I was at the Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards luncheon yesterday and there were six categories of business and individual awards presented. There was a nice crowd since the names of the nominees had been sent to people and the winners kept quiet until the presentations. As the Chair of the Committee said, it was difficult to choose among the nominees because so many of them were strong candidates. The key criteria was in working to help make the community a better place as well as carrying out whatever business was involved. In the case of the Citizen of the Year and the Volunteer of the Year, they were individuals whose service to the community included activity with multiple organizations. Not everyone is in a position to do volunteer work and for a lot of Baby Boomers, it is something we can choose to do in our semi-retired or second (third, etc.) career lives.

This year’s awardees were: Large Business of the Year was Keyes Realty; Small Business was Lumo Graphics; Non-Profit was WeCare; Agriculturist was Medora Krome; Volunteer of the Year was Pastor Brock Schiffer, and Citizen of the Year was Sharon Haxton. I know all the ones selected and many of the nominees, and it was indeed a tough choice. It was good to see everyone recognized and it was an effort on the part of people who nominated them to take the time to do so. These are the type of moments that bring a smile to your face.