Chairman's Community Service Award

Reese Aarthun
Senior Business Analyst
Wausau Insurance
Wausau, Wis

As the “cookie lady” of Aspirus Comfort Care and Hospice Services, Reese Aarthun knows a sweet treat does more than calm a sugar craving. It’s also helps create a home away from home when patients and their families enter hospice.

For the past 10 years, she has baked cookies, prepared special meals or just listened to patients and their families. Because about 85 percent of the patients in hospice stay at home, Aarthun helps create a connection among them. “It may sound like depressing work, but I see such strength in the hospice residents and their families. And not all patients are visibly ill all the time. They can have good days with the bad, and I’m there to share all of it.”

Eric Kingsbury
P/L Territory Manager
Liberty Northwest
Bothell, Wash.

Eric Kingsbury volunteers with the Cascade AIDS Project (CAP), where he is a dedicated childcare volunteer throughout the year at Kids’ Connection and a week-long cabin counselor at Camp Starlight each summer.

“There is still a lot of stigma around AIDS,” Kingsbury said, “and the Kids Connection and Camp Starlight are places where kids can be themselves and talk about what’s going on in their lives—whether they or their parents are sick.”

There is also a strong emphasis on education and prevention. “We want to end the cycle of infection,” Kingsbury said. “I want these kids to have the confidence and knowledge to make the right decisions, and know someone is supporting them every step of the way.”

Deborah Patin
Customer Service Representative
Personal Markets
Somerset, N.J.

Deborah Patin will tell you she has volunteered at the James O. Bryant Food Pantry in Piscataway, N.J., for 12 years—organizing food donations; receiving requests; handing out food to families in need. While that’s technically correct, it takes a letter from the pantry’s executive director to really understand what she does, the impact she makes, and her vital role in starting the pantry.

“During Deborah’s tenure at the food pantry, she has selflessly given of her time and her talents to support the success of the organization,” stated Wilhelmina Bryant. “She consistently provides guidance and insight to improve community relations, and has a unique understanding of the budgetary restraints of a non-profit, the effect of the current budgetary climate and the ongoing needs of those who are vulnerable and at-risk.”