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Photos by Erica Techo.
Distinguished Citizen Award recipients Dr. Julian Maha and Dr. Michele Kong with councilman John Henley at the 26th Annual Vestavia Hills Community Leadership Awards Celebration.
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Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Anne Boston speaks at the 26th Annual Vestavia Hills Community Leadership Awards Celebration.
Anne Boston has lived in Vestavia Hills for 35 years, and Leadership Vestavia Hills recognized her community contributions on March 3.
A past president of the Vestavia Hills Historical Society, chair of the beautification board and volunteer with senior transportation and Library in the Forest, Boston was the recipient of this year’s Leadership Vestavia Hills Lifetime Achievement Award.
“I am so honored. I just can’t tell you how exciting it is to me,” Boston said at the 26th Vestavia Hills Community Leadership Awards Celebration. “I certainly didn’t volunteer to get an honor, but it really is nice.”
Boston joked that she initially moved to Vestavia Hills kicking and screaming, but now she would not imagine being any less involved.
“Everything that goes on in Vestavia I like to be a part of,” she said. “I do what I do out of love for the city and the people I see every day.”
KultureCity founders Dr. Michele Kong and Dr. Julian Maha were also recognized at the awards celebration. They were presented with the Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award.
KultureCity is a nonprofit organization geared toward helping individuals with autism and their families. The organization started in Vestavia Hills but has since grown to be an award-winning national organization.
The support of the Vestavia community supported the phrase “A dream is only as good as the people who are behind it,” Maha said, and he thanked everyone in the audience who has been involved in KultureCity since the beginning.
“We sincerely just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts because you’ve not only made Vestavia home for us, but you’ve showed us this is a community we want to be a part of for the rest of our lives,” Maha said, “because all of you here fundamentally believe that you can be the change that you want to see in this world, and for that I really want to applaud you all tonight.”
