When disaster strikes or problems arise, it is the hometown heroes who are the first to lend a hand in local communities.
Across the state, 40 groups and individuals have been named “Hometown Heroes” by West Virginia Can’t Wait, a movement to win a people’s government, for having the “courage to do what government fails to do.”
Instead of recognizing professional advocates and large nonprofit organizations, West Virginia Can’t Wait said they sought out people and groups who are making a difference without much money or many connections.
Seven of the Hometown Heroes are from Monongalia County and were honored Monday morning at a small event in the Aull Center at the Morgantown Public Library.
Honorees included criminal justice worker Darrin Lester, harm reductionist Rosalina Mills, Appalachian theater advocate Joy Carr, LGBTQ+ activist Ash Orr, local pastor Jenny Williams, harm reductionist Liira Raines, and Morgantown Area Youth Services Program director Danny Trejo.
Three criteria were used to select each hero — the lives they’ve changed in their communities, the courage they showed in standing up to the rich and powerful, and the willingness to be led by people who are normally kept out, put down, or criminalized.
“Right now we are in the midst of three epidemics. We are in the middle of a most-concerning HIV outbreak in the country, the COVID pandemic, and a raging overdose crisis that steals from us the people we care most about,” West Virginia Can’t Wait co-chair Stephen Smith said to the group Monday morning. “In each case, it is the people who, by society’s standards, have the least who are doing the most.
“It’s long past time, we believe, to turn our attention to the people doing the real, life-changing work right here on the ground, these hometown heroes,” he said. “The people who don’t judge, the people who will feed you before they feed themselves, the people who keep us alive, and most important, the people who will stand up to those in power, even at personal cost.”
Darrin Lester, one of the honorees, created a program called the Olive Tree Initiative which works with incarcerated men to teach principles and values and let them know they can recover and make a difference. Lester’s program has, so far, graduated more than 300 men.
“I am just real humbled by it. It’s an honor,” Lester said. “To be honored on this level is really amazing.”
Local LGBTQ+ activist Ash Orr was also recognized for their work in the community. “As a trans, nonbinary community leader I just feel really honored to have been selected for this award,” Orr said. “I have put in a lot of hard work to make sure that our trans and LGBTQ individuals feel like their voices have been uplifted and heard. So, it just means a lot that I was selected to represent the queer community and how much work I have put in myself to make sure that we are protected here and I am just really honored.”
Local Pastor Jenny Williams, another honoree, said she feels called to stand on the side of people who are getting hurt against those who are inflicting pain. “I am just really grateful to be among this group of people, because the people that I know are really incredible and people that I respect and look up to and try to follow,” she said addressing the group.
The Morgantown Area Youth Services Program has worked with disadvantaged youth, minorities, the homeless, and others for over 35 years. Director DannyTrejo said “I feel honored” to receive recognition for the work. “I’ve been working a long time around Morgantown and this is just an honor.”
According to West Virginia Can’t Wait, all 40 award winners, including those seven from Monongalia County, will receive a $2,000 check with no-strings-attached, free on-going leadership training and coaching, access to health and safety services, and a network of other folks who are making a difference.
“We want to change what the word ‘hero’ means. Our heroes aren’t millionaires or celebrities. We don’t care how much money or fame you’ve accumulated. Our heroes are the people who are too busy helping people at the bottom to give a damn what the people at the top think,” said Smith.
In addition to smaller ceremonies, like the one on Monday, West Virginia Can’t Wait said it will honor Hometown Heroes with a barbecue lunch March 5, from Dem 2 Brothers and a Grill in Charleston, during the statewide convention, instead of “celebrating millionaires and celebrities with a ballroom gala.”
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