By Roslyn Ryan
Editor

Powhatan resident Billy Kornegay has never been one to sit on the sidelines.

“If you take too long to get involved, you don’t get involved,” said Kornegay last week, during a visit to the Powhatan Today offices.

Kornegay knows a thing or two about getting involved. On March 5, he was named the 2009 Volunteer Citizen of the Year by the Huguenot Ruritan Club.

Kornegay was honored that night for his extensive work in the community, from serving as Commander and Past Commander of Powhatan’s American Legion Post 201, to his work with the local WWII Round Table.

An Army veteran with a PhD in Engineering, Kornegay has worked extensively on local historical preservation projects, including the Powhatan Heritage Book. He is also a member of the Powhatan Historical Society, the Virginia Historical Society and the Heritage Foundation.

“Anything to do with history, I tend to get involved,” said Kornegay.

His own personal history is that of someone often on the move—he and his wife Suzanne, who have three grown children, have moved 12 times and owned nine homes since he began his career.
In 2002 he moved to Powhatan after retiring as the Vice President and Technical Manager of Water and Wastewater for Parsons Corporation Worldwide. To call him a newcomer, however, wouldn’t be quite right.

In fact, Kornegay was born and raised in Powhatan and many of his former classmates still call the county home. That made it somewhat easier to get back into the swing of things he said, even though he’d been gone over 45 years.

To Powhatan resident Mary Harrison, who nominated Kornegay for the Ruritan award, the shear amount of time Kornegay manages to donate is particularly impressive.
“[Billy] has probably given more volunteer hours to Powhatan County in the seven years since he returned to his home county than most of us who have lived here decades,” she said in her nomination letter. “It’s obviously in his nature to give-give-and give some more wherever he sees a need.” 

Of all the projects Kornegay has taken on, there is one that seems particularly close to his heart.

In April of 2003, shortly after Operation Iraqi Freedom began, Kornegay helped found the Iraqi Freedom Care Package Program to send much-needed items to troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In partnership with the Lions Club and the Powhatan County School System, the project uses around $4,500 to send an average of 1,000 care packages each year.

The packages include things like grab-and-go snacks, canned items and even clothing, as well as cards and letters from family members.

Their peak year so far has been 2007, with 1,809 packages sent, and Kornegay admitted they will probably wind down the project as troops are withdrawn.
Not that he plans on calling it quits any time soon.

The plan, he said, “is to keep the program running until the troops come home.”

That kind of dedication doesn’t surprise Cindy Leipertz, a coordinator in the National Guard’s Family Assistance Center, who has worked with Kornegay for years.

Kornegay is always the first to volunteer for anything they need said Leipertz, from raising money to coordinating refreshments for functions.

Working with him, she added, “has been the utmost pleasure.”

For those who would like to help support the Iraqi Freedom Care Package project, donations can be mailed to Kornegay at 3557 Richards Run Drive, Powhatan Virginia 23139. Checks should be made out to American Legion Post 201, with IFCP in the memo line.