On Wednesday May 15, 2008, Kenitha Grooms-Williams received the Salvation Army’s Volunteer of the Year Award during the Austin Metropolitan Area Command 2008 annual meeting.  Kenitha was honored for her commitment and dedication to serving clients of the Salvation Army for the past two years after she and her family relocated to Austin, Texas preceding Hurricane Katrina. 

While many residents throughout the New Orleans Metropolitan area struggled to maintain the lives they once knew in the months that followed Katrina, Kenitha decided she would take hold of a new life and a new opportunity. Backed by a supportive husband and an unshakeable faith, she left a ten year career in advertising and public relations to devote her time and talents to her family, friends, and those that are less fortunate.  She currently volunteers at the Salvation Army 2 – 3 times a week by assisting the kitchen staff as they feed the residents and other homeless individuals in the Austin area.  Kenitha believes that financial contributions are very important to the Salvation Army and other non profit organizations, but giving your time and talents to these agencies are vital in the success of their daily operations. Kenitha’s drive and determination comes from all of the help she was given by loved ones and even strangers who followed God’s call to help their fellow man during Katrina and has thus dedicated herself to do the same for others. 

Kenitha will be returning to the place she still calls home after living in Austin, Texas for the past two years in an effort to help the rebuilding and revitalization of the city of New Orleans.  She will be enrolled this fall as a full time student at Southern University’s Graduate School of Social Work, where she will receive the formal education and training to one day open her own homeless shelter that will serve families and runaway teens.