LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A Lima man was recognized Wednesday evening for his work helping others around him through several different organizations.
Emmanuel Curtis is the 24th recipient of the Shirley Daley Leadership Award, created by the Daley family to honor their matriarch who spent her life advocating for equality and those in need. Curtis makes a positive impact in the area by mentoring, educating, and supporting young people through his work in the Lima City School District, juvenile court, the Bradfield Community Center, My Brother's Keeper, and anywhere else that he can.
"When you provide youth opportunities, when you help educate them, and create pathways for them to succeed, for them to experience roles in leadership and just to be able to participate in activities in activities that we should all be able to participate in, they grow, they learn, and they become better citizens," said Jacque Daley-Perrin, the president of the Shirley Daley Community Fund.
Curtis is particularly passionate about helping kids because having positive adult role models during his childhood is what led him down a successful path.
"That's why I spend focusing on mentoring because it has been a crucial part of my life. Helping create an identity, helping build that confidence, helping establish a purpose. And a lot of what I do is because of the lives of so many that invested in me," he explained.
With the award came a donation that will support the Lima chapter of My Brother's Keeper, an after-school program for African American boys.
