Beverly and George Grant were selected by the Grand Rapids Urban League as recipients of its highest honor, the 2015 Drum Major Award.

Beverly is the interim executive director at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University, and George is the dean of the College of Community and Public Service at GVSU.

The award is based on a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He said, “Yes if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

George said he believes these words mean Dr. King is recognizing that he had gotten to the front of the line, the spotlight, but he wanted to be remembered as someone who stood humbly in the front of the line for justice and righteousness.

“We try to live our lives that way,” George said. “So we can share the talents that we have, mentoring and supporting and doing all of these things. We do it because it’s the right thing to do, because people did it for us and not to be like, ‘Look at me, look at me, look at me.’”

George is involved with numerous committees and projects, including those surrounding child welfare, abuse and neglect and projects with the goal to make the communities stronger. He works with the organization KConnect, and he is on the board for Boy Scouts.

Of all of the things he is involved with, he said he is most proud of his work with the College of Community and Public Service.

“The work we have been able to do, to educate students, to impacting the community- that is such a big deal to be able to do that,” George said.

Beverly is involved with Revolution Christian Ministries and has worked to help with issues such as poverty, homelessness and employment.

She said her proudest moment is helping a young, suicidal mother avoid having her new born baby placed in foster care, when all she needed was someone to talk with her through one particular night.

“People don’t need a hand out, they need a hand — a hand that gives them access to information, resources and knowledge,” Beverly said.

George said he and Beverly act based on the belief that giving people access to information gives them power to make change. They said they do not take their positions or titles for granted, and they hope to use them to pay it forward.

Additionally, much of who they are today is because of the lessons they learned from their parents. George and Beverly agreed that their parents raised them in houses where faith in God and helping other people was important.

“We were both raised in the church and raised with the idea of helping and giving back and sharing no matter what,” George said. “You should always help someone else. If you have a little someone else always has a little less.”

However, they have chosen to not work on initiatives together.

“We do that on purpose,” George said. “Instead of both of us doing the same thing and being at the same place, why not do different things and use our talents in different ways.”

Despite not working on committees or projects together, the Grants, who have been married for 20 years, said much of their success as a team is based on mutual trust.

“Because we trust each other, we trust each other’s opinion,” George said. “We can bounce ideas, strategies about how to have an impact, and we know that we will give honest answers to each other because we want to do it right.”

George said he and Beverly hope to be remembered as people who did everything in their power to help others.

“We don’t look at ourselves as better than or smarter than (others), but that we all have talents and we all have things that we need help with,” George said. “If we can play a role in making that happen, that is how we want to be remembered.”