Chip Stroup, Lincoln County [NC] Man of the Year

November 2013 Article is Courtesy of the Lincoln Times-News, Lincolnton North Carolina Chip Stroup of First Federal Savings Bank in Lincolnton was named Lincoln County’s [NC] Man of the Year at the recent Lincolnton-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet at the Laboratory Mill in Lincolnton. For the past 40 years, Stroup has been a leader of First Federal Savings Bank, serving the community through an array of volunteer efforts and financial support over the years. In the Rotary Club’s speech, they explain that what distinguishes Stroup is his quiet and simple service to companies and individuals in need. “Without hesitation, Chip will find a way to make things better, maintaining his mission to contribute to the welfare of those in the community,” the presenter said. Stroup has served the community in numerous ways, including serving as a director for the YMCA, Lincoln County Community Foundation, North Carolina Bankers Association, Lincoln County Industrial Facilities and Pollution Control Financing Authority, Community Investment Corporation of North Carolina, Centralina Development Corporation, United Way for Lincoln County and the local chapter of the American Red Cross. He has also assisted children in Lincolnton’s Public Housing to attend Camp Challenge, provided financial support for the Young Scholars Institute, provided funds for the Gaston College Foundation to construct a Science and Technology Center on the Lincoln Campus and has volunteered with the Rotary Club to assist in raising money for low-interest loans for Lincoln County students to attend college. “Man of the Year is not about who has the longest list of organization or committee memberships — it is about the breadth of impact that a man has had on his community,” the presenter said. “There are countless children, schools, businesses, restaurants, art programs, community gatherings and employees’ family members who have been the recipient of Chip Stroup’s generous contributions. Chip’s contributions come in many forms — time, advice, financial support, physical labor, concern for those less fortunate, care for those in need — in a word, service…and very simply put, that is what Chip Stroup has been doing for years.”
NOTE

Chip Stroup is the son of the late Mr. C.D. Stroup, a long-time and devoted genealogist, focussed on preserving the history of the Jacob Straub/Stroup family of Lincoln/Gaston Counties in North Carolina. Chip retains the significant number of original hand-written documents and photos that his father produced and accumulated throughout his life. All of them are stored and viewable via the "Jacob Stroup/Straub Descendants" tree on Ancestry.com.