TELLURIDE, Colo. (September 28, 2020) – While the pandemic created unprecedented challenges, it also created a strong sense of community with neighbors helping each other overcome a myriad of obstacles, including health, financial, schooling, safety and childcare. The Telluride Foundation’s Board of Directors was given the difficult task of selecting the 2020 Citizen of the Year, an award which honors such community volunteers, at its bi-annual meeting on December 29, 2020. This past year, more than ever, the Telluride Foundation wants to honor those heroes and angels among us who stepped up to unselfishly contribute to the community during a particularly difficult year. The Foundation received nine nominations for the award, and with each one being deserving, selecting just one was impossible. For the first time, the Foundation board named two organizations as winners: San Miguel County Search and Rescue (SAR) and the founding Ouray County Response Fund (OCGNF) team: Marti & Patrick O’Leary and Cat & Barthold Lichtenbelt.
The Telluride Foundation invites the community to celebrate these organizations. San Miguel County Search & Rescue celebration is on Saturday, October 2nd from 3-5pm at Oak. The OCGNF Team celebration is Saturday, October 9th at 2:30p.m. in Ridgway Town Park at the conclusion of the 2nd Annual Ridgway 1.0 K Rally in the Alley for the Arts and just prior to the start of the San Juan Barrel Fest, both events sponsored by Ridgway Chautauqua Society and Weehawken Creative Arts. The Telluride Foundation requests that anyone attending an event hosted by the Foundation be vaccinated. This policy, as advised by medical experts, is being implemented to best protect Telluride Foundation guests and invitees, board, and staff. Thank you for your understanding and compliance.
“The Telluride Foundation created its Citizen of the Year award to honor individuals who unselfishly make extraordinary contributions to the region’s quality of life. This year, we choose to honor two great organizations of volunteers who have stepped up to help house or feed a neighbor in need or risked their own safety to protect the life of someone in danger,” said Paul Major, President & CEO of the Telluride Foundation.
SAR and the OCGNF team were nominated by their community and peers for exemplary service and volunteerism to the community. After all nominations are in, past recipients of the award are responsible for evaluating all the nominations and deciding on two finalists, with the Telluride Foundation board selecting the ultimate 2020 recipient.
SAR is a volunteer organization providing community service, collaboration, leadership, and compassion. In such an atypical year as 2020, SAR was unusually busy providing rescue services to the community and a multitude of visitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by volunteers who frequently and selflessly put their own lives at risk in order to save others. In addition to their rescue missions, SAR volunteers train an average of 4-8 hours per month, some didactic, but mostly hands-on technical trainings such as swift-water rescue, lake ice rescues, low and high angle rope rescues, as well as regular familiarity and maintenance of equipment trainings. SAR volunteers exhibit tremendous professionalism, commitment, and dedication.
“On behalf of San Miguel County’s Search and Rescue volunteer organization, we are both pleased and humbled with the “Citizen of the Year” award from the Telluride Foundation. These forty-three men and women are not only committed to extensive technical training, but they drop everything to come to the rescue of those who are in the most dangerous and vulnerable situations of their lives. They not only give their time, but more often than not, they do so in hazardous conditions and take calculated risks on behalf of saving others. The citizens and visitors of San Miguel County are fortunate beyond measure to have this team of experienced and selfless volunteers at their service,” said San Miguel Sheriff Bill Masters
Marti & Patrick O’Leary and Cat & Barthold Lichtenbelt have a history of community volunteerism and support for numerous nonprofits in Ouray County, including the Ridgway Chautauqua Society, the Sherbino Theater, Weehawken Creative Arts, the Loghill Fire Department, and the Ridgway Library. However, In the first moments of the COVID shutdown, these four Ouray County community members stepped up to the plate to find a way to help their neighbors and friends. They first approached community leaders with the idea of creating a fund for Ouray County citizens in-need. The goal was clear — set up a fund that would help ensure the people who make this community so great could remain in their homes, despite the pandemic that was upending their lives economically. The timeline was ambitious, as were the fundraising goals. However, these four citizens set-out to establish partnerships, raise money, challenge the community to donate through a one to one match, and help those in need throughout the difficult year.
“The OCRF fund received over 100 donations. To put that in perspective, that means that about 1 out of every 50 individuals who live in Ouray County donated to the fund. That is a great ratio, in my humble opinion. I’m truly happy to hear that we were able to help about 126 families and individuals with those donations,” said Bart Lichtenbelt. “Quite an amazing community we live in!”
As the 2020 Citizen of the Year, SAR and the OCGNF team will both receive a commemorative plaque and a grant of $5,000 to be given in their name to the local nonprofit(s) of their choice. These organizations share this honor with Terry Tice (2003), Lissa Margetts (2004), John Micetic (2005), Bill Carstens (2006), John Pryor and Jane Hickcox (2007), Kathy Green (2008), Marilyn Branch (2009), Dan and Greer Garner and Andrea Benda (2010) and Billy “Senior” Mahoney (2011), Anne Brady (2012), Dean Rolley (2013), Kristin Holbrook (2014), Gary Freedman (2015), Elaine Fischer (2016), Wendy Brooks (2017), and Susan Rice (2018), and Barb Gross (2019). The Telluride Foundation plans to hold a community celebration for each organization when it is safe to do so.
The Telluride Foundation honors the 2020 recipients and now calls for nominations for the 2021 Citizen of the Year. The nomination form and criteria can be found at: https://telluridefoundation.org/citizen-of-the-year/. Nominations are open through November 10th.
2021 marks 20 years of Making More Possible through the Telluride Foundation’s commitment to enrich the quality of life of the residents and workforce of the Telluride region. The Telluride Foundation is a nonprofit, apolitical public community foundation that makes grants and runs programs in arts, education, health and human services, community development, and social enterprise. The Foundation strives to achieve excellence for the community through its mission and core values of, including promoting inclusion, self-reliance, and innovation. and maximizing benefit to all. Our work is funded through the generous support of hundreds of donors as well as grants from state and national foundations. Pease The Foundation hopes the community will join it in celebrating its 20th anniversary as it reflects on the past, present and future and honors the nonprofits, donors, and community members who have all partnered together to achieve a significant positive impact on the region. For more information about the Telluride Foundation, visit www.telluridefoundation.org.
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