Carlla Pike
selected for the 2024 Spirit of Humanity Award
Cowley County, KS: Carlla
Pike will be honored with a reception co-hosted by Legacy Regional Community
Foundation and Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, November 14,
2024 at 5:30 p.m. In addition to the Spirit of Humanity presentation, the
Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce will dedicate the newly remodeled
meeting room, Pike’s Place, with a ribbon cutting.
Pike is the ninth
recipient of the “Spirit of Humanity” Award. “Where there is a need, she
will be one of the first in line to help anyway she can,” stated Yazmin Wood,
Legacy Foundation CEO, “A lifelong resident of Cowley County, Carlla has been a
dedicated community philanthropist. She was so gracious and humble when I
told her she was selected for the award.” The come-and-go reception will
be held from 5:30 pm to 7 pm at Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce, 106
South Summit St, in Arkansas City, with the presentation occurring at
approximately 5:45 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.
Carlla Pike
credits her community involvement to her very dedicated, late husband, Lawrence
G. Pike. Carlla shared that Larry could see things were needed in the
community where she didn’t. He would tell her, “Carlla, this is
important.” He taught her how to be involved and together they stepped in
to fill the need.
Carlla grew up
near Maple City on the state line attending Kings School until moving to
Arkansas City schools in 6th grade. Carlla’s early community involvement
was in 4-H and Maple City Community Church. Carlla and Larry were high
school sweethearts that married and together raised three children, grew a
successful business providing employment to many individuals, and looked for
opportunities to be of service.
Carlla loves
doing things for people, but prefers to stay in the background. Her list
of community involvement and support is long including the Arkansas City Area
Chamber of Commerce, Visit Ark City Board member, Soroptimist, Rotary, P.E.O.,
Arkalalah Queens Committee, and Youth Leader for the First Baptist
Church. Additionally, charitable projects like SCK Health, The Burford,
and City of Arkansas City have benefited from her generous support. But
it was her nominator that perhaps knows her best stating, “Carlla’s heart is
with children. She donates to the Cowley County Children School supplies,
Santa’s Kids at Christmas, and area food pantries.”
The Legacy Foundation board of directors established the “Spirit of Humanity”
award in October 2016 when celebrating the Foundation’s 20th Anniversary.
It is the desire of the board of directors to recognize community members that
inspire by their action the vision of Legacy Regional Community Foundation that
creates a stronger future for our area by building endowments, instilling
informed leadership and connecting donors to the critical needs of the
region. The first Spirit of Humanity was awarded to Sid Regnier.
Subsequent awardees include Tom & Mari Wallrabenstein (2017), Phil &
Mary Jarvis (2018), Glen & Louise Stevenson (2019), Karen Zeller (2020),
Bill & Belinda Mueller (2021), Wayne Hamilton (2022) and Lynne Hunter (2023).
Nelson Mandela is
credited with saying, “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have
lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that
will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Carlla Pike is
another stellar example of Mandela’s ideal.
Community members
are encouraged to nominate individuals or groups that embody the Spirit of
Humanity. Nomination guidelines may be found at www.legacyregionalfoundation.org. Contact
the Foundation for more information by calling 620-221-7224 or email ceo@legacyregionalfoundation.
