Residents Make Contributions to their Community

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The Clarendon County Chamber of Commerce will hold an awards ceremony Sept. 5 honoring three residents of Clarendon County for their outstanding contributions to our community. Randy S. “Bull” Floyd, Beatrice Rivers and Kay Kirkpatrick will receive the honors of businessman, citizen, and ambassador of the year, respectfully.
Businessman of the Year Randy S. “Bull” Floyd lives in New Zion, where he owns the multi-million dollar business, Floyd’s Fertilizer.
“He’s always been a pillar of the community,” said Benton Blakely, who nominated Floyd for the award this year, “We have very few industries on our side of the county and he excelled in his business greatly. Farming has always been a huge industry and he’s always been there to help the farmers. He’s a great candidate to be business person of the year.”
However, Floyd leaves most of the credit to his community and staff.”I’m not one to pat myself on the back a lot, but we have worked hard and made some right decisions and I guess as far as business we’ve done pretty well,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time right here in Clarendon County and I’m extremely proud of my staff.”
Citizen of the Year Kay Kirkpatrick has been a resident of Clarendon County since 1973. Her nominator, Charlotte Johnston of the Harvin Clarendon County Library speaks very highly of her.
“She’s kinda one of those people who should be citizen of the year every year,” she said “A citizen of the year is a cheerleader for whatever we have going on in our county. It’s not enough just to support and help the county, but to also strive to bring new people in, Kay does this every day.”
FTC’s Chip Chase was the sponsor for this year’s award.
“We take great pride in our involvement,” he said.  “It is one of the best parts of my job when I get to present that at the chamber banquet every year. I get excited about meeting those folks and seeing what they do for the community.”
Kirkpatrick couldn’t be more shocked with this honor.
 “I am just flabbergasted with that,” she said.  “There are lots of people who deserve that honor. I like to bring new people into this county, because our my generation needs to move on and let the younger generation take over. It’s all about increasing the well being of the people in our county.”
Ambassador of the Year Beatrice Rivers has been a staple of the community since her involvement in the Briggs v. Elliott case, which kickstarted the desegregation of schools in Summerton in 1952. Her nominator, Jim Felder, recounted her history of involvement with the community.
“She’s a part of the history of Clarendon County,” he said. “Her contributions to Summerton are incredible. Very much a homegirl, she has done so much for Clarendon County.”
.George and Carol Summers have sponsored the ambassador of the year award for several years,
“We thought there was a need for this award,” said George. “There was nobody stepping forward to sponsor this award so we decided to until they found someone else and we’ve been doing it ever since.”
Rivers was very humble about her accomplishment,
“It’s quite an honor for a group of people to decide I’m even worthy of such an honor. It means I must be doing something that people think is okay,” she said. “I’m sure there are people doing a lot more than I am currently so I’m very proud to be chosen for this award.”
The recipients will be recognized at the Chamber’s annual Awards dinner, held at the Alderman 20 Stores in One building in Manning. The awards are best described by FTC’s Chip Chase,
“We believe in community involvement and supporting our chamber of commerce, the awards they give are prestigious and cast a spotlight on individuals who don’t really ask for it.”