The Rotary Club of Blacksburg has presented the 2025 Citizen of the Year Award to Martha Ann Stallings.
Stallings has been an influential fixture in the community for many years. After three decades of service as an educator, she remains very active in volunteer and leadership positions in a variety of areas. As Chair of the Vocational Service committee, Tommy Loflin, said, “There were many good nominations for the award but it was obvious who deserved the award this year.”
Loflin said as the committee looked over the nominations, they looked for citizens with Rotarian values and good personal character, high standards in business practices and ethics, and people who make a real impact in the community. Over the years, they have tried to select people who represented the careers and professions that are found throughout the community.
Loflin then introduced fellow Rotarian Tommy McDearis, Senior Pastor of the Church on Main, who also serves on the Vocational Service Committee. McDearis invited Stallings to sit with him at the front of the meeting and talk about some projects that are near and dear to her heart.
Stallings began with the work she has done for 10 years with the Church on Main Street’s “Learning in Love” tutoring program for the Adams Marke Mobile Park Community. The program provides students at Prices Fork Elementary with tutoring, youth outreach events, and English language classes. The principal at the school has told them that test scores are up and discipline problems are down with the students. The program has been so successful that they have added tutoring for high school students.
“It’s a good program supported by the church community,” said Stallings.
In addition, the church has an Angel Program with an Angel Tree set up during the holidays for those students. Because they know them personally, it is easy to do good shopping to fulfill the wishes of the students.
Another passion for Stallings is the Annual Race for ACCE (Access Community College Education) fundraiser for New River Community College (NRCC). She serves on the NRCC Education Foundation Board. She chairs the fundraiser that benefits high school graduates in Montgomery County Public Schools and provides funds for them to attend college tuition free. This event started six years ago and has raised $120,000 to support students. The program requires these students to perform 80 hours of community service and teaches them to give back to their community.
In addition to these favorite volunteer activities, Stallings serves on the Montgomery County Christmas Store (MCCS) Food Team and volunteers during the Store Week in December. She was involved in one of the largest food drives for MCCS to help fight food insecurity. She is a member of the Imagination Library (Dolly Parton) Board that provides free books for young children. For the past 10 years, Stallings has chaired the Dialogue on Race Education Issue Group. She is a volunteer with To Our House (TOH) that helps to provide overnight shelter for adults experiencing homelessness. She has helped organize church food drives for the Interfaith Food Pantry and the Christmas Store Food Department.
In addition to these volunteer achievements, Stallings is involved in many other local activities and has received numerous awards and recognition for her many volunteer interests.
The Rotary Club of Blacksburg was truly honored to present the 2025 Citizen of the Year Award to Stallings, an outstanding member of the community. In addition to having her name added to the Rotary Club’s Citizen of the Year Plaque, she was presented with a $1000 donation to the charity of her choice. McDearis said she “truly cares about the well-being of others and we are blessed to have her as our neighbor.”
To learn more about the Rotary Club of Blacksburg, please go to the website at www.blacksburgrotary.org. We would love to have you as a guest at lunch on a Thursday to learn what we are all about.
Terri Lynn Howard
Rotary Club of Blacksburg
