Congratulations to our 2024 Ann DeMatteo Alumni Service Award Recipient, Carrie Johnson (Epsilon). The Ann DeMatteo Alumni Service Award is presented to one or more deserving alumni each year for their efforts to improve their community. Carrie was nominated by Susie Larson (Mu).
People retire for many reasons, Carrie’s retirement plan is to use the cardinal principles of OPA: friendship, leadership and service, to her maximum capacity. She collects monthly donations for Joseph’s Storehouse Food Pantry. She participates in Compassionate Hands Ministries preparing and serving meals to unhoused men and women. She also stays overnight with the unhoused women, given her the opportunity to uplift, advise or just provide an ear to listen.
Her leadership and service skills went into overtime in 2010, when Nashville, TN experienced the “100 year flood”. Most of the town was underwater and search and rescue teams were deployed city wide. Carrie jumped in her pick up truck and drove to areas she could get to with bottled water, gatorade and snacks for first responders on mandatory duty.
Ten years later, a tornado ripped through Nashville and surrounding counties, leaving destruction in its path. Even with limited resources available, Carrie found a way to serve. She located a shelter and served meals to the National Guard Troops in the area for the duration of their deployment. Carrie has always been an animal lover. She has fostered
Carrie exemplifies the kind of member/alumni everyone should want to be. Her career in public service expanded over 30 years. She was an elementary and middle school teacher for special needs students. Along with her teaching responsibilities, she understood the needs of the students and their families. She routinely purchased winter attire, (coats, gloves, hats, unmentionables) for students and always participated in Thanksgiving boxes and the Angel Tree program. On occasions, she would privately pay utility bills of struggling families. She realized that her students would excel when basic needs could make the difference.
Since graduating, Carrie has supported Epsilon chapter with her presence and monetary gifts when needed. She has also supported other OPhiA chapters and founding chapters by purchasing items on their Amazon Wish List. She has served as an active and alumni delegate at Conventions. She also comes to convention “just because I wanted to see my sisters”. She has donated to the Pamela McCullough McEwen Scholarship program and the Omega Phi Alpha Foundation. And she rarely misses an opportunity “to see her sisters” at Omega Delta Alumni Group functions.
She has also fostered many basset hounds over the years. Recently, she clawed her way into fostering feral kittens. Carrie’s “can do” attitude is contagious.
She is a deserving recipient of the Ann DeMatteo Alumni Service Award. She loves Omega Phi Alpha and the cardinal principles.