Alliance, a nonprofit farm advocacy group that now has about 80 members, Lasseter said.

Hunnicutt currently serves on the Ameris Bank Community Board of Directors and the Future Farmers of America Advisory Council. He served on the Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority 2012-2017, including as chairman of the authority’s Ag Committee and a member of its Political Action and Strategic Planning committees. He has served as president of Colquitt County Young Farmers and has held several executive positions with the group.

He’s a member of First Baptist Church and of the Alumni Association of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

“Plenn’s father, Mr. Jack Hunnicutt, once said that character and service are two of the … core principles of a successful business and individual,” The Underwood Family said in its nomination letter. “Mr. Jack obviously instilled those traits in his own son because anyone that’s had the pleasure of doing business with or interacting with Plenn Hunnicutt will tell you that he is one of the finest fellows you will ever meet.”