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Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
Posted 11/03/06 • Roland Adams • (603)
646-3661 • Link to original
posting
Dartmouth Community
Services, the local service outreach and education arm of Dartmouth
College's Tucker Foundation,
has been selected to receive a 2006 Spirit of New
Hampshire Award, which will be presented by New Hampshire Governor John
Lynch on Nov. 13 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.
Spirit of New Hampshire awards are part of an annual recognition program
administered by Volunteer NH! in
collaboration with the Office of the
Governor. The awards honor outstanding contributions to volunteerism
throughout the state of New Hampshire and augment the many local recognition
events that show appreciation for the work of community volunteers.
The awards fall into two categories: Volunteer Service Awards and Volunteer
Champion Awards. Dartmouth Community Services has been chosen for a Volunteer
Champion Award. "Volunteer NH!" presents these awards to
organizations that "provide the infrastructure that allows volunteers to
be successful in their service. Awards in the Volunteer Champion category
recognize excellent volunteer management (recruitment, orientation and
training, on-going support, and recognition of volunteers) as well as
successful efforts to develop funds that sustain volunteer commitment and
programs."
Dartmouth Community Services was nominated for the Volunteer Champion Award
by the Rev. Dr. Nancy A.G. Vogele, Rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in
White River Junction, Vermont. Vogele's congregation is highly involved in
outreach projects across the Upper Valley, which has helped to keep her aware
of the contributions made by Dartmouth students in a variety of social
programs. In her letter of nomination, Vogele quotes the
"motto" of Dartmouth Community Services, "Idealism in
Action", and notes the program's 1,200 volunteers and 40,000 hours of
service annually. Recalling her own experience with the program in the early
1980s when, as a member of the class of 1985, she was a Dartmouth Student,
Vogele says "....my own volunteer and leadership experiences as a young
person in DCS helped form me into the person I am today, helped connect me to
my vocation and to my Upper Valley home. For that I am forever grateful. That
this program has grown and deepened over the years, sustaining its service, is
an incredible blessing to New Hampshire communities and to the learning and
growth of young people."
Letters supporting the nomination of Dartmouth Community Services for the
award were also submitted by Barbara Mason, who works in guidance within the
Mascoma School District in Enfield and Canaan, N.H., where students operate the
Outdoor
Leadership Experience Project; and by Merilynn Bourne, Executive Director
at LISTEN Community Services, with which the Dartmouth program is associated
for the Big Brother, Big Sister
mentoring project, for food and clothing drives and for the provision of a
weekly community dinner in Hanover through the Students
Fighting Hunger project.
Participants in the Outdoor Leadership Experience Program
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