Local Montanans honored for volunteerism
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News from the Governor’s Office of Community Service
HELENA — Governor Steve Bullock and First Lady Lisa Bullock honored eight recipients of the 2014 ServeMontana awards on Friday, Feb. 7 at a ceremony in the Montana Capitol Rotunda.
Locally, two Lake County volunteers were presented awards: and Valerie Umphrey of St. Ignatius for being a volunteer EMT for more than 20 years, and Ronan’s Sgt. Chuck Lewis of Walking for the Fallen for raising money and awareness of wounded veterans by walking across America.
“These amazing volunteers really are the ‘boots on the ground’ in our state, making the difference for Montana communities,” Bullock said.
Bullock noted that Montanans contribute more than 28 million hours of service to their communities annually, valued at more than $607 million — the equivalent of 13,000 employees.
“Those are amazing statistics,” Bullock said. “And we can talk about statistics, but really, what we are talking about is heroes. People each and every day, without recognition, with accolade, are getting up and making a difference … in our communities. These men and women … deserve the respect and admiration of all Montanans.”
ServeMontana Awards are presented to outstanding community volunteers and organizations in the social impact areas of education, healthy futures, environmental stewardship, economic opportunity and veterans and military families, emergency preparedness and emergency response.
First Lady Lisa Bullock also presented First Lady School Breakfast Champion awards to Corvallis High School and Fromberg School for the initiation and support of school breakfast programs.
“Our students can’t do their best in school when they’re hungry,” Lisa Bullock said. “The schools we’re recognizing today understand this challenge and took innovative steps to overcome it.”
Other recipients included James Thompson, Billings, founding member of the District 7 Human Resources Development Council;
St. James Episcopal Church Wood Bank, Dillon, for providing firewood for those in Southwest Montana who need help heating their homes in the winter; David Snuggs, Great Falls, for creating My Neighbor in Need, an online service site that fulfills community need requests by mobilizing volunteers and community partners; Downtown Chicks, Great Falls, an ad hoc committee of the Downtown Great Falls Association to support the community; Malmstrom Air Force Base Office of Emergency Management for educating the public on disaster preparedness; Victoria Elliott, Seeley Lake, committed volunteer in a preschool classroom for 10 years.
For more information about the awards and for brief bios of the recipients, please visit serve.mt.gov.
