The city’s Linda Harris sends along this press release announcing Decatur’s 2011 Hometown Heroes…

Decatur honored 14 Hometown Heroes in 2011 for contributions made to the Decatur community on December 6, 2011 at the December Decatur Business Association meeting held at Agnes Scott College including Alan Ashe, Marc Brennan, Roger Bryant, Jodi Dick, Daniel Flores, Walter Kellar, Lori Leland Kirk, Louis & Sandra Rice, Susan Riley, Mark Sanders, Melissa Stratton, Seegar Swanson, and Kyle Williams.

Hometown Heroes are those volunteers who work, often behind the scenes, to make the City of Decatur a better place to live, work, and play.  They are nominated by people in the community and are judged by professionals who work with volunteers on a regular basis and do not know the nominees.

Decatur started its Hometown Hero program in 1996 at the close of the Hometown to the World Festival held during the Olympics.  The 14-day festival was a success because of the hundreds of volunteers who helped.

At the close of that festival, the City Commission honored the volunteers, and since then the Hometown Hero awards have been presented annually.  With the 2011 presentations, Decatur has designated 245 Hometown Heroes.

There is a “Hometown Hero Wall” in City Hall with a photo and the names of all of the Hometown Heroes by year.  It is located on the 1^st floor stairs going down to the City Commission Meeting Room.  The 2011 heroes will join the photo display in January.  All of the Hometown Heroes are also featured on the City of Decatur website at www.decaturga.com.

Check out Decatur’s Hometown Heroes of the past HERE.

As mentioned on InDecatur a couple days ago, the city recently awarded ten Decatur residents, along with the Decatur Book Festival’s exec committee with 2007′s Hometown Hero Awards.Tom Bell over at the DBF blog thanks everyone for the award and points out that its many more people than just the exec board that makes the book festival possible.

Maybe next year instead of a plaque, the city could spring for a gold, asexual figure lifting a three-dimensional version of the “homes, schools and places of worship” logo over its head?

Now that’s something you invite the neighbors over to show off!