Jim and Eva Martens named 2024 South Central Kentuckian of the Year

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- The Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky has chosen the recipients for the 2024 South Central Kentuckian of the Year.

This year, the board has chosen Jim and Eva Martens as the recipients because of their leadership, the impact they have made in the community and the inspiration they have been to others.

The Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky presents this award to celebrate those who make giving back to the community a priority for themselves and their families.

Executive director of the Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky, Jennifer Wethington, says the luncheon and recognition was started “to raise awareness of what the community needs are and to show what philanthropy can look like in an everyday person’s life.

Wethington continued, “Through working with your family, your business or just your own influence. It doesn’t necessarily always have to be about money, it’s pulling all of those things together and making an impact.”

The Community Foundation awarded over $1.6 million through 130 grants to 76 agencies, impacting thousands of south-central Kentuckians in 2023.