Awards honor local volunteers

Hard work to make a better world was feted Wednesday night at the Community Volunteer Awards.

This year, 35 nominees and winners were announced at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation headquarters, according to a press release by HandsOn Battle Creek, a program of United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region.

This year’s winners included:

•Gracanne Smith for volunteer of the year. Over the past eight years, Smith has logged more than 4,950 volunteer hours at the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

•Kyle Tharp for youth volunteer of the year. Tharp started a volunteer club at Pennfield High School, where he is a junior. He has also served two years on the Youth Alliance Committee for the Battle Creek Community Foundation and on the Russell G. and Ruth E. Mawby Scholarship Committee.

•Cathy Winer for the volunteer manager of the year. Winer has brought more than 2,000 volunteers to the Marian E. Burch Adult Day Care Center over the past year.

•Eaton Corp. for corporate volunteer of the year. The company has buildings in Marshall and Galesburg, and employees have volunteered for food drives, science fairs, adopting families in need during the holidays and more.

•Shirland Redfield for in-kind professional service provider of the year. Redfield evaluates and repairs donated items that are then sold at Habit for Humanity’s ReStore. He has shared his technical skills for 13 years.

•Chuck Newman for service learning teacher of the year. He and his students earned a grant that helped launch a tutoring program, sponsored by Kellogg Community College students for students at Calhoun Community High School.

•The Regulars for group volunteer of the year. This group of volunteers regularly supports construction projects for the Battle Creek Area Habitat for Humanity. Currently, there are 15 members: Deb Stuart, Roger Fosdick, Jerry Marshall, Dave Gothberg, Dave Britton, Spence Spencer, Bruce Elzinga, John Godfrey, Steve Schanzenbaker, Nellie Briggs, Peggy Bohl, Mike VandenHeuvel, Ron Taggert, Becky Emrich and Pete Mills.

•Douglas Worgess for board member of the year. Worgess has been a member of the board for Family & Children Services since 1997.

•Pat Graw for continuing service award. This year, Graw retired from her role as a volunteer victim advocate for Sexual Assault Services of Battle Creek. Since 1996, she has accumulated 11,298 hours with the organization.