St. Patrick Center employee and former AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Elliot Smith will accept the Missouri Community Service Commission’s AmeriCorps VISTA Service Award at an awards ceremony April 29 in Jefferson City. The annual Celebration of Service and Volunteerism will honor several Missourians who have helped strengthen their local communities through volunteerism.

Elliot currently serves as the Business Incubator Development Specialist in St. Patrick Center’s BEGIN New Venture Center (BNVC) small business incubator. BNVC Director Jan DeYoung nominated Elliot for the regional award. “Elliot richly deserves this award,” says Jan. “He is such an unassuming guy that just ‘guts’ out each day, staying in the background with his nose to the grindstone making everyone else look good… Elliot’s real value is ‘priceless’ to our organization.”

The Missouri Community Service Commission is composed of 15 to 25 governor-appointed commissioners with expertise in areas of community service and volunteerism. Commissioners and staff work together to encourage all Missourians to give of themselves to make Missouri a better place to live for all of its residents.

Statewide nominations for the awards are reviewed and selected by a panel of governor-appointed commissioners and commission staff. 

view the Celebration of Service and Volunteerism news release

read more about the BEGIN New Venture Center