Bede Mitchell, Ed.D., has been an active Statesboro Kiwanis member for 23 years. He served in the club’s leadership rotation through a term as president, did repeat service on its board and for about seven years has served continuously as its secretary. Now, the club has honored him as 2022 Kiwanian of the Year.

In fact, his work as club secretary prompted some subterfuge from the previous Kiwanian of the Year, Trish Tootle, as she sought to preserve the  tradition of the award being a surprise. Ordering the plaque is usually the secretary’s responsibility. But the surprise was maintained until Thursday evening’s annual Kiwanis Club of Statesboro anniversary party in the community room at the fairgrounds.

“Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time,” said Tootle. “We’re a group of volunteers. … A volunteer is a person  with passion, a person who’s reliable, a person with integrity, a team player with lots of energy.”

Since receiving the local club’s top award last year, Tootle has been named Georgia Kiwanis Division  17 lieutenant governor for 2023-2024. The division includes 11 clubs.

A Statesboro Kiwanian of the Year, she said, should be a volunteer who carries out all the objects of the Kiwanis movement.

“Our recipient has served the Statesboro Kiwanis Club faithfully for many years, not only as a member, but in all areas of leadership,” Tootle said.

She then told  about the recipient’s family history, beginning with his great-grandparents, and noted that he was  born in Indiana, but that he and his brother grew up in Michigan. His paternal grandmother and his wife were both nurses.  He received his bachelor’s and  master’s degrees both from the University of Michigan, and then went  to Montana State University  for his “education degree,” Tootle  said.

That was a reference to Mitchell’s Ed.D., or doctorate of education, and by the time he heard all of that, he must have known she was talking about him, and he seemed to be blushing.

Two plaques ordered

But as Tootle now confessed, she had Mitchell, the dutiful club secretary, order a plaque in the name of a different club member, who  went  along  with the ruse.

“Our recipient loves Kiwanis and we love and appreciate him,” she said. “I would tell you more about all of his accomplishments for Kiwanis, but  he (keeps) all of the records, and that would have ruined  the surprise. He kept telling me he needed the  name  of the Kiwanian  of the Year so he could order the plaque, and I gave him someone  else’s  name.”

She then had a local company make a second plaque, with Mitchell’s name on it. The ruse worked, until he heard his life story told.

“I am now the proud possessor of two plaques,” Mitchell said, to laughter from fellow club members after he accepted the one with his name on it. He held both plaques for photo.

But he called the Kiwanian of the Year award “a tremendous honor” and said it was “a real privilege to be placed in that category” since he  had  seen a recent feature about  past recipients in the club newsletter.

“It means a great deal,” he told the Statesboro Herald afterward.  “To know that you have the respect of people whom you have so much respect for in turn is what it’s all about.”

Mitchell’s wife, Carrie Mitchell, a retired registered nurse, had helped keep  the surprise and accompanied him to the dinner. Now married 30 years, they moved to Statesboro from Boone, North Carolina, in 1999 when he was hired by Georgia Southern University as its dean of libraries. He retired from that role in July 2019.

In addition to his work with Kiwanis,  Bede Mitchell is a life member  of  the Bulloch County Historical  Society, having  served  two  terms  on its board of directors, and  also serves  as board secretary for the Boys &  Girls  Club  of Bulloch  County.

Roles of Kiwanis

The Kiwanis Club, he said, has at least two key purposes in the community. One is its holding “very successful fundraisers” and using the money to support charitable causes,  especially, but  not exclusively, those benefitting  children.

Mitchell – like most of the club’s members, he said – volunteers in various ways for the club’s  two major annual fundraisers, the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo and the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair.

But the club’s  other  major reason  for being, he thinks,  is serving  as a community role model for volunteerism, including with projects where Kiwanians are not raising  money.  For  example, Kiwanis members, like members of a number of other  organizations, volunteer monthly to prepare and serve free meals through Rebecca’s Café.

“I think  that  kind of role  model is a demonstration to the entire community of  how much  we  can accomplish if we give  just  a little  bit of  our  time and sweat equity,” Mitchell  said.

Just last Saturday, he was one of the Kiwanis  Club  members who  distributed vegetable  and flower  seeds and potting soil free to anyone who wanted them  during the annual GreenFest  sponsored  by Keep  Statesboro-Bulloch Beautiful.

“We gave  away a lot of seed and a lot of potting soil, and it was a lot of fun,”  he said.