Charlotte Williams' devotion to her "church family" at Mt. Olive United Holy Church in Durham began long before she decided to give one of her kidneys to a lifelong friend who needed it.

She participated in fundraisers, visited the sick, sang in the choir and worked with the church's youth members.

But when the pastor's daughter, Tamara Surles-Hargrove, needed a kidney, Williams stepped forward to say she had one she was willing to spare.

STATEWIDE RECOGNITION Charlotte Williams, events coordinator at the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, has received the highest honor a state employee can receive, the State Employees' Award for Excellence.

"Friends and coworkers have said to me, `I don't know if I could have done that,'" said Williams, who works as the events coordinator at the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. "I said to them, `It really didn't cross my mind that way. If I had needed a kidney, I would hope somebody would do that for me.'

"That's all. I did not think about all the other things people were thinking about for me. I was at peace with the decision and just did it, and it was done."

It was this act of courage, and the selfless attitude behind it, that led Williams' supervisors, Sue Hester and Kimberly Burton-Oakes, to nominate her for the Chancellor's Award for Excellence that she won in the category of Safety/Heroism. Chancellor's Award recipients become the University's candidates to be sent to the Office of State Personnel as nominees for the State Employees' Award for Excellence.

Williams found out this summer that she was one of 12 state employees to win the award, which is the highest honor a state employee can receive.

Williams will be recognized by Chancellor James Moeser during the Employee Appreciation Event on Nov. 5. She will be presented with a state medallion and a certificate signed by the governor.

The surgery was performed Jan. 13, 2003 at Duke Medical Center. The organ worked beautifully the first week, but then Surles-Hargrove's body rejected it, just as it had two years before after another member of the church had donated a kidney.

The 48-year-old Williams and Surles-Hargrove have been friends at the church since they were little girls. There was never a doubt in Williams' mind that giving her a kidney was a risk worth taking, even knowing that the first operation had failed, Williams said. And she still feels the same way now.

Johnston Center Director James Leloudis said of Williams in an April 22 letter in support of the nomination: "I'm honored to know Charlotte, to work with her every day and to know her extraordinary capacity for helping others. She is a remarkable woman: brave, selfless, strong and a devoted employee who has served the University well the last 19 years. We have all been humbled by Charlotte's gift of a kidney; clearly, this is a woman who `walks the talk,' as they say."

The center's associate director, Randy Davenport, wrote of Williams: "Her decision to donate a kidney reflects her deep faith and her quiet courage. Facing certain pain, an uncertain outcome and significant risk, Charlotte chose to give of herself."

Williams said she owes her strong faith and outlook on life to her late grandmother, Audrey Dawson, who started her family going to Mt. Olive United Holy Church long before Williams was born.

Just as her grandmother took her daughter to the church, Williams has taken her daughter Mya, who is now 18.

"My daughter Mya was a great support to me when making the decision to donate the kidney," Williams said. "She was my cheerleader, my encourager and a good little nurse when I was in the hospital and when I returned home. She is a wonderful daughter."

Williams said she is blessed to have had such a strong support system extending from home to work to church. "I am a blessed individual, and I hope my life is a blessing to others," she said.

Williams said she appreciates the award, but what she values more is the experience itself. "I will never be the same again," she said. "It has done monumental things for me because I can remember a time when I wouldn't have done something like this.

"This experience has taught me the value of life, to value every moment that I live and make the most of every moment. It has also taught me not to take my well-being for granted."