Coffee County citizens are encouraged to attend the Coffee County Commission meeting January 10th and celebrate this year’s top volunteer, selected from among several outstanding nominees.
After soliciting public nominations for the county’s best volunteers during 2022, citizens from various walks of life served on a committee to independently review all submissions and prioritize nominees. Those results were compiled and scored; and the top volunteer was selected.
In conjunction with the Fifteenth Annual Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards, Tennessee’s statewide volunteer recognition program, Volunteer Tennessee is pleased to recognize Staria Davison, who has consistently demonstrated exceptional dedication to serving the people of Manchester and Coffee County.
Staria Davison, a resident of Coffee County for over three decades, is founder and director of The Storehouse Food Pantry, a nonprofit organization serving the people of Coffee County and surrounding areas. She felt a calling in 2018 to start the organization, which is staffed entirely by volunteers from every walk of life: veterans, former inmates, elected officials, pastors and more, who assemble there to give back to the community. Storehouse Food Pantry provides much-needed food to the elderly and infirm, low-income families, single parents, and anyone else in need.
Staria and her team of volunteers travel throughout Middle Tennessee, collecting food donations from grocery stores such as Publix, Kroger, and Walmart. Save-a-Lot in Manchester recently partnered with Storehouse Food Pantry to provide food boxes through their “Bags for a Brighter Holiday” program, which is running through December. The food is then distributed every Thursday to those in need. Staria goes above and beyond to help Coffee County Sheriff’s Department, the judicial system, child services and others.
Before she founded Storehouse Food Pantry, Staria served as treasurer of the Tennessee National Guard’s 1175th Heavy Equipment Transportation Company Family Readiness Group for 20 years. She raised a daughter, Taylor, who now has given her five grandchildren who keep her even busier. Staria is on call all the time, even though she serves as caregiver for her veteran husband.
Coffee County coordinator for the program, G. Lamar Wilkie, notes: “One of our greatest expressions of love for the place we live is by giving back as a volunteer. Imagine the kind of community we would have if everyone in Coffee County gave just a couple of hours each month to making it a better place for everyone.”
This exceptional achievement will not only be honored at the Coffee County Commission meeting on January 10th; Staria will also be honored, along with recipients from other counties across Tennessee, at the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards banquet in Franklin, Tennessee on April 2nd.
Volunteer Tennessee coordinates the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards at the state level. Volunteer Tennessee is a 25-member bipartisan citizen board appointed by Governor Lee to oversee AmeriCorps and service-learning programs; and to advance volunteerism and citizen service to solve community problems in the Volunteer State. For more information about Volunteer Tennessee and the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards, visit www.volunteertennessee.net.
