Nominate a Tri-Lakes Volunteer of the Year
Hundreds of functions in the North Country depend on volunteerism. People are fed and clothed, the ill are cared for, fires are extinguished, artists’ work is promoted, libraries are maintained, events are planned and the natural environment is curated by volunteers.
In March, as usual, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News will honor a particularly service-oriented local resident as the Tri-Lakes Volunteer of the Year, and as usual, we need your help. We need our readers to nominate people who deserve the honor.
Each of the Tri-Lakes villages has its own volunteer awards — the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival king and queen, for example, are on many people’s minds right now — but this is the only one for the entire region.
The Volunteer of the Year should be someone who has made a real, active commitment to helping out in his or her community. It could either be someone who helps in many areas or someone who has fulfilled a strong commitment to one program for a long time. It could be someone whose volunteerism is measured in decades or someone who made huge contributions in the past year. He or she cannot receive any material compensation for this work.
Wednesday, Feb. 13 is the deadline for us to receive these nominations. Your nomination should contain a written description of the volunteer work your nominee does and why you think the person deserves the award. Our staff will then choose a winner from among your suggestions.
Please submit your nomination to Enterprise Managing Editor Peter Crowley at pcrowley@adirondackdailyenterprise.com. You can also drop it off at 54 Broadway, Saranac Lake; mail it to Volunteer of the Year, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, P.O. Box 318, Saranac Lake, NY 12983; or fax it to 518-891-2756. Please put “Volunteer of the Year” right at the top.
A story about the winning volunteer, along with a thorough directory of local resources, will appear in the Community Resource Guide, which will be published March 29 and distributed inside our newspapers and at our office.
Here are the past Volunteers of the Year:
2018 Vance and Maggie Mortensen
2017 Vivian Smith
2016 Sue Patterson
2015 Jim LaValley
2014 Gloria Drucker
2013 (No award given)
2012 Linda Young
2011 Dmitry Feld
2010 Virginia Bristol
2009 Katie Fischer
2008 Cherie Fisher
2007 Roland Patnode
2006 Natalie Leduc
2005 Joy Harvey
2004 Paulann Andrews
2003 Bob McKillip
2002 Marjorie McLaughlin
2001 Lora Brown
2000 Conni Cross
1999 John Howard
1998 Tom Scheefer
1997 Rip Allen
1996 Rick Knapton
1995 Jim Rollier
1994 Frank Morrison
1993 Dan and Issy Cassell
1992 Ruth Miller
1991 Gary Ryther
We hope reading these names does for you what it does for us — reminds you of how good all these hard-working people are, and inspires you to try to follow in their footsteps.