Whatcom Volunteer Center held a celebration on April 27 thanking and recognizing the tremendous volunteers who contribute so much to Whatcom County. The annual Heart & Hands Awards event was held Sunday at Bellingham High School. The Sunday afternoon event celebrated the outstanding service of eighty-nine members of the Whatcom County community.

Five people were especially honored with Heart & Hands Awards including a $200 donation in their name to the nonprofit of their choice. The Heart & Hands honorees are

Sondra Clark, a senior at Bellingham High School who organized the all-city shoe drive for Soles4Souls, that distributes shoes free of charge to people in need around the world. She spoke to clubs and groups around the area and coordinated the shoe drive. Sondra helped ensure that a total of 5,300 pairs of shoes were collected and donated to the Soles4Souls organization. Sondra was nominated by Connie Kelly, B’ham H.S. and David Graben, Soles4Souls.

Kashia Gale began her volunteer service at St. Francis Extended Health Care through the Interfaith Coalition’s Friendly Visitor Program. She was matched up with an elderly resident of St. Francis and since then they have become very special friends. Kashia is truly beyond her fourteen years in maturity, dedication, reliability, compassion and initiative and has a very special way of relating to elderly folks. Kashia also is on the St. Francis speaker’s bureau and advocates for the involvement and participation of younger volunteers. Kashia was nominated by Sally Majkut, St. Francis Extended Health Care; Janie Pemble and Candace Thompson, Interfaith Coalition: Friendly Visitors Program.

Glen Hallman has been a relentless advocate for senior services in Whatcom County, Washington State and nation-wide for over 50 years. He is a founding member of the Whatcom County Council on Aging, been a Board member since its founding, and has served on the Northwest Regional Council’s Advisory Board. He is also an active member of the State’s Retired Employees organization, the Samish Neighborhood Association and a participant in the White House Conference on Aging, which was key to bringing the Older Americans Act into place, funding services for seniors in the 1960’s. Glen continues to inspire the community with his knowledge of the needs of seniors and with his understanding of how various organizations play their part in support of seniors. Glen was nominated by Jessica Staten, Whatcom County Council on Aging.

Eileen Reardanz has volunteered with the Bellingham Food Bank for four years. Typically, she works twelve hours a week. She sorts vegetables, bread, and other food donations and distributes them to hungry families. She is a mentor for several developmentally disabled volunteers at the Food Bank, helping them to work effectively and ensuring they have a valuable volunteer experience at the Food Bank. Eileen is also the “on the job trainer,” helping new volunteers learn their job while doing it. After a few hours with Eileen, Food Bank staff know that the new volunteer will be well trained, committed to the Food Bank’s mission, and eager to come back. She also helps with care of the staff and volunteers, helping and visiting volunteers, helping staff with the recognition events for the Food Bank volunteers. Eileen was nominated by Mike Cohen.

Craig Robinson helps out with the Lydia Place Children’s Program on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Male volunteers in the children’s group often have to work harder than female volunteers to gain the children’s trust, as many of the children come from families where their father was abusive towards them or their mother. He has an enormous amount of patience and does a great job of getting the children to listen and respect him. It takes dedicated volunteers with patience, persistence, and a big heart to convince the children at Lydia Place to trust them. Craig is such a volunteer. In addition to his work at Lydia Place and his role as a stay at home dad, Craig volunteers as a big brother buddy at Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Craig was nominated by Maryann Schmitt of Lydia Place.