FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Five local citizens were honored by the Council of Churches of the Ozarks and City of Springfield as the Volunteers of the Year at the annual Gift of Time Awards Luncheon today at the Ramada Oasis Convention Center. Nominated by various nonprofit, public, and service organizations, these five recipients were selected from a pool of nominations based on their unique volunteer efforts and time donated. All nominations were judged by an impartial team of business and civic leaders. Since 1991, the City of Springfield has recognized exemplary volunteer efforts in the area. This year’s luncheon was held at the Ramada Oasis Convention Center. All the nominees were invited to attend, with the winners being announced for the first time at the ceremony. In addition to being recognized, the winners were awarded beautiful trophies from Springfield Hot Glass and will have their portraits on display in the Rosanna Bradshaw Memorial Wall of Fame at the Busch Municipal Building – a wall specifically created for Gift of Time Award recipients. This year’s recipients and their nominating organizations are: • Traci Brown, nominated The Venues Church, for the variety of volunteer positions she provides at the Veterans Coming Center, Bill’s Place, The Rare Breed, The Venues Church, Women in Need and The Gathering Tree. Brown was also selected from a drawing to win $1,000 from Council of Churches of the Ozarks to benefit the charity of her choice.
• Gordon Maracle, nominated by the Springfield Police Department for his work as president of the Springfield Police Chaplains Association.
• Marti Mowery, nominated by Community Partnership of the Ozarks for her work with the Tom Watkins neighborhood.
• Harvey Hank, nominated by Ozarks Technical Community College for his work mentoring Adult Education and Literacy students .
• Brian and Rachele Huett. This father-daughter duo was nominated by Springfield-Greene County Park Board’s Accessible Recreation and Miracle League program for their work as volunteer coaches, managers, pitchers and player buddies at the Betty and Bobby Allison Miracle League Ballfield. The other 36 nominees for the 2016 Gift of Time Awards were: • Maile Auterson, nominated by Springfield-Greene County Health Department.
• Robert Blevins, nominated by Springfield Sertoma Club.
• Emalu Bird, nominated by CoxHealth.
• Judy Carley, nominated by Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri.
• Cynthia Collins, nominated by Alan Smith.
• Marvene Doty, nominated by Ozarks Public Television.
• Mildred Eislele, nominated by Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.
• Howard Fisk, nominated by Junior League of Springfield.
• Juanita Gitney, nominated by NAMI Southwest Missouri.
• Mike Goforth, nominated by American Legion Post 639 and Ladies Aux Post 639.
• Shawn Gott, nominated by Isabel’s House.
• Glenn Green, nominated by Habitat for Humanity of Springfield.
• Michael Harris, nominated by CoxHealth Case Management.
• Dan Harter, nominated by OACAC.
• Robb Helms, nominated by CoxHealth.
• Betty Johnson, nominated by Springfield Conservation Nature Center.
• Cheryl “Shae” Johnson, nominated by Springfield-Greene County Park Board/Friends of the Garden.
• Brian Kennard, nominated by CoxHealth.
• Danielle Kincaid, nominated by Candace Fisk.
• Samuel Long, nominated by CoxHealth.
• Linda McAllister, nominated by Convoy of Hope and Junior League of Springfield.
• Pat Myers, nominated by Friends of the Springfield-Greene County Library District.
• David Nemeth, nominated by Pregnancy Care Center.
• Doug Nickell, nominated by Rotary Club of Springfield-Southeast.
• Bob Noble, nominated by Kay Logsdon.
• Cindy Norman, nominated by United Way of the Ozarks.
• Dee Ogilvy, nominated by Midtown Neighborhood Association.
• Jean Porthan, nominated by Mercy Hospital Springfield Auxiliary.
• Mark Priebe, nominated by Springfield-Greene County 911 Emergency Communications.
• Carl Redmon, nominated by Wesley United Methodist Church.
• Susan Schmaltzbauer, nominated by Brentwood Christian Church.
• Becky Volz, nominated by Francene Marchant.
• Michael White, nominated by Springfield Public Schools.
• Parish Witt, nominated by Greene County Extension Council.
• Jana Wolfe, nominated by Springfield Workshop Foundation.
• Jane Wolfe, nominated by Council of Churches of the Ozarks. All the nominees, Volunteer of the Year recipients or not, are true examples of what it means to be a citizen that selflessly gives their time and energy to help those around them. For more information, please contact: The Rev. Mark Struckhoff, executive director, Council of Churches of the Ozarks at 862-3586 ext. 223 or [email protected]