Jefferson chamber outlines award winners

PORT TOWNSEND — One surprised nominee called Arlene Alen, executive director of The Chamber of Jefferson County, to express bafflement.

“I don’t know why I was nominated. It’s not about me,” the person told her.

To which Alen said: This award is about vision, and the ability to communicate that vision. Your efforts have been noticed, and now you’re up for one of the five Jefferson County Community Leadership Awards.

On Friday, Alen, who did not identify the surprised nominee, took obvious delight in talking about the winners — and all of the nominees — for these honors, presented May 15. Each brings a crystal trophy plus the chance for each recipient to spread the word about their organization’s mission, she said.

Take Carol Hasse, the Citizen of the Year.

She sailed into Port Townsend in the mid-1970s, helped launch the Wooden Boat Festival and opened her business, Port Townsend Sails. In the ensuing four decades, she became a well-known educator, teaching on vessels across the Puget Sound and Pacific Ocean, while serving on multiple nonprofit boards and turning her sail loft into an internationally known company.

Now Hasse is running for the Position 2 seat on the Port of Port Townsend Board of Commissioners. She’s running unopposed in hopes of succeeding commissioner Bill Putney, who has opted not to run for re-election.

“Anything you say about Carol is understated,” quipped Alen.

She added that even in just three years in Jefferson County, she’s become well-acquainted with Hasse’s contributions.

The Citizen of the Year “is very much like a lifetime achievement award at the Academy Awards. It’s for a body of work,” Alen said.

Also nominated for Citizen of the Year were Jean Scarboro of Jumping Mouse Children’s Center, Skillmation’s Ben Bauermeister, Deborah Stinson of the county Department of Emergency Management, Kim Rafferty of Jefferson County Public Health and Judy Alexander of the Housing Solutions Network.

Soon after arrival at the chamber of commerce, Alen added the Future Business Leader award to the slate of annual honors.

This year’s winner is Nathaniel Mo’ikeha Ashford of Port Townsend, a teenaged robotics engineer, underwater-robot pilot, musician and songwriter. He is a high school senior and homeschooled, Alen noted.

This category’s other nominees come from around East Jefferson County: Hailey Haralson of Chimacum High School, River Kisler of Port Townsend High and Brittany Beukes of Quilcene High School.

The Rising Entrepreneur award was presented to David Griswold, president of the Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op and an avid volunteer and workshop teacher in the maritime community.

In the wake of Hasse’s retirement this year, the Shipwrights Co-Op has purchased Port Townsend Sails, and Griswold is overseeing the workings of the sail loft now. Also nominated in this category, which is one of the newest among the leadership awards, were Jason and Samantha Olsen of TreeHawk Farms, a cannabis farm that was once home to the Chimacum Dairy.

Ben Bauermeister of Skillmation, a mentoring and tutoring program that matches adults with youngsters interested in particular subject areas, won the Business Leader of the Year trophy.

A graphic designer and fine artist, he moved from Seattle to Port Townsend to refocus on community-building work. With cofounder Martha Trolin, Bauermeister started StrongerTowns.org, an incubator for programs such as The Benji Project, The Production Alliance and Skillmation.

When asked for his response to the prize, Bauermeister said he’s honored to be included with his fellow nominees: Janette Force, executive director of the Port Townsend Film Festival and Jamie Maciejewski of Habitat for Humanity East Jefferson County.

“So happy to be there,” he added, “to represent all of the teamwork that was necessary to pull off our collective good works for the county.”

The 2021 Young Professional of the Year award belongs to Taylor Webster, founder of Cascade Community Connections.

In three years, she has grown the operation from a one-woman shop to an organization employing nine “community engagement specialists” who work with dozens of people with developmental and other disabilities, finding them employment. She’s also vice president of Olympic Neighbors.

Also nominated for this award: Cherish Cronmiller, executive director of Olympic Community Action Programs and Royce Hilsinger of Blue Wave Sanitation.

This selection process, which starts in January, is a carefully guarded one, Alen said. Nomination forms are made available at jeffcountychamber.org, and after the field of nominees is laid out, “we have people in the local service clubs” who select the winners.

“We don’t even tell the nominees who nominated them,” said Alen, adding the chamber doesn’t divulge who the service club volunteers are either.

During the awards ceremony, winners had up to two minutes to give acceptance speeches, and each used that to express thanks to their loved ones, Alen said.

“And they were all so excited by the people they’ve helped. That’s what I came away with.”

Each of the honorees has helped Jefferson County get through the pandemic, Alen believes; each also laid the groundwork for a better future.

Their work, Alen said, “is going to help us for decades to come.”

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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.