Meet Mentor school board member Annie Payne, winner of the Hometown Hero award from Platinum Real Estate
By Patricia Nugent
Denise and Mark Zervos, founders of The Neighborhood Experts at Platinum Real Estate, launched the Platinum Hero of the Year Award to recognize a person who selflessly serves the community.
She says their thinking behind the award is to counteract negativity and “flip the script to focus on positivity.”
Opening the contest up to nominations this spring, Denise says she was shocked at how many local community members were nominated and people who took their time to say why. One person received an overwhelming amount of nominations, with stories from people inspired by her work as a Mentor school board member. Meet Hometown Hero Annie Payne.
A lifelong Mentor resident (she bought the house she grew up in), Annie says she was called to serve.
“I’m flabbergasted,” she says, laughing and shedding a few tears of surprise. “It means the world to know that people think so much of me. There are so many other heroes in the community who lift each other up. I couldn’t have made a difference without all the people who have supported me over the years. I’m blessed and thankful.”
If you peruse the many nominations, common denominator descriptions range from “brilliant, calm, caring, assertive and education-aware,” to “she doesn’t back down and goes above and beyond for our community.”
And Denise couldn’t agree more. “We hope Annie’s actions inspire others and create a ripple effect of kindness to the overall well-being of the community,” she says.
The Hero of the Year Award is a nice complement to the Heroes Program Denise and Mark founded 10 years ago to thank local heroes, first responders and medical and military personnel for their service by offering cash rebates when buying or selling their homes through Platinum Real Estate.
Platinum Real Estate has offices in Ohio, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. To get more information, call 216-990-2100 or 440-974-SALE or visit NeighborhoodExperts.com. And to find out more about and apply for the Heroes Program, go to PlatinumHeroes.com.