The Lawrence Journal-World's third annual Only in Lawrence project is a set of stories honoring neighbors, unsung heroes and people who do the extraordinary things that make life in Lawrence better.

Today we share with you our third annual Only in Lawrence project, a set of stories honoring your neighbors, unsung heroes and people who do the extraordinary things that make life in Lawrence better.

Our stories in the Journal-World feature people who make Lawrence the special place it is. Some of them you’ve heard of because of their deep involvement in the community. Others you’ll meet on these pages for the first time. Our readers helped us select the men and women we are featuring.

We asked you to tell us about the behind-the-scenes stars who make things go more smoothly in our community. It was a hard job, but we whittled the list of nominees to 26. Then we asked our writers and photographers to get to know the winners and prepare this report.

We hope these stories remind you why Lawrence is special and why we all are so proud to live here.