November Character Champion
Safe Streets Coalition and Topeka City of Character will be holding a press conference on November 4 at the Great Overland Station at 12:00 noon to announce the recipients of the Champion of Character award for demonstrating character that significantly improves the health, safety and quality of life in the community.
This month’s recipient of the Champion of Character Award is Ron Brown, long-time organizer of Safe Streets Coalition.
Ron Brown was nominated by Sally Zellers for demonstrating the character qualities of Dependability, Loyalty, Resourcefulness, Patience and Tolerance. Brown was one of the original founders of Safe Streets Coalition and has worked diligently with the organization for 14 years. He along with Mike Padilla, helped the organization early on to establish a strong and trusting relationship with the Topeka Police Department. Ron just recently retired from the Topeka Police Department.
Ron was also a Co-founder of the Young Citizen’s Academy which helped many a young person develop a trusting relationship with law enforcement. Thanks to Ron’s creativity over the years, Safe Streets just graduated their 26th Class.
Director of Safe Streets, Sally Zellers, had this to say about why she nominated Brown, “It was hard to select just a few character traits because so many of them listed describe Ron, but I’m nominating him for the character traits of dependability, loyalty and resourcefulness simply because they fit him so perfectly. He taught us his trademark line of “focus and finish” which helped us on many a project. I also selected patience and tolerance for his ability to put up with all of us and the many challenges we overcame.”
“One of the wonderful things about Ron is that whether you saw him in his father role, his life as a Marine, and certainly as a police officer, he has always demonstrated and role-modeled good character. I can’t think of anyone more deserving to receive a Champion of Character Award than Ron Brown,” stated Zellers.
The awards are presented by the Kansas Character Recognition Council of Topeka/Shawnee County. Senator Laura Kelly, Mayor William Bunten, City Councilman, Jack Woelfel, Chief of Police Ronald Miller, Shawnee County Commissioners Shelly Buhler and Ted Ensley, Director of Shawnee County Corrections, Richard Kline, District Attorney Chad Taylor and Shawnee County Sheriff Richard Barta are all members of The Kansas Character Recognition Council.
Anyone may make nominations for Character Champions. Nomination forms may be obtained by downloading a form at the Topeka City of Character website at www.topekacityofcharacter.org. Nomination forms may also be found at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka Capital Journal office or by calling the Topeka City of Character office at 273-4330.
Future press conferences recognizing Character Champions will be set for the first Wednesday of each month at 12:00 noon at the Great Overland Station immediately preceding the Safe Streets monthly meeting.
For further information about the Character Recognition Initiative, contact Cindy Patton, Topeka City of Character office, 534 S Kansas Avenue, Suite 820, Phone: 640-7403, Fax: 354-1901 or email: topekacityofcharacter@gmail.com.