Ceremony honors those who help make difference in community

Jim McMurray, left, a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity who was named the Wallace Galluzzi 2011 Outstanding Volunteer of the Year, and Logan Brown, center, a Free State student who was selected youth category Volunteer of the Year, meet and visit Tuesday at Carnegie Library after they were both honored. Both participated in the Celebration of Volunteers to recognize United Way agencies’ volunteers of the year. At right is McMurray’s wife, Vicki.

Sixteen-year-old Logan Brown started volunteering at the district attorney’s office because she wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. Last summer, she started working with GaDuGi SafeCenter, giving 20 hours per week to help victims of sexual assault.

2011 Volunteers of the Year

Lifetime service category

• T.A. Mindrup, Safe Kids Douglas County

• Jean Ann Oden, Lawrence Public Library Foundation

• Dave Baldwin, Lawrence Habitat for Humanity

• Debbie Beene, Lawrence Meals on Wheels

• Jan Dean, Audio Reader

• Kathleen Christian, Willow Domestic Violence Center

Group or family category

• Rick Renfro and Johnny’s Tavern staff, Lawrence Habitat for Humanity

• The Patton family, Douglas County CASA

• Shannon Murphy, Harlan Roedel, Pam Houston, Tom Van Fleet, Susan Zvacek, Adam Desnoyers and Haskell Springer, Audio Reader

• Paul Hladky and Willard Epling, Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department

• The Axe family, Kansas Tick-Borne Disease Advocates

• Kaylyn Wright, Holly Santee, Elizabeth Cunningham and Brooke Taylor, Willow Domestic Violence Center

Direct service category

• Marie Mckenzie, Van Go Inc.

• Ann Walker, Adult Learning Center

• Athena Johnson, Independence Inc.

• Mary Grob, Habitat for Humanity

• James Mahoney, Ballard Community Services*

• Liz Hamm, Lawrence Meals on Wheels

• John Trinkl, Audio Reader

• Michael Weinberger and Jen Rosacker, Boys & Girls Club

• Erin Lacio, Kansas Tick-Borne Disease Advocates

Collegiate category

• KU Habitat for Humanity campus chapter

• Eliot Hill, Meals on Wheels

• Emily Gnefkow, Independence Inc.

• Clarissa Howley, Douglas County CASA

• Jenny Guthrie, Willow Domestic Violence Center

• Meliedy Ariza, Kansas Tick-Borne Disease Advocates

• Sabrina Ahmed, Jon Goshca, Emily Drape, John Zecy and Tommy Kennedy, Rock Chalk Revue

  • also Galluzzi award nominees

Wallace E. Galluzzi Outstanding Volunteer Award nominees

• Marjorie Haney, Lawrence Memorial Hospital

• Mary Jones, LINK

• Gayle Matchett, Audio Reader

• Anne Hall, Douglas County CASA

• Rachel Schmidt, Visiting Nurses

• Duane LaFrenz, Boys & Girls Club

• Wayne Deaver, Douglas County Emergency Management

• Leslie Goodwin, Willow Domestic Violence Center

• Brenda Gadd, Lawrence Humane Society

Galluzzi award winners

• Jim McMurray, Habitat for Humanity

• Logan Brown, GaDuGi SafeCenter (youth category)

“I really enjoy seeing victims get back on their feet and thriving,” Brown said.

Now, the young advocate is the 2011 Wallace Galluzzi Outstanding Volunteer of the Year in the youth category, the highest honor the United Way Roger Hill Volunteer Center gives out.

Brown and 15 adult Galluzzi award nominees, plus more than 50 agency-nominated volunteers of the year, were honored at an event Wednesday afternoon at the Carnegie Building.

It was the second annual Volunteers of the Year award ceremony and 27th year of the Galluzzi awards, named for “Wally” Galluzzi, the first president of Haskell Indian Junior College (before it was a university) and a former United Way chairman.

Marie Galluzzi-Potter, Galluzzi’s widow, said she was honored to oversee the award committee.

“I’m always humbled by how many wonderful people are helping our community,” she said.

Jim McMurray, a retired Air Force colonel, won the award for his work with Habitat for Humanity, where he served as interim director and helped get the organization back on better financial grounds. Like many at the event, he recognized the large number of people in Lawrence and Douglas County who give their time and talent to nonprofit organizations.

“Lawrence is a wonderful town if you’ve got the interest in volunteering,” he said.

The Volunteers of the Year awards and ceremony are the center’s way of helping agencies recognize the great work their volunteers do, associate director Micki Chestnut said.

Mary Boatright won in the board service category for Douglas County CASA and agreed that nominees and winners represented the great people of the community.

“It’s a lot of people who work very hard,” she said of the award recipients.

The volunteers, for agencies of many different types and services, work largely in the background, but recognition such as the Galluzzi and Volunteers of the Year awards help shed a little light.

“We don’t do it looking for recognition,” McMurray said, “but, of course, I’m honored.”