Press Release

February 21, 2006

8^th Annual Sky Valley Community Awards Celebration

Debbie Copple

793-0983

Last Saturday night over 200 Valley residents gathered at Sultan High School to honor 36 local citizens for the volunteer work they do. These are the people who quietly volunteer to teach little children to read, provide food and clothing to the poor, support literacy, clean and beautify, support veterans, public education, and save lives. In short, these are the people who make a city into a community.

The evening began with a potluck dinner party while listening to beautiful music by cello player Matt Haverly. Chamber of Commerce President Gordon MacDonald opened the event by introducing Master of Ceremony Donna Murphy and Sultan High School student Kaitlyn Morrell sang the National Anthem.

The grand finale of the evening was the announcement of the Sky Valley Citizen of the Year Lee James Gerry. Sultan Mayor Ben Tolson explained the process for choosing the Citizen of the Year. “The person chosen must already be receiving an award this evening for their outstanding efforts in the community. The Mayors and City Councils of Gold Bar and Sultan meet and carefully review their achievements and then vote for one of the bright and shining stars of our Sky Valley. It has always been very difficult selecting just one Citizen of the Year from the list of outstanding individuals who have given so much of themselves to our community.” Gold Bar Mayor Crystal Hill tells us a little about Lee Gerry “He’s active in the Gold Bar VFW, raising and lowering the flags every day for the past 3 years. He can be seen mowing the VFW and City’s lawns during the summers, and he’s put up Gold Bar’s Christmas Tree lights for the past 7 years. Lee has a soft spot for kids, and every year he builds a parade float for Gold Bar’s National Night Out, and was deeply involved in the Meadowbrook Athletic program which included 5^th & 6^th grade basketball, Junior High Football, and wrestling teams. He takes people to the hospital when they need to go and even built a barbeque out of cast iron for the VFW last year.” Mr. Gerry received a standing ovation while Camille Leigh Johnson sang a beautiful tribute song called “You Lift Me Up”.

Photo:

LEFT TO RIGHT: Sultan Mayor Ben Tolson, Award recipient Lee James Gerry, Gold Bar Mayor Crystal Hill