Economic and Business Development Commission Awards 04/06/2026

(Episode Description is AI generated and may be errors in accuracy)

A town’s character shows up in the details: who builds, who serves, and who keeps showing up long after the ribbon cutting. We’re at the 2025 Community Pride Awards in Raynham, Massachusetts, celebrating the projects and people that make the community stronger and more connected.

We recognize two major examples of local economic development and commercial investment. Advantage Truck Group is honored for a state-of-the-art heavy-duty truck dealership and repair facility that expands the town’s industrial footprint while stressing a mission of giving back to the community it serves. Noria Corporation is recognized for transforming a key Route 138 site near Route 495, replacing an older property with a modern gas station and convenience store that reflects long-term confidence in Raynham’s business corridor.

Then we shift to the kind of leadership you can’t always measure on a balance sheet. Citizens Award recipient Ryan Schleicher shares what volunteer youth sports really provides: fitness, friendship, structure, confidence through struggle, and a place for kids to be kids in a screen-heavy world. We also honor Reverend James A. Tilby for 35 years of ministry paired with decades of public service as a firefighter, EMT, and fire chaplain, including disaster response and critical incident support that quietly holds communities together.

If you care about civic engagement, small town values, and how local business and volunteerism shape real quality of life, this ceremony is full of reminders worth keeping. Subscribe for more community stories, share this with someone who loves their hometown, and leave a review with the name of someone who deserves recognition next.

Transcript

Welcome And Awards Overview

SPEAKER_06 0:45

Welcome everyone here today for our two thousand twenty-five Community Pride Awards. Our committee consists of seven volunteers appointed by Mr. Blackman, who include Carol Sullivan, B. Ross Panamana, Matt Henry, Bill Force, and Ken Bowman. I also want to thank Carol Harry for attending our meetings and helping us with the agenda in the minute. We think the first one is going to be five. I appreciate all that. We're very proud of the fact that we have 24 pictures for our board. We have four awards tonight, two construction, two. We talked earlier. I think we've put about a hundred awards in the last 45 years. People wiped tonight. Very good run. The first new construction of wood goes to a vantage puff located on Caramel Drive in the Rainfluids Industrial Park. This is a state-of-the-art heavy-duty truck dealership and repair facility. The owner is Kevin Holmes and managed by Mike Raymond and Chris Hadimas. This is one of the eight facilities with headquarters in Shrewsbury Mass. They did a great job constructing this facility, and this is a great addition to our commercial real estate. We're very glad Advantage Truck Group chose Rainham to expand their business in our town, and we wish them the best. Michael Raymond's here tonight with John Holton from Advantage Truck Group.

SPEAKER_05 3:42

Um, sure. I think uh I was actually mentioning it earlier. It seems like uh just yesterday we were driving down here from Shrewsbury on weekends and after hours and interviewing candidates in construction trailers as our facilities uh as our facility was being built. And uh one of our the pillars of our mission statement is to give back to the community in which we serve. So uh to be receiving receiving this award just uh you know four years after opening, it's it's validation that we're going through on our our mission, and uh the town of Branham or City of Redham has been a great partner so far, and uh hopefully many decades to come. So thank you. Congratulations.

Noria’s Rebuild And Community Investment

SPEAKER_06 4:35

The second new construction award goes to Noria, which is headquartered in Wiston Mass. Noria purchased the gas station on Route 138 next to Route 495 and also the residential house abutting the gas station. Noria demolished the gas station in the house and built a beautiful gas station and convenience store with food auctions. This is a great addition to our Route 138 business and a huge investment by Noria in our community. This facility is managed by Michael Wrigley, and Noria is owned by Tony Al Nima. We hope this facility lives up to your community. Appreciate your investment in our community. So congratulations.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

I really appreciate how much the communities embraced our store in the last uh we actually opened last April 29th, so it's almost been a full year. Um come a long way since we were homewalls award, and uh we really appreciate what's award. I don't know we're gonna have a lot of choices which stores to invest in. I'm glad they picked Ray because it's just been great to us, and uh we don't keep being great to you. Thank you very much.

Citizens Award For Ryan Schleicher

SPEAKER_06 6:25

The first citizens award goes to Ryan Schwyker, a resident of for over 30 years. Ryan gave me his family bio, and I want to share his information tonight. He did a better job printing this than I would have. Ryan was raised in Rahim, parents little who were here tonight, relied in Rayham for over 40 years, and sister Jeff was in Foxborough now. Ryan played sports in Rand, soccer, basketball, baseball. He was a member of the 1995 12-year-old Randam All-Star team that won the Cal Ripkin 12 and Under State Championship and then wing up the run-up. Ryan went to VR, played soccer, basketball, baseball all four years. He was captain of baseball and soccer, president of the class in 2001. I can't believe it. Has an undergraduate degree in an FBA from Devon University, and he worked for seven years at Gordon Seafood in Gloucester. Brian returned to Rainham in 2012 to work at Ocean Spray, where he still runs the place, I guess. His wife Nina, Ryan, have been married for 18 years. They have three sons, Jake, Benny, and Nate. Jake gets about four inches taller at the time. You remember saying in Paris, and uh volunteer work. Very impressive. Ryan and Nina were coach of the Rainham Baseball Association for 11 years. Ryan and Nina, coach of the Rainham Giants for eight years, coach of the Rainham Rebels for eight years, coach of Nathan Horseman Aces Club Travel Baseball for four years, board member of the Rainham Youth Baseball and Softball Association since 2021, currently the Major League Director, and a board member of the Rainham Giants since 2022, one year as secretary, and currently is in his fourth year as president. I can't imagine how many lives you've affected. Uh-huh. Rainham is a great place to live. This is Ryan speaking, and he's grateful for the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people across the community through youth sports. He has a tremendous respect and appreciation for our town departments and services. He loves his town, the youth programs, the great families, and the amazing kids. He volunteers to give back, like Mom and Dad did for him when he was a kid, and he wants to promote all the positive benefits and aspects of youth sports. Fun and fitness, commodity, friendship, structure and discipline, confidence development, overcoming struggle, dealing with defeat, interpersonal pride and accomplishment. Seeing kids just be kids, an outlet for making friends and having fun. It's an opportunity to be a positive role model so that today these kids feel loved and supported. And then one day I hope many will want to get back to their community too. Congratulations, Ryan.

unknown 9:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 9:44

Now we have to get the family up here.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

I promise the kids we're gonna get.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

So I do appreciate it. I know Randham has uh hundreds of dedicated volunteers across the sports and activities. Uh it takes all of us to make a difference here in Rainham and make Rainham what it is today. Um Rainham's a wonderful place to live. I'm proud to have grown up here. I'm happy that we made the decision to return here to raise our family. I love this town, the youth programs, the great families, and the amazing kids. I've met so many tremendous people here growing up here as a kid and now from as an adult. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for all of our town educators, our town officials, and our public service departments. We have the best around. We're a humble town. People care for one another. I've had an awesome childhood, and I was very lucky, and I know that. I had great parents and I had a ton of great coaches that were role models. People stepped up around us. If you're wanting to give back to this town, and even more so now as an adult, every program is different, every town is every team is different, every kid is different, and meeting them where they are is really important. When you connect and click in a way that helps a kid out in some way, it's just special. So I strongly believe in all the positive benefits and attributes of youth sports. Um, a lot of which um Mr. Nolvin covered, but I'd like to kind of say it again. Um it's an outlet for physical fitness, it's an outlet for mental breaks from screens and the pressures of life. Um it's a space for to establish friendships and camaraderie, it's a means to instill structure and discipline, it's a place to build confidence through struggle and adversity, and it's a place to achieve personal pride and accomplishment. But at the end of the day, at the core of it all, it's a place for kids to be kids. So today's different than when I grew up. But it's okay. And when I see kids out on the field, on the court, out riding bikes, out in the community, it takes me back. And I love being part of that, and I love seeing the kids just be kids. So I take responsibility and having the opportunity to be a positive role model, to be a positive adult for a kid in any given day. It's my hope that many kids from today turn into tomorrow's volunteers. I want to acknowledge and thank Nina for supporting me and our family day in and day out. As John has said, she's the real award winner in our household. Um so thank you all again, and and I do truly share this recognition with so many moms and dads out here in the town that volunteer in very, very similar ways and make the difference where we can and when we can. So uh it takes college, and we have an awesome one. Thank you.

Reverend Tilby’s Service And Farewell

SPEAKER_06 13:26

Thank you, Ryan. The next Citizens Award goes to the Reverend James A. Tilby, who is currently in his 35th year as the minister of the First Congregational Church or the United Church of Christ in Rainham. Jim's bio was also very impressive, and I'd like to share it with you. Jim was raised in East Hampton, Massachusetts, has a bachelor's degree in psychology with honors from the University of Massachusetts in 1981, Masters of Divinity degree with honors from Andover Newton Theological School in 1984. He was ordained as a Protestant minister in the United Church of Christ at his home church, East Hampton Congregational Church, in June of 1984. And it was during his time that Jim became a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician. Jim began serving as pastor of the first Congregational Church of Rainham in 1991 and continued in that position. This is his 35th year. He's a called firefighter and EMT for Rainham Fire and Rescue from 1991 to 2021. During that time, he also served as a department chaplain and continues in that role today. He's active in critical incident stress management for many years and served in the Rainham Library Board of Trustees for 12 years. Currently serving in his eighth year on the Rainham Cemetery Commission, served as the chief chaplain of the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplain from 2009 to 2022, and as chaplain of the Ground Bureau in New York City for a short time following the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. Jim volunteered for disaster response for the American Red Cross for ten years. He was deployed to a number of events, including Hurricane Katrina, the Drop in Tornado, Superstorm Sandy, and the Boston Marathon bombing. Jim and Nancy were married in 1981. They have two children, Dr. Timothy Tilby, a PhD, and Derek Human and Emily Hartford, married to Christopher Hartford. They have one grandchild, Lillian Hartford. He is retiring on July 31st, supposedly, after 35 years. Jim also received the Rainham Dedication of the Town Report Award in 2025. So I want to congratulate him and his wife for an unbelievable career.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

Appeal, okay, good. So John read all the relevant information. Population 1500. And when we moved here, I had to laugh when people said, So how do you like living in a small town? No. 1500 is a small town. Rainham at that time was maybe 12,000 or so. But geography aside and population numbers aside, Rainham has had the small town feel. And that's because of the people. The people here are wonderful. It's one of the many reasons that we stayed in Rainham. You know, the other is that I forgot to leave the Stone Church, and the other is that they don't know they can fire. But I've always been impressed with the people in Rainham who are willing to step up. And all of the town departments in Rainham truly work for the people. You don't find that in every community. And that's something that we have here. And we're able to disagree without being disagreeable and work together to make it a better place. So it's a great place.

SPEAKER_07 18:00

I am happy for the time to get these name should really be on here because being the pastor's wife is a it's a good time.

SPEAKER_06 18:18

All right, well, congratulations to a great group tonight, I think. So I want to thank everyone here tonight, our award winners, our public officials, and our citizens. I also want to thank my committee for all their work. Thanks again to Carol Sullivan for the refreshments, which I want all of you to partake after we adjourn here. And um I want to invite anyone up that would like to say a few words. Um we have given over a hundred awards now, and we hope to give many more. We are very proud of this year's awards.

Economic Development And Town History

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Thank you, John. And I want to, on behalf of the uh Rainham Select Board and uh our residents, who I'm sure would like to congratulate all of the recipients here, I'd like to offer congratulations to our award recipients. And I just want to thank the Economic and Business Development Commission Chairman John Noblin and members Carol Sullivan, B. Scannell, Russ Moderana, Bill Lewis, Ken Bolin, and Matt Hendry for holding this annual awards event and commend them for their selection of the award recipients, the Naraya Corporation, Noria Corporation, Advanced Truck Group Dealership, Reverend Tilby, and Mr. Schleicher, and certainly echo and uh put an exclamation point around what uh the Reverend had to say and Ryan had to say about the great community that we have here. And express our appreciation to the members of the Economic and Business Development Commission and the Town's appreciation for all that you do as a commission trying to watch over and promote the economic and business development of our town, which is so very important to our community. We all know, but neglect to say it often enough, that the economic and commercial development of a community is vital to its success and not only financially. And we have been blessed in Rainham since the first successful ironworks that played a vital role in Rainham's early days to be able to enjoy a strong economic and commercial base. You know, if it hadn't been for the first successful ironworks and having a church, Rainham would never have existed. And um, as a historical note, Pat White in her history of Rainham stated the most important contributing factor to the success of that section of Taunton, which it was at that time, which would separate and become the town of Rainham, was the first successful ironworks incorporated in six established in 1652, long before Rainham was even incorporated as a town in 1731. So again, congratulate the um our commission and our award recipients. Each business honored here, each individual celebrated, has played and hopefully will continue to play their own special role in the success, in the vitality, in the lifeblood of our community. And for that we offer our gratitude and appreciation. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 21:24

Anyone else would like to say anything? Greg would like to say anything. I never saw you lost the word, so I gotta say something.

Closing Thanks And Invitation To Mingle

SPEAKER_01 21:36

This is uh very ad hoc, but um I would just like to reinforce the points. I've now been here for over three and a half years, and it is a community and a a very special community. And uh um we're very lucky to have uh people like yourself in this community. So uh congratulations to all and And uh um I wish you all success in your businesses and your activities. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 22:10

How about Russ? You got anything to say?

unknown 22:14

No. John Not one has his heart and soul for that event, but he's currently not the same presentation.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

He is what drives this particular uh commission committee and truly cares about the people in it.

SPEAKER_05 22:33

So I want to thank John for the amount of time and effort he spends into this. It's really heartfelt. He gets nervous.

SPEAKER_06 22:45

I know. I was I was waiting for another kind of comment. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone. I hope everyone can stay and shoot the breeze for a while and uh introduce each other and uh have some refreshments. And uh hopefully next year we'll have some more recipients and uh just wish everyone good luck. So thank you everybody.