The Progressive Labour Party, as part of a gala weekend for the Premier, handed out its Drum Major Awards Saturday for regular citizens who have exemplified outstanding public service. Seven local groups and individuals were so honoured.

?It was out of the blue,? said Regina Peniston after hearing she was to receive an award from the PLP.

?We don?t expect anything like this,? said her husband Bill.

The couple, married for nine years, has spent half their union serving those banished to the street because of either homelessness or drug addiction.

Regularly they serve soup out of their car and once a year, during Christmastime, they prepare a massive holiday meal. They have fed many during very stark times.

?Because I love to cook,? said Regina emphatically.

And her husband was right there with confirmation: ?She?s the best cook in Bermuda ? the best in Bermuda!?

Regina, 42, and Bill, 53, are the kind of couple cheered for in the movies. He loves to finish her sentences and sometimes she returns the favour. They laugh often.

But their days weren?t always filled with laughter and award ceremonies. The Penistons met on the streets ? broke, hungry and addicted to drugs.

When asked what those days were like, Regina, had only one word ? ?Hell.?

?I had run a crack house,? Bill further explained. ?I always had my drugs. I always had whatever I needed.?

The Penistons said their biggest problem back then was not fully understanding their own dire straights. They admit ?hell? began to fell comfortable.

?I was comfortable because I was sick,? said Bill. ?It?s a disease. You don?t know that you?re actually messed up.?

When the pair found each other, they seemed to also find a way out.

Regina got pregnant. She gave birth to a son and called him Nicholas. Today he?s ten years old.

So, no coincidence then, that Bill and Regina will celebrate their ten-year anniversary of sobriety next month.

They credit Nicholas, they credit each other, and they credit their church ? New Testament Church of God Healing Centre.

Every time they?re out serving soup to the afflicted, they?re also serving up a side dish of hope.

The Drum Major Awards are named in memory of a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speech called ?I Was a Drum Major for Justice?.

It speaks of peace and justice and righteousness.

Along with the Penistons on Saturday, Dr. Barbara Ball, Ann Caines and Laverne Furbert were also given glass statues.

Community groups The Somerset Brigade Band and YMSC?s Youth Redevelopment Programme were also honoured.

Premier Ewart Brown told the crowd of several hundred at The Berkeley Institute of the time he met Dr. King in 1967, not long before the civil rights leader was assassinated.

Of the awardees, Premier Brown said: ?What I have noticed today is that all these people, who so deservedly were awarded the Drum Major Awards, are people who did not wait for Government.

?Some of us lead from the front, in a public manner, but there are those who lead from wherever they are,? he said.

Regina fought back tears as Premier Brown shook her hand. Bill looked proud.