Terry King could have gone to work for any number of financial consulting firms but was drawn to one in particular.

“I really like what this company does,” said King, a Slidell resident. “They’re committed to making a difference.”

King is a financial consultant with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a nonprofit membership organization that provides financial services. The company is also dedicated to giving back to the community, and earlier this year King was honored for his own contributions.

Terry King

In May, King received the company’s Volunteer Excellence award. One of just four individuals chosen out of 2,600 representatives nationwide, he was selected based on his high level of volunteer service in the last year.

A few years ago, King was trying to figure out a way to get more involved, to get closer to Thrivent members. That was in 2005.

He was just getting started when Hurricane Katrina hit, scattering more than 50 percent of the area’s financial representatives to points all over the country.

“Our home didn’t flood, so the damage was minimal compared to so many others,” he said. “My wife and I made a commitment to stay and help make Slidell a better place.”

Before the storm, King said he had done a few community service projects but never really considered it a mission. He’s been a Sunday school teacher at Lamb of God Church for several years, as well as a Cub Scout den leader.

The father of two adopted children, he’s also hosted several adoption symposiums to help people navigate the sometimes complicated process of adoption.

King is a member of the Rotary Club of Slidell, which formed a joint task force after the storm with the Slidell Northshore Rotary called Rotary Rebuilds Slidell.

“Each member of the group came up with a project, like the Mt. Olive Food Kitchen, Rainbow Child Care, STARC, all of the nonprofit infrastructure agencies that were hit so hard,” said King. “We put them on our Web site to announce we were seeking funding, and we thought we would get maybe $250,000 at best.”

At last count the project has raised more than $2.6 million that has been distributed to help restore and rebuild more than a dozen agencies. Clubs and volunteers from all over the world stepped forward to help, and at one point, the group had the distinction of distributing more money to the local community than any other club in the world.

King’s company is also sponsoring a number of Habitat for Humanity homes through Thrivent Builds, which contributes more than two-thirds of the funding for each home. One of those, a house in Lacombe, will be dedicated next month.

In addition, King has led marketing workshops for the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce to help small businesses and other nonprofit agencies increase their ability to provide services to the community.

“Terry embodies Thrivent’s mission of compassion and caring,” said Brad Hewitt, senior vice president of charitable programs for Thrivent Financial. “We applaud his generosity, commitment and dedication to this mission, and he is most deserving of this recognition.”

As part of the award, King was given $1,000 to donate to a charity of his choosing, and he elected to give $500 to the Bay Area Women’s Coalition in Mobile, Ala., and $500 to Rotary Club of Slidell.

He remains humble about his honor, saying he is simply lucky to be in a position to help people. He feels his greatest impact was helping people make connections and to put people in touch with those who had answers.

“The greatest thing for me is seeing the number of people who stepped forward to help,” he said, noting how many have come from other parts of the country to stay for months at a time. “It’s really restored my faith in humanity.”