Thursday’s Community Summit in Bonney Lake High School’s commons saw a packed house for its Unsung Hero awards and keynote speech by former drug prosecutor Monte Stiles.
Seven Unsung Heroes were awarded for their community service outside the limelight.
The awards were the penultimate presentation of the 20th Annual Community Summit, hosted by the Communities for Families Coalition.
Award winners were Heather Haugen, Robyn Delorm, Claude Brown, April Young, Mikayla Harmon, Melanie Roach and Dave Radcliffe.
Haugen, an eighth grade student, is an active member of Mountain View’s club for Rachel’s Challenge, the national anti-bullying campaign. She and her team organized the club’s annual spring food drive. The ASB president volunteers as a peer-liaison in the committee for helping underclassmen adjust to middle school, and on the Prevention Team.
“Because of her enthusiasm, kindness and thoughtful determination, Heather deserves recognition for her powerful leadership and is a young person who will leave a lasting impression at her school and move mountains in her future,” presenter Thad Huff said.
Delorm is the Sumner Rotary Club’s first female president and played a vital part in fundraising for the club’s Courage Classic Bicycle Tour, a 173-mile bike ride benefiting the Rotary Endowment for the Intervention and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Delorm works with homeless families who have lived with domestic violence, in her role as Finance Manager for Exodus Housing. She has additionally volunteered with the Daffodil Festival organization, chaired Relay for Life, and has become involved with a nonprofit foundation supporting East Pierce Fire and Rescue.
Brown helps seniors with minor home repairs and miscellaneous help around the house. After retiring from Boeing, he read about the Bonney Lake Kiwanis Club’s home repair program and walked into the November 2009 meeting, stating simply he wanted to join so that he could help senior citizens. Since then, he has helped “hundreds of older citizens,” according to Huff’s presentation, including re-roofing homes, chopping firewood and clearing debris after the January 2012 ice storm. Brown has frequently paid out of his own pocket to replace water pipes, repair cars and make homes handicap accessible. In addition to doing that work 90 to 100 hours a month, he picks up bread donations for the Bonney Lake Senior Center twice a week.
Young is the first vice president of the Bonney Lake Lions and a regular volunteer for various causes in Bonney Lake and Sumner. Before the awards ceremony, she was busy working the Lions’ booth and promoting Saturday’s Death by Chocolate fundraiser, the ninth annual Special Needs Youth Fishing Derby, and the Lions’ eyeglass recycling program. She recently took on the cause of Project Homeless Connect, adding to a full volunteering schedule that includes the Lions, the Renaissance Faire, and raising money for emergency first responders.
Harmon was the chairwoman of Sumner High School’s December Community Dinner and the February Benefit Night. Organizing the Community Dinner, she and 250 peers raised more than $6,000 to provide dinner, dessert and entertainment to 850 community members. Benefit Night raised more than $24,600 for Sumner family man and cancer patient Dean Inglin. Huff noted that Harmon supervised both events while maintaining an excellent academic record.
“If you Google the title of ‘servant leader,’ more than likely a photo of this Unsung Hero award winner would pop up on the front page,” Huff said. “I think some of you may even be doing that right now.”
Roach earned her Unsung Hero award for her work organizing Team Jacoby. Teen gymnast Jacoby Miles sustained a paralyzing neck injury while practicing the uneven bars Nov. 16. Almost immediately following her hospitalization, Roach formed Team Jacoby, an organization raising funds for Miles’ recovery, care and accessibility modifications to her home. To date, Team Jacoby has raised more than $335,500, of which $155,000 were raised at a Dec. 17 benefit in Tacoma. County Councilman Dan Roach accepted his wife’s award in her absence.
Radcliffe, the Chief Executive Officer of the Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse, was awarded for his continued community pride. He works with the city of Sumner each year to organize the winter bridge lighting. The Old Cannery is the home of Sumner’s visitor center, and he was recently appointed as a tourism ambassador by the Tacoma Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau.
