PORT ANGELES — Friends and business associates are invited as seven people are honored with the 2010 Clallam County Community Service Award tonight.
The award honors the “dedication, sacrifice and accomplishments” of community leaders and volunteers “who have made a difference in Clallam County, who have made our communities a better place by doing extraordinary things for their neighbors, their community or the environment.”
The honorees will receive framed award certificates at a reception that begins at 7 tonight in the fellowship hall at First United Methodist and Congregational Church, 110 E. Seventh St., in Port Angeles.
The reception is open to the public and will include coffee and special desserts.
Admission is free.
The Community Service Award recipients are:
• Sue Nattinger and Coleman Byrnes (joint recipients), longtime hands-on, “no brag, just action” volunteers for Streamkeepers of Clallam County.
• Dan Wilder Sr., Port Angeles auto dealer and countywide community volunteer, educational leader and philanthropist.
• Roger Wheeler, a leader in youth baseball and basketball and the North Peninsula Building Association’s Future Builders program who has devoted countless hours of his own time to building parks and playgrounds.
• Susan Hillgren, who has worked tirelessly with Clallam County’s at-risk youth for more than 12 years.
• Don Stoneman who, at 79, volunteers thousands of hours of hard, physical labor to maintain and improve hiking trails in Clallam County.
• Joe Borden, “Mr. Irrigation Festival,” Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s “go-to guy” and a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, attending funeral services and serving as a member of an honor guard for our fallen military heroes.
This is the 30th year of the Community Service Award, begun by the Peninsula Daily News and now co-sponsored with Soroptimist International of Port Angeles-Noon Club.
A judging committee that included past Community Service Award recipients selected the seven from almost 30 nominations made by individuals, clubs, churches, businesses and other organizations.
“These are truly local heroes, working to make community life stronger, tighter, happier, richer — busy people who unselfishly give their time and energy to help others, who always seem to be able to make time to offer a hand or a shoulder,” said John Brewer, PDN editor and publisher.
