Volunteer Arlington, a program of Leadership Center for Excellence, held its second annual Arlington Cares on July 24 at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Arlington.
Local nonprofit and county organizations hosted booths as part of a volunteer fair for attendees to learn about volunteer opportunities in the area. After the fair, Volunteer Arlington recognized individuals with community volunteer awards.
"We are humbled to be nominated and receive this award," said Gene and Jeanie Cross, winners of the Family Service Award. "The program that Central United Methodist Church sponsors with A-SPAN is the work of many hands. It couldn't happen without other volunteers and Arlington organizations and businesses."
In addition to the Cross family, Volunteer Arlington honored the following award winners:
Lifetime of Service Award: Lois Sewell, Arlington Weaves at Service Source, Inc.
Distinguished County Service Award: Kate Athing and the Marymount University Women's Lacrosse Team, AHC, Inc.
Distinguished County Service Award: Sly Young, SOCARTES (Saving Our Communities at Risk Through Educational Services), Arlington County Detention Facility
Distinguished Corporate Service Award: Deloitte, Bridges to Independence
RSVP Award: Janet Garber, Northern Virginia Senior Olympics
Youth Volunteer Service Award: Mia Lee, Reuse and Replay
Volunteer Arlington Award: Siobhan Grayson, Teen Network Board at Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. The Volunteer Arlington Award is in recognition of a volunteer coordinator, paid or unpaid, who has done exceptional work with volunteer engagement.
Katie Cristol, chair of the County Board; Christian Dorsey, vice chair of the County Board; and Kelly Shooshan, COO of the Shooshan Company, helped present winners with their awards. Additionally, Del. Rip Sullivan (D-48) presented Mia Lee with a resolution from the Virginia General Assembly honoring her service work.
Lois Sewell, winner of the Lifetime of Service Award, has been volunteering with Arlington Weaves for 30 years. "I thoroughly enjoy what I do ... I'm not a volunteer. Thirty years ago, they told me show up, and they never told me to quit," she said.
In addition to the community volunteer awards, over 400 volunteers were recognized and honored for spending 100 hours or more of their time volunteering in the community over the course of the past year (July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018).
Volunteer Arlington, a program of Leadership Center for Excellence, connects individuals, groups and businesses to local nonprofit and county volunteer opportunities.
For more information, visit http://leadercenter.org/ or call 703-528-2522.