HJR170 Summary

• Establishes the Ron Creel Healing Hands Award, renaming the existing Healing Hands Award previously awarded by the Alabama Sports Festival Foundation since 2001.

• Honors Ron Creel for 66 years of service to Alabama including business leadership, military service in the Alabama Air National Guard (1963-1970), State Board of Education membership (1979-1983), and extensive nonprofit organization involvement.

• Recognizes Creel's founding of the Alabama Sports Festival Foundation in 1982 at the request of the U.S. Olympic Committee, which has served over 100,000 amateur athletes and grown into Alabama's largest annual multi-sport event.

• Notes the Foundation's investments including $850,000 for the "Wee Can Fight Obesity" program in all 67 Alabama counties and $318,000 in academic scholarships for post-secondary education.

• Past recipients of the Healing Hands Award include President George W. Bush (2002), New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (2002), and other civic and military leaders.