Picture included: Dr. Barbara Greene, 2009 Outstanding Rural Leadership Award Recipient and Billy Ray Hall President, NC Rural Economic Development Center

Dr. Barbara Greene, Vice President of Continuing Education at Cleveland Community College, was recently awarded the 2009 Outstanding Rural Leadership Award. This award is given annually by the North Carolina Rural Center and the Rural Economic Development Institute to individuals who, through their hard work and dedication, are working to create a better life for rural North Carolina.

Beginning in 2002, Dr. Greene began working to bring clean, safe drinking water to residents of the Hopewell and Mt. Olivet communities in Rutherford County. In 1999, she and her husband, John (Bud) Greene, purchased the family farm where Barbara grew up. The farm is located in eastern Rutherford County in the Hopewell Community. After working to restore the home place, the family would often hold family gatherings there. During the drought of 2002, while trying to water flowers, she realized the well had run dry.  It didn’t take Barbara long to start talking and meeting with local residents about the shortage of water in the area. During those meetings she discovered this was a recurring problem for people who lived there. Her next mission was to get a dependable and clean water supply to people in that area. She met with members of the Cleveland County Water Board and elected officials. In 2007, the “first leg” of the water lines was run and additional lines were run in 2008. Today, more than 100 residents in those communities have access to safe, reliable public drinking water.

“This is one of my proudest accomplishments and I am quite humbled by the selection of the committee,” says Greene. “These folks needed water so badly. I am just grateful to the Cleveland County Water Board for running water to them.”

Mrs. Georgia Wells Shuford who grew up in the Hopewell community and still owns property there, says residents tried to get water in the area for many, many years without any success. “No one knew where to start or where it would lead and then Mrs. Greene came along and put our hopes to reality in getting the job done.”

Also, according to Butch Smith, Manager of Cleveland County Water Board, “Before the lines were run, many of the wells had high iron content and required chemicals just to make the water safe for human consumption. Residents would have to treat their own wells just to have safe drinking water.”

Mayor of Shelby, Ted Alexander, endorsed Mrs. Greene for the award and says without Barbara’s tenacity a reliable and clean water source may have never become a reality for those residents. “Many of the residents in the community are elderly and/or low income minorities who are unable to do maintenance on their wells themselves. They were required to pay somebody or wait for their children to service their wells. What she has done for those people will last a lifetime,” says Alexander.

In 1999, Dr. Greene completed the leadership development program offered by the North Carolina Rural Center. “It is obvious Barbara Greene took to heart her training and has put what she learned to practice in order to benefit the many rural citizens throughout the Isothermal region,” adds Alexander.

Dr. Greene is now a part of an elite group of Rural Center leadership alumni who are working tirelessly to effect change in their communities says Garnet Bass, Director of Communications, N.C. Rural Economic Development Center. “Getting water to members of these communities was just one accomplishment among many that set Dr. Greene apart. She also started Cleveland County’s first small business advisory committee, helped the Uptown Shelby Association bring the Rural Center’s CEED initiative to Shelby and Cleveland County and expanded CCC’s workforce and adult education program to include more nontraditional coursework such as tourism, agriculture, and agri-tourism.”

Dr. Barbara Greene resides in Boiling Springs with her husband, John. She has one son, Jeff, and three grandchildren. She is a member of Boiling Springs Baptist Church and is a charter member of the adult handbell choir.