Orange County Honors Volunteers

The annual recognition reception was sponsored by the Orange County Board of Commissioner, Orange County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and Volunteer Orange. Each year agencies with focuses on volunteer programs nominate individuals and programs to be recognized as Orange County Key Volunteers.

The Orange County Volunteer Committee takes these nominations and determines which candidates receive awards as North Carolina Outstanding Volunteers.

This prestigious award previously was known as the Governor Award and was started by former Gov. Jim Hunt. After the five volunteers receive their awards on the county level they then are invited to a regional reception for further recognition.

Charles Paddock, Violeta Simon and Jean Waterbury were the three individuals who earned the award. This award also was given to Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocates and People's Court Mediators as groups for their success as programs.

Orange County Town Manager John Link began the awards program with a simple welcome address.

"We cannot pass through this life without someone helping us," he said. He went on to congratulate volunteers on their hard work and thanked them for their efforts.

Barry Jacobs, chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, led the reception. He thanked Carrboro Alderman Alex Zaffron, Chapel Hill Town Council member Pat Evans, Joe Phelps, the mayor of of Hillsborough, and others for coming.

"Elected officials are really glorified volunteers," he said.

All elected officials were given the opportunity to make remarks and then the award presentations began. Each Key Volunteer was recognized with a certificate and a rose.

Craig Chancellor, the president of the Triangle United Way, and Alicia Hartsfield, senior director of AmeriCorps of North Carolina, presented the North Carolina Outstanding Awards of Orange County. Hartsfield called volunteering "a way of life."

"The governor of this state is proud of everything you do," she said.

Following the awards program, Jacobs said, "Part of what makes it special to live in Orange County is that people are so willing to volunteer."

Jean Waterbury, an award-winner who has been working with the Ronald McDonald House since the first day it opened, said she volunteers because she worked as a social worker and it was a part of her way of life.

She said the reason she will continue to volunteer is because of "what all those families do for me."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.