From her first volunteer experience flipping burgers for the Siloam Springs Riding Club as a young mother, Katie Rennard has been serving others with boundless energy.
Rennard was honored as an Outstanding Civic Leader at the 91st annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Jan. 19. The award was created to recognize someone in the community who has gone above and beyond to promote Siloam Springs, according to the Chamber website. It is typically presented at a roast and toast in the fall, but the presentation was postponed because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Rennard's focus is helping others and her community, whether it's through her current profession as a real estate agent for Century 21, her past career in United Way or through her many volunteer activities such as Kiwanis, the Siloam Springs Museum Board, the First United Methodist Church renovation project, PEO Chapter T, the city comprehensive planning advisory committee and Entre Nues.
Steve Onnen, who has known Rennard for more than 25 years as a friend and fellow Kiwanian, described Rennard as a "real go-getter who leads by example."
"She can challenge people in such a way that they feel good about themselves even if they don't fully agree with what she is asking them to do," he said. "She always has a positive outlook on life and definitely sees the glass as more than half full. If a person could bottle her energy and sell it, they could make a lot of money."
Raised in Siloam Springs
Rennard moved to the community from Bentonville as a young child and went to Siloam Springs Schools all the way up, then raised her own three children in the community.
Rennard's mother left when she was 13 and her father raised her as a single parent, she said. Many people in the community influenced her and became role models for her to follow, she said.
"This is my opportunity to say thank-you to the town that helped to raise me and this is not a joke," she said. "My small contributions may not repay the kindness of so many over the years who unknowingly set examples for me to follow."
As Rennard was growing up, her grandfather taught her to have care and concern for others as part of her daily life, she said. Her first volunteer experience, when she was a young mother, was flipping burgers at the Siloam Springs Riding Club and the joy of helping others launched her into a lifetime of community service.
Rennard's career eventually took her away from her hometown for 25 years, during which time she worked for United Way in Waynesboro, Va., Harrisonburg, Va., Roanoke, Va., and Akron, Ohio. She spent the last 12-years before her retirement as vice president of resource development for United Way in Akron, during which time the nonprofit raised $140 million.
While working for United Way, Rennard was inspired by the many volunteers, although she did plenty of volunteer work herself during the time, including as president of Business & Professional Women's Club in Waynesboro, as president of Akron Roundtable and through Kiwanis of Akron.
"I saw how they gave their time so generously and I was inspired by that so I said, 'I want to come home when I retire and be that kind of volunteer,'" she said.
Even though Rennard was away, she still thought of Siloam Springs as her home and continued to visit once or twice a year. A few years before her retirement, she began to feel drawn back to the community and five years ago she moved back to Siloam Springs, she said.
Community Service
Rennard joined Kiwanis in 1992 and has been a board member, past officer or president in five clubs. She is currently a past president and on-going program chair and website curator in the Siloam Springs club and serves as convention chair and certified leadership education coach for the Kiwanis Mo.-Ark. District.
"When Katie served as our Siloam Springs Kiwanis President, she challenged our club to grown its membership while the vast majority of civic clubs across the country were in membership decline," Onnen said. "We grew."
As part of her service to the Siloam Springs club, Rennard has been instrumental in bringing the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to the community.
Since returning to Siloam Springs, Rennard has also joined the board of the Siloam Springs Museum. During her time as president of the board, she worked with Mayor John Turner and Community Development Director Don Clark to renovate the building.
She has also completed a term as a board member of the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce and served on the chamber's nominating committee, tourism committee, annual banquet committee, as well as on the Total Resource Campaign team and as an ambassador.
"Each opportunity has enriched my life with friends and colleagues and brought me close to my community," she said.
Most recently, Rennard served as a member of the First United Methodist Church's committee to revitalize the historic sanctuary, a white-columned structure located at the corner of Maxwell and Twin Springs Streets.
Rennard co-chaired the fundraising efforts to enable the renovation project with John Brown III. Overall, the church was able to raise more than $1.8 million for the project.
"It has been my pleasure to work with Katie on the old Methodist Church fundraising program over the past three years," Brown said. "We exceeded everyone's expectations on that goal, I think. Katie did a tremendous job for our cause. She is organized, thoroughly committed to the goal, and kept many of us well-informed and moving forward. She is not bashful about asking for her friends and colleagues to step up and take part in the project. She is kind of heart and yet vigorous in her pursuits of goals.
"I am sure her good works extend far beyond her church and community service. It is most deserving that she would be recognized with the (OCL) award."