2011 Awards:
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD: Peter Guttchen, 1310 Central St NE
Peter Guttchen has served the NENA membership extraordinarily well as our president
for the last 10 years. Through countless hours of hard work on everything from
school safety improvements to addressing the walkability of our neighborhood,
Peter has energized this community over the past decade and deserves praise and
credit for making NENA one of the most active and respected neighborhood
associations in Olympia today! His dedication to community activism has led to
better communication and, most importantly, results from city and county
leaders to help make where we live a better place. Neighborhoods throughout
Olympia have and will continue to benefit from the leadership that Peter has
given to all of us. A sincere thank you to you Peter, from the very people you
call your neighbors!
NENA BOARD AWARD: Austin Hildreth
Austin is responsible for creating a number of much needed and very useful
neighborhood maps. By re-drawing our NENA boundary and adding all of the parcel
addresses, we were finally able to conduct a full inventory of the properties
within our boundary, over 1,800 total!! Using a series of neighborhood maps, we
were able to use this information when we conducted our door to door NENA
campaign this summer, which was very successful. In addition, Austin was able
to create an outstanding satellite map of our neighborhood. This was a much needed
improvement over our old, beat-up NENA map. All of these maps will have
tremendous value to NENA for many years to come! Thank you Austin!
GOOD NEIGHBOR AWARDS:
Laurielea Drury, 1418 Oak Ave NE Nominated by Joan Healey
Laurielea bought the historic Mallory House (built 1894) in
2009. Last year, she had it restored to its previous glory. It is so wonderful
to see an old house on the historic register looking so swell. It's something
the whole neighborhood should be aware and proud of. Thanks Laurielea!
Joan Healey, 1501 Pine Ave NE Nominated by Lynn Reese & Abbey the dog
I met Joan one year ago as she walked past my house with her
dog, Valla. She asked me if she could walk my dog, Abbey. She was not aware I
had back problems. She is at my door four times a week, walking in rain, sleet,
or snow after working a 12-hour shift at Tacoma General Hospital as a respiratory
therapist. She also takes me
shopping with her. Most of all, she
is a true and kind friend. Joan is a very active NENA member and volunteers
generously. Thank you, Joan, for using your “Neighborly Good Spirit.”
Joan Healey, 1501 Pine Ave NE Nominated by Rozanne Rants
Joan's enthusiasm
for increasing awareness of our neighborhood association led her to contact
and coordinate volunteers in a major door-to-door effort. These
volunteers talked to their neighbors about NENA or, if no one was home, they left
an invitation to the Annual Potluck. About 900 homes were
contacted, which is about half of the total residences in the NENA
neighborhood.
Lynn Reese, 1019 NE Lybarger St Nominated by Joan Healey
When the folks at 1714 Pine Ave NE moved out, they left boxes of garbage by the
full garbage can. As time passed, folks scattered the contents of the boxes up
and down the sidewalk. It was an eyesore! This 80-year-young woman donned her
gloves and pushed her wheel barrow to the site, picked up the mess and put it
in her garbage container. Thanks for making the sidewalk neater and safer,
Lynn!
Lynn Reese, 1019
Lygarber NE & Margo Wall, 1004 Lygarber NE Nominated by Peter Guttchen
This year, Margo
and Lynn took over the job of organizing NENA’s annual potluck and neighborhood
celebration. They have handled the endless details – tables, coffee, chairs,
parking, composting, music, PA systems, door prizes, tents, sign-in sheets,
volunteers, signs and lots more - with wisdom and grace. Their hard work and
extraordinary skills have brought us back together again this year to connect
with our neighbors, eat good food and celebrate our great neighborhood.
Keith Edgerton, 864 Jasper Ave NE Nominated by Mike Dexel
In 2011, Keith Edgerton was the brain behind NENA's new
Facebook page. Through his expansive knowledge of the online experience, Keith
led NENA to a whole new way of connecting to our neighborhood members. Now the
world can see just how great our neighborhood really is by paying a visit to
our Facebook page and "friending" us. Follow us on Facebook and
watch our progress on important neighborhood issues and events.
JOY AVE PATHWAY
Project Special Recognition:
Rick, Ken and
Christine Mansfield and their company, Brush Clearing Goats
The Mansfield
family generously provided their company’s goat brush clearing services to NENA’s
Joy Avenue pathway project at a significant discount. Their goats not only
cleared a lot of blackberry vines and other vegetation in the pathway corridor,
they also helped spread the word about the project by attracting a lot of
visitors to the project site. The Mansfields even brought along Retro and Ding
Dong, two of the cutest baby goats you’ve ever seen, to one of our project work
parties for children (and their parents) to pet and hug.
Angela Gelenscer
and her children, Katarina and Anthony, 1703 Bethel St NE
Angela and her children, Katarina and Anthony, live adjacent to the
Joy Ave pathway. Not only are they
enthusiastic supporters of the pathway project, they took amazing care of the
hungry and thirsty brush clearing goats for more than a week, making sure they
had water and enough baking soda to soothe their upset stomachs.
Katharina
Gelenscer, 1803 Bethel St NE
Katharina
suggested to NENA that we bring in goats to help clear the Joy Avenue pathway
corridor of the thick and thorny blackberries and other vegetation that had
taken over the site. And her help has gone well beyond just coming up with a
great idea. She’s been a strong supporter of the pathway project, worked hard
to help clear the site of rocks, concrete and other debris, and helped to pay
for goat brush clearing service.
Robert Bylsma,
1707 Tullis St NE
Robert is a
neighbor who lives near the Joy Avenue pathway. One day in April, he just
happened to stop by during one of our work parties. After he learned more about the project, he went back to his
house and came back with his chipper and chain saw and spent the rest of the
day helping us clear debris from the pathway. Over the last few months, he’s continued to help with the
project in many ways including cutting up and removing more than a cord of
waste wood from the pathway corridor.
We would never have been able to get the trail installed this summer
without Robert’s extraordinary help!
PRESIDENT’S AWARD: Ann Torpie, 1018 Central NE
This year's President's Award goes to NENA's own Communications Board Member,
Ann Torpie. Ann has been instrumental in helping NENA increase our
presence in the neighborhood. The energy and dedication that Ann has
contributed to NENA over the past year has been tremendous. Much of the
contribution Ann has made to NENA is the behind the scenes work that really
helps us operate successfully and professionally. Some of the many
contributions that Ann has given to our organization include, but are certainly
not limited to:
- re-vamping our NENA website to give it a new look and keep
members up do date on what's going on in our neighborhood;
- spending countless hours of her time doing research for our
organization to make sure we are doing things in the most efficient, practical,
legal, and economical way possible;
- developing and creating signs for many NENA projects, including the new vinyl NENA banner, the neighborhood potluck
signs, and Joy Avenue trail signs;
- improving the layout and making sure people are aware of
neighborhood events at the NENA kiosk at the San Francisco Street Bakery;
- organizing and contributing her own time at neighborhood events.
2010 Awards:
Roosevelt Traffic Safety Improvements :
Tim Bryne, Domencio Spatola Knoll, Bob Wolpert, Brian Walsh, Kurt Stiles and Melinda Spencer
Graffiti Busters :
Diana Cushing &
Mark Lally
Code enforcement : Mike Dexel
Making our neighborhood more walkable, bikeable and active-friendly :
Karen Messmer
Mission Creek Nature Park Stewards Tom Badger & Wendy Gerstel nominate neighbor volunteers: 