As nomination deadline nears, past SAMMI winners continue their work
November 27, 2010
By Lauren McLaughlin
New: Nov. 27, 3:42 p.m.
This time of year is full of good spirit and giving back to the community, but there are certain members that stand out among their peers, these are the type of people that get nominated for the Sammi Awards.
But after the awards ceremony is over, many winners continue to toil at the same projects that earned them recognition.
Cindy VanWambeck, who received the 2007 Spirit of Sammamish award, has continued to work with the Harvest Festival and CERT in addition to getting her HAM radio license.
“I’ve been working on the ARAS foundation and the Harvest Festival. We lost our venue this year. We’re taking food to the people who need it this year, or we meet them somewhere, we’ll figure out a way to get it them,” VanWambeck said.
Cary Young, SAMMI awards executive director, knew VanWambeck from the CERT classes VanWambeck taught.
“She was always active, she’s in HAM radio, at all the CERT drills,” said Young. “She’s always right there in a leadership position.”
City of Sammamish volunteer coordinator Dawn Sanders knows VanWambeck through various city events and said the city events run smoother with VanWambeck’s help.
“She is my go to person for a lot of my events,” said Sanders.
VanWambeck helps to coordinated Citizen Corps and CERT and is involved in city events as security and a volunteer and has been a great help, said Sanders.
“She and her granddaughter were just helping to scrub graffiti off of storm drains,” said Sanders.
Sanders also knows another Spirit of Sammamish award recipient, Mary Trask.
“[Trask] is such a classy person,” said Sanders. “Her passion for the community is amazing.”
Trask was presented with the award in 2005 and has since continued her work with the ARAS foundation and various charitable fundraisers, such as the Harvest Festival and a bike drive to send people in Ghana bikes that people here have outgrown or feel like donating.
“I’ve pretty much been doing the same things that I was doing before,” said Trask. “I really love what I do and I only do projects that I really put my heart into.”
Young said Trask has been invaluable to the community and is an amazing resource for volunteers.
“[Trask] is like the center of a wheel with all the volunteers and non-profit organization as spokes. If you need information disseminated quickly she can do it,” said Young. “If you need help with something she’s right there with volunteers.”
Trask has not only been a recipient, but has also nominated people for Sammi Awards.
“The Sammi Awards allows us the opportunity to thank people in a classy, gratitude filled way,” said Trask. “To me, it’s a nice way to let people know what we think of them.”
The Sammi Award nominees and award recipients can’t be recognized without help. This year’s deadline for nominations is Dec. 10.
“Most nominations come in 48 hours before the deadline, but a few are trickling in now,” said Young. “We usually get at least 70 nominations, and from those nominations choose five nominees for each of the 10 categories.”
Nomination forms are available online at www.sammiawards.org or at the Sammamish Library and the Mail Post near Safeway. There are 10 categories: art, business, courage, learning promotion, teen spirit, youth advocate, unsung hero, environmental, founder’s award, Trevor Price award, and Spirit of Sammamish.
Reach Intern Lauren McLaughlin at samrev@isspress.com.
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