The Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce held its 36th annual meeting on Saturday, January 21 at the Pagosa Center for the Arts.
This year the Pastor Don Ford and Barbara Hendricks, co-founders of the Pagosa Outreach Connection (POC) were awarded Citizen of the Year. The third person in the founding membership was Reverend Annie Ryder with St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church. Joanne Irons, Citizen of the Year winner for 2010 was the mistress of ceremonies for this award and regaled the crowd with comparisons between winner Pagosa Outreach Connection and the other Citizen finalist, Morgan Murri.
 Pagosa Outreach Connection has assisted individuals and families with emergency needs in this community to the tune of over $385,000. This organization remains non-denominational and non-governmental and consists of approximately 14 groups representing various organizations including church, civic, and governmental agencies. Meeting the Citizen of the Year criteria by affecting our community through Philanthropic, Economic, and Lifestyle tendencies, this group was recognized in the efforts to work cross culturally, cross denominationally, and without governmental controls. POC is the heart of this community utilizing the skills of numerous organizations to help meet the emergency needs of residents of Pagosa Springs.
Morgan Murri was recognized for his efforts to bring tourism-related events to our community, his contribution in sitting on an array of community boards including CDC and TTC and his generosity and involvement towards the youth of Pagosa. Morgan has also been instrumental in attempting to bring a leg of the Colorado Pro-Cycling Race to Pagosa Springs.
Other nominees for Citizen of the Year included Kelly Johnson and her staff at the Pagosa Mountain Hospital, Parelli Natural Horsemanship, and Carmen Hubbs for ACVAP.
Nikki Alley, owner of Higher Grounds Coffee was the winner for the 2011 Volunteer of the Year. Unfortunately, Nikki was out of town for the award. Janis Moomaw, winner of the 2010 Volunteer of the Year award commended all the nominees and gave special kudos and encouragement to Nikki and the “younger” volunteers of our community.
Paraphrasing Moomaw, they are the future of our community as business owners and volunteers; this is their community also and we commend Nikki’s involvement. Some of Ms. Alley’s accomplishments are her huge involvement in the GECKO series events taking care of all non-athletic aspects of 5-6 events solely as a volunteer. Nikki also sits on the boards of the Friends of the San Juan River and Cruise-a-Thong. Nikki is involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters as a BIG offering her little sister many fun and supportive opportunities.
The other finalists included Roy Melius involved with the veterans of our community as well as youth and James Dickhoff, being instrumental in developing the Nordic Club and all their activities.
Other Volunteer of the Year nominees included the Community United Methodist Church Wreathmakers, Chimney Rock Interpretive Association, Kenny Daniels and Larry Fisher. |