Logan County Chamber of Commerce names 2024 Volunteer of The Year
RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. – Congratulations are in order to Clay Bilyeu for being named Volunteer of The Year by the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, an award he said he was surprised to receive.
Bilyeu told News 40 that he doesn’t help out for any recognition, but it’s heartwarming to him to know that everything he does around the community doesn’t go unnoticed. He said he wasn’t always in the position to participate in community events and give back in the way that he has since 2009.
The body shop and tow service owner said when he was growing up, his family was not well off, and college wasn’t even uttered in his house because they couldn’t afford it. Upon graduating high school, he said he knew he needed to get a job if he wanted to be successful, and in 1982, he started doing body work on cars in Lewisburg, Kentucky. Eventually, Bilyeu would open his own shop in Russellville, Kentucky in 1994, where has been ever since.
The Logan County native said he started to do a lot in the community once he and his crew took over the annual car show and tobacco festival in 2009, and since then, it’s just taken off from there.
He said he and others host the Summer Nights Cruise-Ins monthly to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as well as hospice, Alzheimer’s and recently, autism.
News 40 spoke to Logan County judge-executive Phil Baker, who said he’s known Bilyeu for quite a long time, and the award is well deserved.
Baker said Bilyeu is one of the nicest people he’s ever met, and he is an invaluable part of the community with as much as he does in the way of showing up to community events and performing at benefits.
