TJ and Kerry Smart will be awarded the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Distinguished Community Service Award on Thursday during the organization’s annual awards ceremony planned at the Waterville Elks Banquet Center. Submitted photo

WATERVILLE — TJ and Kerry Smart have spent more than 30 years volunteering for many causes, including for United Way, Rotary, hospice and civic organizations, as well as church and sports activities.

It is this commitment to helping better the community that has netted the couple the most prestigious award given annually by the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, the 2024 Distinguished Community Service Award. They will be honored with the accolade Thursday at the chamber’s 62nd annual awards ceremony planned at the Waterville Elks Banquet Center. Eight others will receive chamber awards in front of an audience of more than 300.

TJ Smart owns Auburn-based Milestone Funeral Partners which has 65 locations in New England and upstate New York; Kerry Smart is development director for the Travis Mills Foundation. The Oakland couple says they are honored to be chosen for the chamber award.

“I have been blessed throughout my career in funeral service, especially early on, to be part of many communities,” TJ Smart said. “However, in 2003 when Kerry and I found ourselves in central Maine, we knew this place was special. It’s easy to find time to do things you enjoy and at the top of that list is giving back to a community that has given so much to us.”

Kerry Smart said they are deeply humbled by having been chosen for the award.

“To be recognized alongside so many inspiring individuals who have made a lasting impact on central Maine and beyond is incredibly meaningful to us,” she said. “We feel so fortunate to be part of such a generous, supportive and vibrant community. It’s a joy to give back to a place we love so much.”

The criteria for receiving the Distinguished Community Service Award is that recipients must have been involved in efforts to help better the community for at least 10 years, demonstrated community leadership, initiated creativity with no fewer than three different areas of community service and demonstrated unselfishness toward the economic betterment of the mid-Maine area.

Chamber president and CEO Kimberly Lindlof said she has had the pleasure of working with the Smarts in various capacities — Kerry, through Thomas College’s entrepreneurial efforts and TJ, when he served on the chamber’s board of directors and its golf tournament planning committee.

“Independently, they are both committed to their responsibilities and always eager to lend a hand and offer insight or advice,” Lindlof said Friday. “Together, they are quite the team — positive, supportive and determined. I imagine that they could do anything that they put their minds to.”

The Smarts met in 1992 while each was attending University of Maine, and TJ became the youngest member of the Old Town Rotary Club and Kerry volunteered as a coach at Old Town High School. They married in 1997 and started a family while building their careers in Portland. TJ worked at Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home and Kerry worked in admissions at University of Southern Maine.

They moved to central Maine with their children, Hunter, then 5 and now 24, and Gabs, then 3 and now 22, and settled into their new home at Veilleux Funeral Home in Waterville, where they got involved in numerous local organizations. TJ became a member of the chamber’s board of directors and both he and Kerry became members of the St. John’s Catholic Church in Winslow where their children attended. They did fundraising, volunteered at community events and supported those with needs, according to information supplied by the chamber, with input from the Smarts.

They were involved in Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area, Waterville Women’s Club and United Way of Mid-Maine Inc., the latter of which the couple became campaign co-chairs in 2013. That same year, Kerry was diagnosed with breast cancer, yet they continued to serve and the community gave back to them in a big way, with meals delivered to their doorstep, rides arranged for their children, and a lot of love and support surrounding them during that difficult time.

For more than 10 years, the Smarts continued to volunteer by supporting Messalonskee boosters, organizing wine and beer tastings for the ShineOnCass Foundation, a charitable organization, and championing other causes. Kerry started coaching cross country, part time, at Thomas College in 2008, and in 2012 she started working full time in the development office there. Then in 2022, she transitioned to the Professional and Career Development/Harold Alfond Institute for Business and Innovation, at Thomas.

More recently, the Smarts served as chairs of the United Way of Kennebec Valley campaign, reaching the goal of $2 million. TJ serves on the board of the Waterville County Club and Kerry is part of Sunrise Rotary Club and Waterville Women’s Club and is chair of the United Way of Kennebec Valley board of directors.

The Smarts follow in the footsteps of Chris and Linanne Gaunce, owners of Central Maine Motors Auto Group, who won the same award last year.

Others to receive awards Thursday: Pleau’s Market, for Small Business of the Year (business with fewer than 50 employees); Sheridan Construction, for Large Business of the Year (more than 50); David Grenier of Kennebec Savings Bank, for Outstanding Professional; and Nicholas French, Municipal Employee of the Year (he is code enforcement officer for the town of China); Matt Hunt of A2Z Computing, Exceptional Volunteer of the Year; Lindsey Cameron, Rising Start Award; Patty Bearce of Surette Real Estate, Custom Service Stardom Award; and Michelle Joler-Labbe of Thomas College, Elias A. Joseph Award.