Brittany McGarry, CVA, Volunteer Engagement Specialist, National MS Society - Colorado
Brittany is a volunteer management professional who focuses on quality over quantity when it comes to the work she does with volunteers. With this perspective, she engages volunteers with a focus on longevity, to make a bigger impact for the organization. During COVID-19, she elevated volunteers into various committees to support development teams in continuing to raise awareness and funds amidst the pandemic. Additionally, she was able to engage local volunteers into national opportunities for them to personally connect with those that have a connection to MS. Brittany has been a part of DOVIA Colorado's Board of Directors for 3 years. In 2020, Brittany stepped up and learned how to find creative ways to engage a committee virtually, and with nearly 250 registrants, CCOV's first fully virtual conference was a great success. Brittany also loves to network and encourage others to engage in the volunteer engagement profession.
Tim Suda, CVA, Disaster Workforce Engagement Manager, American Red Cross - Georgia
Tim is a passionate advocate for volunteers, both within thAmerican Red Cross of Georgia and for the profession of volunteer engagement overall. Tim is currently the Vice President of GAVA, the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration, Inc., where he focuses on advancement and advocacy for leaders of volunteers across the state of Georgia. In just one year of service in this organization, Tim has helped increase the reach of the newsletter, recruit new Board members, deliver regular monthly training events to members, and enhance communications and web presence. In his full time role with the American Red Cross of Georgia, Tim supervises a team of volunteers in disaster workforce engagement, making sure volunteers have appropriate onboarding, training, leadership development, and deployment. Tim and his team of volunteers support over 1,000 disaster services volunteers across Georgia. In FY21, his volunteers completed over 30,000 hours, and the workforce they supported completed 280,000 hours during the same period. During his time in his current role, he has increased the engagement of disaster service volunteers from 42% to 94%. Tim also travels to regional sites of natural disasters to manage volunteers on the ground. He has cultivated strong volunteer leaders so his normal duties are not neglected while he’s away. Tim has demonstrated true impact and leadership in his organization, all in support of volunteers.
Morgan Green-Griffin, CVA, Librarian, City of Coppell-Cozby Library Community Coordinator - Texas
Morgan is an incredible example of someone who champions volunteers and treats them with the utmost respect and integrity. In 2020, Morgan created the first Teen Volunteers in Coppell report, which detailed volunteer data and impact quotes. The report was expertly designed and organized in a clear way to show the impact of the teen volunteers on the community and their impact of the service. Morgan works directly with the teen volunteers who support library programs, many of these programs would not be possible without volunteer support. Morgan strives to express to city leadership the importance of this role and the future of volunteers to our organization. Morgan is constantly working to improve herself and build her skillset to better serve her community. Her Masters in Library Science from the University of North Texas, focused on Human Resources Management, which have been invaluable to her role as a volunteer coordinator. Morgan has been involved in local volunteer manager groups such as the Dallas Association of Directors of Volunteers. Morgan volunteered with the Texas Volunteer Management Conference in 2021 and is the Technology Chair for the conference for 2022. Morgan recently received her Certificate of Volunteer Administration.
Honorable mention, Emerging Leader Category:
Karlene Kuhn, NAMI Juneau
Exemplary Leader category
Marcia Hale, CVA, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator - Oregon
Marcia is a Volunteer Engagement Leader at the Hillsboro Public Library. During the pandemic she had to pivot and adapt to the changes by creating remote engagement opportunities for volunteers. With a community focus, Marcia used an innovative approach to create mission-driven opportunities for volunteers including creation of packets, engaging volunteers to distribute summer reading materials at parks across the city, mask making, and a Pen Pal project. This year, teen volunteers were recruited to be the primary summer reading program support, sharing over 800 hours on the road and in the libraries. Marcia provided consistent communication virtually with volunteers through newsletters, and frequent Zoom meetings. She also worked with staff to help them integrate volunteers more strategically in their projects, providing training and on-going support to help expand the role of volunteers within the libraries. Marcia is currently collaborating to enhance all city volunteer programs into a more cohesive unit, based on a community-driven initiative called Civic Leadership Academy. She is also currently serving the local volunteer professionals’ group, Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association (NOVAA) and contributes her time to the Professional Development Committee. She also serves on the Education Committee as a board member of the National Association of Volunteer Program Leaders in Government (NAVPLG). Former contributions include serving as a board member for NOVAA and on the conference committee for the Directors of Volunteer Administrators Association (DOVAA) in Vancouver, WA.
Carrie Hart, CVA, Manager, Volunteer Services - Delaware
Carrie demonstrates exceptional educational leadership to every volunteer at Bayhealth, where she serves as the Manager of Volunteer Services. The pandemic brought to light many opportunities for improvement within the healthcare system. Due to volunteers being out during the pandemic, Carrie was charged with leading the morale committee. Carrie was an integral part of every fundraiser Bayhealth promoted during the pandemic, including a duffle bag project, stockings for soldiers, toys for tots, code purple to support the homeless shelter, valentines for veterans and a food train to support staff through the pandemic. Under Carrie’s leadership, volunteers made over 14,000 masks for their community from March 2020 until the summer of 2021. To keep volunteers engaged during the pandemic, she instituted monthly drives to help local organizations whose resources were strained. Outside of work, Carrie serves as a Board Member of the Delaware Association of Volunteer Administrators and Co-Chair of the Downtown Dover Partnership Design Committee. She is inclusive in her thinking and aims for the betterment of her team and volunteer leaders in the region.
Kathryn Hampton, CVA, Volunteer Services Coordinator, Idaho Parks & Recreation - Idaho
Kathryn works closely with volunteers and staff to ensure that all understand, engage and support the mission of the agency improving the quality of life in Idaho through outdoor recreation and resource stewardship. She has succeeded in keeping Idaho's 30 parks engaged with the volunteer process and ensures that volunteers want to return. With an agency-wide impact of 1.5 million volunteer hours delivered to parks since calendar year 2000, you can see what impact she has and continues to have. Kathryn has demonstrated exceptional leadership in the field of volunteer engagement in multiple ways. Kathryn has served as the President of the Southwest Idaho Directors of Volunteer Services (SWIDOVS). In her role as President, she has been instrumental in increasing outreach by successfully establishing partnerships with statewide organizations that have diversified membership, ensuring members are provided with opportunities to learn, and has been a wonderful mentor to many members. She has presented at numerous conferences and trainings on volunteer management. She also served on the Board of the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE) from 2012 to 2016.
Honorable mentions:
Cathy Thoma, CVA Director of Volunteer Resources, Hammer Residences
Rose Morgan, CVA Associate Director, Volunteer Resource Center, Habitat for Humanity
2021 Nominees:
Emerging Leader Category:
Wayne Perego, Volunteer Coordinator, Veterans Freedom Tours
Emily Keena, Community Engagement Coordinator, Modus
Exemplary Leader Category:
Jason Frenzel, Stewardship Coordinator, Huron River Watershed Council
Dana Litwin, Consultant, Dana Litwin Consulting
Jovita Woodrich, Volunteer Services Director, Volunteer Florida
Gina Hansen, Volunteer Resource Management, Habitat for Humanity Tucson
Jenny Tatum, Director of Volunteer Engagement, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest
Thank you to our Judging Panel:
Andrea Hill, CVA - Tennesse
Ashley Ramsdell, CVA - Florida
Brenda Michael – Haggard, CVA - Oklahoma
Corina Sadler CVA - Texas
Jessica Dennes, CVA - Arizona
Kate Ekman, CVA - California
Nicole Smith, CVA - Florida
Rebecca Hand, MPA, CVA - Texas
Susan Nusall, CVA - Arizona
Award Committee:
Jennifer Thompson, CVA
Ashley Ramsdell, CVA
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