League of Women Voters honors three community leaders

Published 7:50 am Friday, August 20, 2021

Three community leaders were honored at the League of Women Voters’ annual Equality Day Event held Thursday evening.

The community leaders were chosen by the league for their significant leadership, and being actively engaged to keep Smith County a strong and vibrant place to live, the organization said in a statement.

The event was originally planned to be held at the Tyler Public Library, but due to the rise in COVID-19 infections within the county, the committee decided to hold the event virtually via Zoom instead.

The Making Democracy Work Award honored the following women: Jessilyn Edwards, a longtime Tyler advocate specializing in health disparities, including food insecurity and transportation for underserved populations; Callynth Finney and the “Street Team,” a group of area volunteers who assist the homeless with basic needs during times of crisis; and Nancy Arellano Rangel, president and CEO of the Tyler Hispanic Business Alliance, who has been collaboratively engaged in leadership positions at a local and state level to assure the community has continued growth and success.

Marilyn Willis, co-president of the league, said while they weren’t able to present the awards in person, the league plans to meet sometime next week to present the award in person at the Tyler Public Library.

There was also a presentation about Women in Politics, which discussed why there aren’t as many women in politics as men. The presentation was led by Laura Jackson, partner at Cardwell and Wansley, a women-owned full-service consulting business.

While Women’s Equality Day is not until Aug. 26, the committee celebrated Thursday via Zoom.

Willis presented the award to Callynth Finney and the Tyler Street Team.

“We are so thankful for their efforts. It is our honor and our pleasure to provide one of the 2021 Making Democracy Work Awards to the Tyler Street Team,” she said.

When they accepted the award, the Street Team was in Dallas on the field helping a gentleman experiencing homelessness and paused for a moment to accept the award via Zoom.

“We think everything that you’re doing as League of Women Voters is so awesome to educate women and support and encourage women continuing in their leadership,” Finney said as she accepted the award and thanked everyone for the honor.

Yona Fleming presented the next award to Nancy Arellano Rangel.

“Thank you, this is such a great honor to receive. I’m very honored as a Latina woman and all that have come before me, and for all the Latina women that come after me,” Arellano said.

“It is such an honor to be able to serve this community that we love. Working together, we can truly make a difference and we’re trying to do that. Not just because those that did it before us did an excellent job, but we’re doing it. Now it’s our turn to do it for our future generations so just like everything else, it takes a village,” she said.

She thanked her family and her parents for teaching her how to serve her community.

“We can’t do it all, but each one of us can do a little bit and we can plant seeds in different locations so there we can see it grow in the future and our future generations, so thank you again for this award it is a great honor,” Arellano Rangel said.

Jessilyn Edwards received her award by LaRhonda Hamilton. As she unmuted her device microphone to receive the award, Edwards’ family cheered loudly, showing their support for her.

“Oh my goodness, I was not expecting that. My family just ran in the room real quick,” she said as she was surprised by her family’s reaction.

She said she was surprised to receive the award, especially because she is so young and has been out of college for only about four years.

“I am truly thankful to work for Humana, which is such a great company where we just do a lot for the community and it’s really inspiring,” she said.

“I’m just thankful and truly honored just to know that the stuff that you already love to do, and just being recognized. I’m definitely thankful for that, so thank you,” Edwards said.

The League of Women Voters is made up of volunteers who do the hands-on work that aim to create lasting change in the community. For more information about the League of Women Voters, visit www.lwvtyler.org.