LakewoodAlive Honors Volunteers With Annual Appreciation Breakfast

As the saying goes, it takes a village. This is certainly true in the case of LakewoodAlive, a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization that relies heavily on community members to help fulfill its mission to foster and sustain vibrant neighborhoods.

LakewoodAlive hosted its Annual Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on Friday morning, January 18, in the Women's Pavilion at Lakewood Park. The event, attended by more than 60 volunteers from throughout the community, featured coffee, waffles and stories of remarkable volunteerism. LakewoodAlive recognized the nearly 750 volunteers who, in 2018, contributed their time and talents to supporting the community-centered nonprofit organization and to helping improve quality of life in Lakewood.

Volunteer Champion Awards were bestowed upon the following individuals for their outstanding service to LakewoodAlive:

Outgoing LakewoodAlive Board Members

• Tom Fraser
• Jeff Patterson
• Brant Smith

Housing Outreach Program

• Mike Clock
• Griffen George
• Ralph Lukich

Downtown Lakewood Business Alliance

• David Stein

Lakewood Summer Meltdown

• Johnny Honkala

Spooky Pooch Parade

• State Senator Nickie Antonio

Light Up Lakewood

• Amanda Santa

Above & Beyond

• Lauren Brocone
• Brenda Gravelle
• Tiffany Hickey
• Nate Tomasch

A special award is bestowed each year to volunteers who demonstrate uniquely exceptional commitment to LakewoodAlive. The Laskey Service Award was named for Tim Laskey, a founding member of LakewoodAlive. This year’s Laskey Service Award recipients are Tim Dewald and Dianne Needles.

Tim, a member of the Marketing Committee, serves as a volunteer videographer, devoting countless hours to shooting video at LakewoodAlive’s community events and housing projects. Thanks to his dedication and talent, LakewoodAlive looks forward to unveiling a “brand anthem” video in the coming months.  Dianne oversees Onix Outreach, a charitable arm of Onix that strives to provide assistance to the underserved within our community. In this role Dianne has been instrumental in supporting LakewoodAlive’s Housing Outreach Program with everything from furnishing tools to providing volunteers for projects.    

“We can’t begin to express our gratitude for the incredible outpouring of support we receive from our family of dedicated volunteers,” said Ian Andrews, Executive Director for LakewoodAlive. “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do for Lakewood, and for helping us fulfill our mission to foster and sustain vibrant neighborhoods.”

To learn more about how you can get involved with LakewoodAlive, please visit LakewoodAlive.org/Volunteer.