NSO CEO honored for making a difference
Stacey Ninness, president and CEO of Neighborhood Services Organization, will be honored as one of 50 Making a Difference during the Journal Record’s Woman of the Year Awards Gala on Thursday, Oct. 11 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Ninness also will be one of six women inducted into the Journal Record’s Circle of Excellence, a recognition for women who have been nominated for Woman of the Year three times or more. Only 130 women have been inducted in the Circle of Excellence since 1999.
“There are so many fabulous women in Oklahoma doing so many great things,” Ninness said. “It’s great to be recognized in such great company.”
The 50 Making a Difference list recognizes women who show a long-lasting commitment to their business, their community and their community’s quality of life, according to Brittany Attaway, events manager for the Journal Record. She said honorees represent all parts of the state and a wide variety of professional sectors.
“Stacey and Neighborhood Service Organization provide hope daily to Oklahoma’s most vulnerable families,” Attaway said. “Through her leadership and vision, she has led NSO to new heights which is allowing the organization to reach more individuals in need than ever. Stacy’s personal story is one of hard work, endurance and dedication. These reasons among many others are why we are proud to call her a Woman of the Year honoree and a Circle of Excellence Recipient.”
Ninness said her work at NSO breaks her heart every day. She describes NSO’s work of helping people get food, housing, dental care, financial assistance and other basic needs as a humbling experience.
“When I think of NSO, we’re home base for so many,” Ninness said. “We provide hope. We’re a beacon of hope for when people have lost hope.”
From her point of view, support from the United Methodist Church has always been critical to NSO’s mission. The ministry was started in 1920 by United Methodist Women, and Ninness is intentional about remembering NSO’s Methodist roots. She encourages individuals, groups and churches to get involved by donating, providing hygiene kits, adopting apartments, or attending a monthly lunch-and-learn.
“It’s important to me that this church doesn’t forget what this ministry is about,” Ninness said. “There are so many ways to get involved. It’s when you touch and feel the ministry that you really see what the ministry is about.”
As NSO approaches its 100 year anniversary, Ninness is eager to find new ways to collaborate with local organizations and find new ways to serve the city’s most vulnerable people.
“The future for NSO, the next 100 years, are going to be great,” Ninness said. “You haven’t seen the last of NSO. 100 years? It’s only midway.”