ICYMI: Community Champion Awards Presented at the Society of Chairs Gala

A total of 10 Community Champion Awards were presented at this year’s Society of Chairs Gala in late April. Here are the first five of the honorees — we’ll share the second five next week.

Honorees: Sean Daniels & Geri Wright of Arizona Theatre Company

Presented by Char & Alan Augenstein

Sean Daniels is the artistic director for Arizona Theatre Company, Arizona’s state theater. Geri Wright joined the theater as managing director just before the COVID pandemic. Together, the duo worked hand-in-hand with their staff and board to create online content for their subscribers, develop a new online audience and break fundraising goals to ensure the theater would be back with live shows when it’s safe to do so.

Honoree: Gwyn Noble of Executive Council Charities

Presented by Matt Davis, Executive Director, and Board Chairman, Casey Strunk

Gwyn is the director of operations at Executive Council Charities and has been with the organization since its inception. She is described as “the glue that holds us all together.” Here’s what Davis and Strunk had to say about her: “It’s rare to come across someone so dedicated, reliable and passionate about the work we do within the community. We speak for the entire group of members, volunteers and charity partners when we say she is truly an asset to our organization. Gwyn has a key role in the day-to-day operations to ensure that the organization, its members and partners are all running cohesively and updated at all times, whether it is scheduling, tracking sales/donations, email correspondence, bookkeeping, etc. She does it all in a rapidly growing and evolving organization. Her collaboration with our members, board of directors and leadership is amazing and we couldn’t ask for a better employee or individual within this position.”

Honoree: Carmen Heredia of Valle del Sol

Presented by Eide Bailly

Carmen is leading this critical community organization as they celebrate 50 years in 2021. This past year Valle del Sol launched a mobile health team in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the needs they saw from the communities they serve to make testing for the virus available. The team has now expanded to provide the Moderna vaccine to residents of long-term care facilities, schools and community events, to name a few accomplishments of this multifaceted organization.

Honoree: Jennifer Caraway DeSayes of The Joy Bus

Presented by Rebecca Ailes-Fine & Peter Fine

Jennifer is the founder of The Joy Bus, where their sole purpose is to relieve the daily struggles of homebound cancer patients with a fresh and healthy meal delivered by a friendly face. Jennifer is also leading the More than a Meal project to grow its program to benefit patients with 400 home visits per week by expanding its kitchen, pantry and dining capacity through a new facility. If you know Jennifer, you know she will make this happen!

Honoree: Holly Rose of Check for a Lump

Presented by Angie Knope, Check for a Lump Volunteer

Holly founded Check for a Lump after her 2009 battle with breast cancer to motivate other women to perform self-exams in the hope of detecting breast cancer in the early stages. Today Check for a Lump provides free breast health education, mammograms, testing and direct assistance to breast cancer patients with wigs, support and resources in Arizona. The pandemic has been devastating for this growing organization but Holly’s leadership and fight are carrying them through.

Save the Date: Society of Chairs 2022 will be held on Wednesday, April 27, 2022

For more information about Community Champion Awards, please email Andrea@FrontdoorsMedia.com