Volunteer Fairfax Celebrates Area Residents Who Go Above and Beyond

Numerous county residents were honored recently for their dedication to servitude for the benefit of the community at large.

The annual Fairfax County Volunteer Service Awards, presented by Volunteer Fairfax, honor individuals, groups and organizations that have given outstanding volunteer service through a broad range of activities and programs. At an awards ceremony Friday in Springfield, this year’s honorees were honored in 19 categories, ranging from youth volunteer to senior volunteer and many in between.

Among the award recipients were 10 community champions, one from each county district chosen by that district’s supervisor. Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins chose to honor Maria and Raul Garza-Chapa, supporters of Reston Community Center programs that serve active seniors.

Carolina Calderon received the Intégrate Volunteer award for her work with Cornerstones. The award recognizes the contributions of a bilingual Hispanic volunteer.

Seven volunteers at the Reston Regional Library were also honored with Benchmark 250 awards, marking 250 hours of volunteer service. Recognized were Diane Brown, Hank Brown, Wendell Driggers, Mark McGowan, Paul Toxie, Nicholas Wenri and Tom Wright.

“Volunteerism is valuable and vital to our community here,” said Elise Neil-Bengtson, Volunteer Fairfax CEO. “We have over 41,000 hours put in by over 15,000 volunteers, and the value of that in the community is over $1 million. That’s huge, but it goes beyond that.”

For a full list of award winners and nominees, visit the Volunteer Fairfax website.

Photos of Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (Hunter Mill District) with Maria and Raul Garza-Chapa (top), and Carolina Calderon (bottom) via Volunteer Fairfax/Facebook