2013 Volunteer Leadership Recognition Dinner

2013 Volunteer Leadership Recognition Dinner

We had a great turn out celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the North Suburban Gavel Association http://gavel-club.org/ and the 2013 Distinguished Leadership Awards Banquet. Held at the Roseville Skating Center on Wednesday, May 15, 2013nd we had a stellar cast of nominees.

Evening chair Sandra Bar, Northeast Youth and Family Services welcomed everyone and Kelly Hodges, TSE gave the invocation.

GAVEL Founder Don Salverda started off the evening explaining to the crowd how the club came to be formed and what service to the community meantt to the club and to him.

Then the crowd, made up of the honorees along with family, friends, co-workers and current Gavel members learned about 9 very special individuals who, by their actions, make their communities and our society that much better:

Mike Bagstad has worked with the Roseville Robotics Team helping students pursuing STEM related college degrees. (Science Technology, Engineering, Math).

In his scholarship application the Head Captain of the Roseville Firebears Robotics Team said: “The mentor teaching electrical taught me more than I had learned in the last year of middle school. I left the first night more inspired then I had felt in years!”

That mentor was Mike and the student went from being an unmotivated freshman to a senior who is now pursuing an Electrical Degree in College.

Every year, in the 6.5 weeks they have to build a robot, Mike challenges the students to learn new technologies, sensors and, techniques to build a robot.  Mike is a spark that inspires students who will benefit not only Roseville but our society in general many times over!

Mike has also been a Boy Scout Leader in the Roseville Community for 26 years, o a 20 year member of the African Violet Society of MN, a Gesneriad Society MN Chapter member (I had to look it up too), President of Brim Hall PTA twice and an active member of Roseville St. Christopher Episcopal Church with over a dozen years of volunteer involvement.

Bob and Lona Doolan are incredibly active in the Saint Anthony Community and passionate about sustainability. At Nativity built a community garden, which, in 2012 resulted in 200 pounds of produce donated to Little Kitchen Food Shelf. At Wiltshire Park Elementary they transformed a desolate interior courtyard into a beautiful living garden and educational space and funded most of the efforts themselves. The  ‘Outdoor Classroom’ has attracted a host of wildlife and there is even a ‘pizza;’ garden where tomatoes, basil, green peppers and onions are harvested along with squash, green beans and corn. A WeatherBug system, which they secured funding for from SANBE,   enhances their STEM curriculum while providing students with hands on opportunities to learn about various environments and habitats right in their own backyard. Lona has also started an Ecology Club at the school to help teach students about gardening and sustainability efforts.

In addition they deliver meals on wheels each month, Volunteer at Feed My Starving Children, pick up trash on earth Day, cleaned up Pow Wow Trail in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, volunteer with Metro Bloom and with their daughter Annie bake and deliver Christmas cookies to the police and fire station on Christmas Eve.  The family also assists   their elderly neighbors with lawn and garden work.

Bill Farmer has been a volunteer ever since he moved to Roseville in the mid 1990’s. He spearheaded the $35,000 new scoreboard project that is used for Girls Volleyball, Girls and Boys Basketball, wrestling and gymnastics. He has been involved with the Roseville Youth Basketball Association since 2001 in a variety of positions that included board member, in house director, traveling director and coach. He also spends hours maintaining and updating the website for the boys’ basketball program – and it is regarded as one of the finest volunteer driven websites in the state.

When not on the courts, Bill has been a key volunteer on the Roseville Parks and Recreation System Master Plan groups in 2010 and the Master Plan Implementation Team in 2012.

MacKenzie (Mack) Johnson comes from a family that believes strongly in community and Mack has honed that belief since ever since joining the cub scouts in 1^st grade.  For his Eagle Scout project he renovated the volleyball courts in Central Park. He raised $4,700 and coordinated nearly 300 volunteer hours making it one of the largest Eagle Scout Projects the selection committee had ever seen! The project was also recognized at the District and Council level.

He was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in December 2012 after earning the ranks of Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation and Citizenship in the World merit badges to qualify for Eagle Scout.

In addition to scouting Mack is Captain of the highly accomplished Roseville Boys Basketball team. Mack received an Academic All State Award for maintaining a high GPA while excelling at a sport,  made the Associated Press All State team, Star Tribune All Metro Team,    3 Time All Conference Player, Team MVP and finished his basketball career with numerous records –including most career points.

Jerry Kyser and his wife of 37 years, Jana, coordinate Minnesota Honor Flights-an amazing program that evolved after May of 2004 when our nation completed construction of the WWII Memorial in Washington DC to commemorate the sacrifices of the ‘Greatest Generation’. Sadly, because of their age, financial constraints or health concerns many vets may not have had the opportunity to see the memorial were it not for Honor Flights.

Honor Flights http://honorflighttwincities.org/index.html   takes WWII Vietnam Vets for free on a one day trip to Washington DC and to date have taken over 1,000 WWII Veterans on Sun Country Charters. The flights are sponsored by MN Vietnam Veterans Charity, which Jerry has been Executive Direct of since 2004. 

Jerry became involved in veteran’s organizations in 1989. He has been a facilitator for POW/MIA National Recognition Day and Flyovers in September every year since 2001, President of the Saint Paul Chapter 320 of Vietnam Veterans of America for 9 years and veterans group volunteer for the Stillwater Prison Veterans Chapter for 20.  He quit a 20 year career in financial services in 2001    to commit himself full time to the MN Vietnam Veterans Charity, Honor Flight fund raising, lobbying for Veterans Lobbyist – a volunteer position he has held for 14 years and becoming Director of the Car Donation Program that he operates for MN Vietnam Veterans Charity.   

He is a veteran’s advocate that believes in the motto: ‘Never again will one group of Veterans abandon another’

Ron Linebarger is a lifelong Roseville resident and an always active volunteer. He spreads his activities over a number of different organizations and currently serves as membership director and treasurer for the Sons of the American Legion post 542 and Sons of the American Legion District 4.

He also maintains all membership and renewals for the B-Dale Club and Roseville Historical Society. He frequently volunteers to cashier at fundraising events for the American Legion and B-Dale. 

Once Ron retired from his job with U S Bank he ramped up his volunteering efforts and can be seen at Langton Place Nursing Home a couple days of week delivering mail to residents, making welcome baskets for new resident s and escorting folks to their activities.

He also volunteers two days a week at Health Partners Clinic on Como where he is the first contact greeter with a wide smile and the one who will help people find their way to their different procedure rooms. Ron was taught at an early age to volunteer and the community he lives in is better for it.

LaMar Zollinger is the current President of the North Suburban Golden K Kiwanis, and has led 80 men and women in 20 different committees to provide over 45,000 hours of service and contribute more than $20,000 to enhance the lives of children and families in the North Suburban Community.

He has been volunteering with the Kiwanis for the past 10 years and is known for being very much hands on.  When Kiwanis International established the Eliminate Project to eradicate neonatal tetanus in developing nations he discovered a way to encourage every single club member to participate!

He is a regular at community and fundraising acitivities and has volunteered more than 100 hours at the Keystone food shelf on Hamline, tutotred 1^st graders at Roseville Elementary School,  flipped pancakes at Harriet Alexander Nature Center, rang the Salvation Army Bell, sold boxes of  Kiwanis peanuts, Herberger’s coupons and also Rosefest buttons to support Rosefest Parade.

He belongs to the Metro Men Singers and you can find him entertaining seniors at nursing and retirement homes every two or three weeks in the North Suburban Community.

A big THANK YOU goes out to all the Gavel members who attended to support our nominees as well as recognize the fine efforts of Don Salverda.

Thank you also to the organizing committee members: Sandra Bahr, Kelly Hodges, Midge McClean, Kara Thomas and Julie Wearn as well as all the volunteers who helped set up and clean up!

For the complete bios on each individual you can go online to http://gavel-club.org/