By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
He joined the Covington Rotary Club in 1954, served as President in 1959 and holds the distinction as the longest – and oldest – living member. And for his service, The Covington Rotary Club has named an award in his name.
The Ken Harper Award.
Dave Meyer remembers the award named after the 94-year-old Harper, who has served Covington Rotary 74 years.
“Sure, I remember the award,” Meyer told the Northern Kentucky Tribune at the club’s Tuesday meeting at The Metropolitan Club. “I started it. Should anyone donate $1,000 to the club, the award is won. And the monies can be cumulative.”
Those funds are placed in the Covington Rotary Foundation, according to Meyer, and they are then distributed to various organizations in the Northern Kentucky community.
In fact, he said, close to $50,000 has been accumulated through Harper’s Award, with those funds going to the Covington Rotary Foundation.
As for Harper, he still attends the weekly meeting. He is probably best known for his nine-terms as State Representative, his service as Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Public information, Chair of Kentucky’s Board of Elections and Acting Secretary of State.
Harper attended the Kentucky Military Institute in Lyndon, Ky., which like the phone booth and Buffalo nickel is no more. Likewise for his 10th District School which he attended as a native of Latonia.
“I was the first Republican elected as a State Representative in my county, back in 1962,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune at this week’s Rotary lunch.
He served as Secretary of State from 1971 to 1972 – and, by the way he is a United States Air Force veteran of the Korean War.
But on this day, he watched as The Ken Harper Award pin was placed on 17-year Rotarian Angela Billiter. “She does so much, and works so hard for Rotary,” Harper said, “I’m proud of her.”
When asked why she joined Rotary in 2008, Billiter was quick to say, “To volunteer.”
Just like the man whose name is on that award pin – Ken Harper. Not so fast.
Meyer reminds that Harper did, in fact win that first award in his name – but.
“Eileen Harper, Ken’s wife was the recipient of the second award.”
Why was that, Dave?
“Just for having to put up with Ken,” he quipped.
The Ken Harper Award may have been the highlight of the luncheon – but Rotary carries out charitable missions.
And they did just that.
Backpacks & Breakfast, a program of Northern Kentucky Harvest, has grown from a modest start in 2001 – 150 backpacks – to become the largest school readiness event in Northern Kentucky.
This year’s edition, set for Saturday, August 9th will be the 25th, and Northern Kentucky Harvest will give away 50 backpacks for each year the project has operated. Those 1,250 backpacks will be a record, and boost the total number of bags Harvest has distributed over the life of the project to more than 20,000. Backpacks will again be stuffed with grade-appropriate school supplies.
The event is open to students in pre-school through 12th grade across Northern Kentucky. Most of the families benefiting from Backpacks are already struggling to secure food, shelter, and other basics for their kids, so they have very little left for back-to-school expenses.
The goal, from the start has been to send kids back to class outfitted with backpacks and the basics, ready to learn. That eases the strain on parents and gets many of the students, especially the younger ones, excited about the new school year, increasing their chances of academic success according to Paul Gottbrath, President of the Board of Northern Kentucky Harvest.
FUEL NKU is a holistic campus food pantry that serves 17 percent of the NKU undergraduate population. The pantry operations result from effective academic approaches to serving and advocating for students, according to FUEL NKU Program Coordinator, Nick Bliven.
FUEL NKU offers basic needs assistance to many student demographics. These include first-generation, lower socioeconomic status, underrepresented minorities, international, and non-traditional students. With the support of the food pantry, says Bliven, students can see past their current struggles and strive toward their independence to pursue their degrees.
The FUEL NKU food pantry team strives to support student food security and enrich the lives of students through education, engagement, and advocacy. Social work students, developed the campus entity over a decade ago to address campus hunger. It started as a shelf in a faculty member’s office, says Bliven, to feed a few hungry students. It has grown to a 2,300-square foot apace providing food and toiletry items to hundreds of students each semester. FUEL NKU has been the model for many other universities in development their foods pantries, he said.
The Covington Rotary Club is the oldest civic organization in Northern Kentucky – and has been operating in Covington since 1920. Covington Rotary is part of Rotary International, with clubs throughout the world. The Covington Rotary Foundation, a 501c3 organization, carries out much of the Club’s charitable mission.