Salem volunteers will be honored Sunday for organizing free music performances, helping neighbors prepare for emergencies and keeping local parks in shape.
The city of Salem’s annual award ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 20, will celebrate 15 award recipients at the Loucks Auditorium at the Salem Public Library. The event will be at 2 p.m.
Recipients will get to walk a red carpet before getting their awards and enjoy a reception where Sprague High School’s string quartet will perform.
The awards spotlight people doing standout work for the city. This includes people who’ve volunteered countless hours, or years, with the city, those who promote and improve Salem and educators, business owners or service workers helping the community.
This year, 3,616 people volunteered 158,716 hours with the city, according to numbers in a press release. Salem Reporter previously reported that last year 5,401 people spent 149,000 hours volunteering with the city.
Although the number of volunteers decreased, this year’s volunteer cohort contributed almost 10,000 more hours compared to 2023.
“Without volunteer support, reaching areas of need would be near impossible with our current staffing levels,” Amanda Sitter, the city’s volunteer coordinator for parks and recreation, said in a press release. “Volunteers bring togetherness, and the community involvement is just as important for our staff as for them.”
For people interested in watching the ceremony, it will stream on Capital Community Media at 2:55 p.m. Sunday on channel 21.
Recipients were selected through a community nomination process by the Salem City Council and city boards and commissions, in addition to several awards selected by the mayor. The city released the names of winners Thursday.
Salem Reporter will publish more information about each winner following the ceremony.
Award recipients:
Al Loucks Business – Government Partnership Award – RiverCity Rock Star Academy
Distinguished Project Award – Canine Corps
Outstanding City Advisory Group Volunteer Award – Carlee Wright of Press Play Salem
Outstanding Neighbor Award – Fairmount Emergency Readiness Team (FERT)
Outstanding Neighbor Award – Seleste Liyanage
Salem Spirit Award – Brian Hart
Salem Spirit Award – Make Music Salem
Vern Miller Award – Linda Bierly
Lisa Letney Award – Laura Crofoot
At Your Service Award – James Callaway
At Your Service Award – Larry Eshelman
Mayor’s Youth Achievement Award – Delia Olmos-Garcia
Mayor’s Merit Award – Brian Sund
Mayor’s Merit Award – Salem Kawagoe Sister City Organization
Richard Swyers Public Works Employee Award – Luke Westphal
Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].
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Madeleine Moore is working as a reporter at Salem Reporter through the University of Oregon’s Charles Snowden internship program. She came to Salem after graduating from the University of Oregon in June 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
