HAZARD - Perry County was well represented at the annual PRIDE Envi Awards on Monday.

The ceremony was held at the Hal Rogers Forum, just off Highway 15 near Hazard High School, to recognize schools, volunteers, and community leaders for excellence in environmental stewardship.

Awards were given in different categories to celebrate progress and honor those who had made a difference in the environment in the past year,  highlighting their work in promoting the PRIDE initiative of environmental cleanup and education in its 38 southern and eastern Kentucky counties.

The Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky, which is located on the Hazard campus of the Hazard Community and Technical College, won the region’s PRIDE Community Project of the Year Award for promoting environmental education beyond the classroom.

For one month each year, the center replaces its regular space mission with the Space Kidette Rescue Program, an interactive lesson in water quality and endangered species. Fifteen-hundred 4th graders from Leslie, Perry, Breathitt, Knott, and Letcher counties have participated since 2006.

During a video showing the Challenger Center’s work with the program, Challenger Learning Center Director Tom Cravens, who accepted the award on behalf of the center, said “We’ve all grown up seeing trash thrown beside the highway and kind of accepted that until recently, and I don’t think the students that are involved in these types of programs and other environmental education programs are going to be the folks that are going to be doing that in the future.”

The coal mining group, Coal Mining-Our Future, which is made up of five area coal companies (ICG, TECO, James River Coal, B&W Resources, and Pinebranch), earned a Green with Envi Award. Five of these awards, which spotlight conservation projects that PRIDE would like to spread, were handed out to individuals, local leaders, and area businesses. They were presented by former NFL and UK Quarterback Tim Couch.

Coal Mining-Our Future was recognized for donating equipment and personnel to clean up three dumps in Perry County during the 2008 PRIDE Spring Cleanup, donations that saved the county $500,000.

Doug Melton, the Safety Director for B&W Resources, along with several other local miners, accepted the award.

Melton said, “A lot of people don’t realize and don’t understand that the coal mining industry has been doing this for years. We just didn’t get the recognition. We didn’t stand up and say, ‘Hey, look what we are doing.’ We had an opportunity to make a difference.”

Brothers Benny and Culley Abner were recognized as the region’s Tony Turner Volunteer of the Year for going above and beyond the ordinary to improve the environment. To support Perry County’s annual PRIDE Spring Cleanup, they used their business, Abner Logging Company, by suspending normal operations for one day so they could donate the labor, equipment, and fuel for the cleanup event. After they finished, they donated the money they received from recycling the scrap metal they cleaned up to local charities.

Chad Abner, who spoke on behalf of the family while receiving the award, described what pride was to them.

“As working people we have pride in many things, pride in God, pride in family, pride in our country and community, pride in work, and pride in themselves. It is with pride that we are able to accomplish great acts of kindness and come together as a community and region to beautify our mountains and to provide a future for our next generation,” he said.

Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-5), who co-founded PRIDE, congratulated all the winners for their achievements.

“I congratulate all our finalists and winners for your achievements. You have earned special recognition among a remarkable class,” he said.

The award winners were presented special “Green” trophies that were hand crafted from 100 percent post-consumer recycled glass, while the plaques for the Envi Awards finalists were made from American Chestnut boards reclaimed from an old barn.

Paul P. Bollinger, Jr. the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Partnerships, delivered the keynote address in which he spoke about the Army’s energy efforts.

The audience was also entertained by musical guests the 23 String Band from the Cumberland Valley area and the Rhythm Express Cloggers from Owsley County.

Since 1997, 262,955 volunteers have donated 947,798 hours to the PRIDE cleanup and education efforts, efforts that have seen 2,714 dumps removed. Congressman Rogers and James E. Bickford, the former Kentucky Secretary of Environmental Protection, founded PRIDE, which is an acronym for Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment, in 1997.

The awards ceremony will air on WYMT-TV at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17.