Tasked with opening a gala celebrating community “Heroes,” Khye Givens did not take the moment lightly.
It was rather moving for him.
“To me, it felt like I really accomplished something,” the 16-year-old said. “When I heard the people who did it before, they really had to show that they were really a part of the club. For me to do it, when they were going here for a majority of their life, for me to only be here for three years and do it, it was a big accomplishment to me and something that will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
Khye, Boys and Girls Club of Jefferson County’s 2024 Youth of the Year, welcomed community leaders and other supporters to the sixth annual Heroes Banquet on Thursday at Pine Bluff’s First Methodist Church.
The Pine Bluff High School junior has the kind of fun he might have missed out on when he was younger. Khye said he was sent to the club to get out of the house.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Honestly, we have a ball,” he said. “When I first came, I was like, I don’t want to do it. Four years later, I go every day.”
Club CEO Tavante Calhoun said a Youth of the Year is selected based on grade-point average, regular attendance in the club, leadership and positive example set in the club.
The dinner raises funds every year for the local Boys and Girls Club, which welcomes students with after-school and summer activities at the Pine Bluff Community Center on Ash Street and the club’s Townsend Park location on Short Reeker Avenue. Calhoun announced big news for the latter location, that about $900,000 in commitments have been secured to renovate the facility that opened in 1970.
“It’s vital because we want to do all we can to support those kids on the Northside of our town and make sure we do all we can to encourage them and inspire them to let them know they can be the very best they can be,” Calhoun said. “And they deserve a quality facility like everyone else.”
The West Foundation has donated $500,000 toward the renovation, Calhoun said. The Walton Foundation ($300,000) and Simmons First Foundation ($100,000) have also made commitments.
The goal, Calhoun said, is $1.2 million.
Many community leaders were honored as Heroes, including FBT Bank’s LaTasha Randle for community service, Super 1 Foods’ Tiffany Curengton for volunteerism, Pine Bluff firefighter Carnell Greenlaw Jr. as a Frontline Hero, the Rev. James Rice in entrepreneurship, graphic artist DaQuaron Dale as an Artsy Hero, Pine Bluff High School choral director Kourtney Smith for education, Group Violence Intervention director the Rev. Kevin Crumpton for youth mentorship, Dr. Toni Middleton for health care and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s Teki Hunt for the environment. Shannon Morgan, the club’s board president, received the James Britt Service Award.
Rebecca Pittillo, president of the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, and Chad Pittillo, community president at Simmons Bank, sat on stage with banquet host Jennifer Kline for an interview in lieu of a keynote address.
Kline asked what the word “hero” means to the Pittillos.
“Hero, to me, isn’t always someone out front,” Chad Pittillo said. “To me, the heroes are the young men and women on stage tonight and our servers. … A hero is someone I can depend on, someone who can pull you from behind or push you out front, someone who is always there for you, someone who sacrifices for others.”
Heroes, Rebecca Pittillo said, are those who do what some others may not have the ability to do. An example she gave: “That quiet soul that shows up to an event or work each day and they do the right thing all the time, even when no one is working.”
Khye has big plans of his own, like attending the University of Northwestern Ohio to become a diesel mechanic.
“When I was a big Monster Jam fan, that’s what I wanted to do in life, be a monster truck driver,” he said. “And then when I heard that particular college was connected with Monster Jam, I said I wanted to go and experience it.”