Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke vowed on Saturday to use all the tools available at the Fed to revive the U.S. economy.

“We will continue to forcefully deploy all the tools at our disposal as long as necessary to support the restoration of financial stability and the resumption of healthy economic growth,” Bernanke wrote in prepared remarks for an even in Dillon, South Carolina today.

He was being honored by having a highway exit into his hometown named in his honor. His speech focused mostly on his time living there.

Bernanke, 55, was born in Augusta, Georgia and grew up in Dillon, living there until he was 17.

In the brief speech he noted that he worked in construction at a hospital there in the summer before he left for Harvard University. He also said that during the summers of his college years he waited tables six days a week at a restaurant in the town.

He also reflected on some lessons learned from his time there.

“First and foremost, I learned how very hard people in small towns like Dillon, and in communities large and small all across the United States, have to work to support themselves and their families and to offer opportunities to their children,” he said.