WINNEMUCCA - The Frontier Community Coalition held a youth awards ceremony on Sept. 22 at the Winnemucca Convention Center to recognize and celebrate youth in service in our communities.
In April, the coalition held its Cultural Diversity Dinner with the help of youth volunteers in the community from the Choice, LEOs, Fearless Courageous Crew, L.Y.T., and Life is Good groups.
According to the coalition's Humboldt County coordinator, Sunny Johnson, the coalition provides valuable services for the community through money received through grants, and without those grants, the services would no longer be available.
Johnson said that coalition board chair, Pauline Salla, had the vision to bring cultures together and celebrate diversity, while at the same time creating financial sustainability in case the coalition were to lose any grants.
Johnson said that the event wouldn't have been possible without the help from the youth in our community who volunteered their time. She said the youth involved had no other investment in the coalition, but they knew they were needed for the cause and stepped forward to help.
"Volunteerism is about giving heart and living your passion," Johnson said. "These kids are just now finding their passions."
According to Johnson, the youth who volunteered at the Cultural Diversity Dinner did everything at the event; they sold raffle tickets, staffed the kitchen, cleaned up and served.
"Wherever there was a need, they served," Johnson said.
Key community leaders, including Mayor Di An Putnam, spoke at the youth awards ceremony and expressed gratitude to the youth for stepping forward to help the community.
According to Johnson, a lot of these kids hadn't understood that they made a difference until the awards.
In addition to Johnson and Mayor Putnam, several other community leaders also spoke: Jeffrey Munk, Frontier Community Coalition director; Terri Fairfield, rural outreach coordinator for Sen. Dean Heller's office; Elyse Monroy, field representative for Congressman Mark Amodei's office; Lia Versaevel, district governor for Lions Club International, District 46; and 1st Lt. David Tallman, Nevada National Guard, Military and Family Support Services.
Johnson said that everybody she contacted really tried to get a representative to the awards ceremony.
"The speakers really cared about these kids and wanted to be there," Johnson said.
Tallman said he felt honored to be invited to the event and offered words of encouragement to the youth in attendance.
"Your success is only capped off by your own imagination," he said.
Fairfield was also impressed with the event. She said that she had never attended a youth awards event with so many names on the program.
Johnson said she was very pleased with the outcome of the event.
"It was such a celebration of these kids and their service to the community," she said.
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