FRIEND OF THE YEAR

"Friend of the Year" is the recognition given to the active Friend who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and commitment to the activities and events of the Friends group and VVA 310. This is the Friend who has been involved with many activities during the previous year and deserves recognition for those efforts.

 Each year in January Friends are asked to give consideration to a Friend they consider as having given notable time and effort to assisting Friends and VVA 310 meet their goals of helping veterans and their families. At the February Friends meeting, Friends write down their nomination and a few reasons for that nomination. If a Friend cannot attend the February meeting, they may nominate their favorite Friend by email or by phone call to the previously named Friend of the Year. The previous-year Friend of the Year tabulates the results and keeps this information confidential until the Recognition Dinner.

At the VVA 310 Recognition Dinner held annually in February, the Friend of the Year is announced and presented with a certification and flowers for her outstanding efforts during the past year. The honor is presented by the person named Friend of the Year in the previous year.

This tradition began in 1996 when the first Friend of theYear was named. Since that time, the following Friends have been given the honor of Friend of the Year.

Leah Powers 1996
April Boggs 1997
Theresa Mullins 1998
Barbara Lowe 1999
Rose Blackwell 2000
Jane Kinzinger 2001
Sandra Martinez 2002
Doris Knight 2003
Sharon Manning 2004
Regena Hecker 2005
Patricia VanVuren 2006
Lois Perrault 2007
Libby Price 2008
Cynthia Olcott 2009
Cheryl Ward 2010
Kathy Driscoll 2011
Bonnie Hall 2012
Marge Ballou 2013
Sharon Kwiecinski 2014
Minerva Draper & Shirley Hitte 2015
Kathy Driscoll 2016

Friends also acknowledge "Honorary Members." Honorary Members are those people who have contributed greatly to the Friends group, either with the gift of money or by their service to the Friends group or VVA 310. Their membership dues are waived because of their generosity.

Beverley Wagener                            2009          Seattle, WA
Nacee Hay 2009 Indialantic, FL
Jerry Bryant 2010 Ypsilanti, MI
Theresa Hadley 2010 Ypsilanti, MI
Destiny Eadie 2011 Belleville, MI
Mike Eadie 2011 Belleville, MI
Shanda Eadie 2011 Belleville, MI
Lynn Liston 2012 Ann Arbor, MI
Stacey Mason 2012 Farmington Hills, MI
Kelly Trudell 2012 Grass Lake, MI
Gary Vancena 2013 Adrian, MI
Doris Novak 2014 Ypsilanti, MI
Ken Weber 2015 Ann Arbor, MI
Cynthia Calhoun 2016 Saline