John R. Mott Award

Each year since 1996, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte has awarded its highest honor in the name of a man who devoted his life to the Y, Christ and brotherhood of man.

John Raleigh Mott, a New York native, began a lifetime of service to the Y as President of the YMCA at Cornell University. He went on to work with the Intercollegiate YMCA of the USA and Canada, the YMCA World Committee, and the Y’s Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. He saw the Y not as a job, but as a mission: To lead people to the love of Christ, so that they might share that love with others. The award bearing his name goes to someone who brings those ideals to life in ways that change hearts and communities.

“Evangelism without social work is deficient,” he once said. “Social work without evangelism is impotent.”

In 1946, for all that he did, Mott won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Years before, in 1912, Mott and a colleague were offered a free ride on the Titanic. They politely declined, choosing to set sail on a less fancy ship, the SS Lapland. When they learned what had happened, the two men agreed that God wasn’t done with them yet. Mott died in 1955. He was 89.

2022 AWARD WINNER - Harvey B. Gantt

• Former McCrorey Board member

• Former Association Board member

• Mission in Motion Campaign Steering Committee

• Trustee (active)

• Chair of United Way Internal Review Committee

• Loyal donor and Y advocate

• Assisted with the founding of the Stratford Richardson YMCA

2021 AWARD WINNER - HANK FLINT

• Former Johnston Board member and Chair

• George Williams Award Winner – Johnston

• Former Community Development Partnership Board member and Chair

• Co-chair of Johnston Capital Campaign

• Former Association Board member

• Prayer Breakfast Committee Chair (3 years)

• Trustee (active)

• Loyal and generous donor – Christian Mission funding

2020 AWARD WINNER - JIM BABB

• Former Central/Dowd Board Chair

(Presided over women’s membership decision)

• Former Association Board Chair

(Presided over securing bond financing)

• Long-time Trustee (active)

• Loyal donor to Dowd, Johnston, Association Initiatives

• Former Association Board Nominating/Governance

Committee member

• Loyal and generous donor and user of the Dowd Y

(Women’s Locker Room named for him)