Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Awards handed out for community service
18 volunteers with the Concerned Citizen Melanic Caucus honored for community service
The Concerned Citizen Melanic Caucus handed out awards for community service at their gala.
Local volunteers, community members, law enforcement officers and elected officials gathered at the West Chester Municipal Building Tuesday evening for a ceremony to honor recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
The award recipients volunteered with programs administered by the Concerned Citizen Melanic Caucus. Collectively, the volunteers logged thousands of service hours over the past year.
Some of the volunteer programs the CCMC runs include: Redeemed Advocate Ministries; the “Don’t Get It Twisted” community radio station; and Care2Share, a food donation program.
A total of 18 volunteers with CCMC received the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which is presented in three categories: bronze for 100- 249 service hours; silver for 250- 499 service hours; and gold for 500 or more service hours. All of the service hours are certified and logged with the President’s Volunteer Service Awards program.
Two volunteers received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given to individuals who contribute more than 4,000 hours of service during their lifetime: Everett L. Butcher Jr., a retired U. S. Army veteran and founder and executive director of CCMC, who completed 10,521 service hours; and his wife, Sharon F. Butcher, who completed 4,367 service hours. The President’s Lifetime Achievement Awards were signed by former President Barack Obama.
Presenting the awards were: Chester County Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh; West Chester Police Lt. James Morehead; state Rep. Carolyn Comitta, D- 156; state Rep. Eric Roe, R- 158; Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Elections and Administration Marian K. Schneider; Reggie Ward, representing the office of state Rep. Harry Lewis Jr., R- 74; and Kori Walter, representing the office of U. S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R- 6. State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D- 19, also presented citations on behalf of the Pennsylvania Senate to all the volunteers thanking them for their service.
Roe thanked the volunteers for contributing their time to help the community. “For all those of you who spent so many countless hours volunteering, when you volunteer, you’re giving of your time and your energy, and as you know, time is one thing that you can’t get back, but in return you get something so much better,” he said. “So I want to thank you for so selflessly serving so many hours.”
Ward said the work volunteers do comes from the heart. “The rewards associated with ( volunteer work) is not monetary; it’s the things we see down the line that are so beneficial,” he said.
Dinniman recalled a story of two seas in Israel as an analogy to community service. He said the River Jordan feeds both the Dead Sea, which is devoid of life, and the Sea of Galilee, which is full of life. The difference, he said, is that the Dead Sea takes water from the river but gives none back; however, for every drop of water that flows into the Sea of Galilee, another drop flows back out to the river.
Similarly, Dinniman said individuals deciding whether or not to give back to their community can be the difference between a dead community and a flourishing community.
“We have a choice,” he said. “We can not give anything, and we can become dead as a community, we can become lifeless as a community. Or we can have a community that abounds with all God’s glory, and it does that when we give something back.”
The President’s Volunteer Service Award was created in 2003, under the administration of former President George W. Bush, to celebrate Americans making a positive impact as engaged and deeply committed volunteers.
CCMC ( formerly known as the Chester County Minority Caucus) is a nonpartisan organization which works to address the issues, concerns, and needs of the minority community through active advocacy in social, educational and political endeavors, according to its mission statement. The term “melanic” refers to people of color, and is derived fromthe word, “melanin,” the pigment that gives human skin, hair and eyes their color.
For more information on CCMC, visit www.ccmcaucus.com and formore information on the President’s Volunteer Service Award, visit www.presidentialserviceawards.gov.