- Good evening, everyone. I'm Asia Jester, Monroe County Community School Board representative for District
- 7. I am delighted today to welcome you to the 2026 Be More Awards presented by the City of Bloomington
- Volunteer Network. In 1980, Mayor Frank McCloskey established the city's Office for Volunteerism.
- This act made Bloomington the second city in the nation following New York City to establish a division
- of municipal government dedicated to fostering volunteerism and promoting community service. Since that
- time, Bloomington's volunteer network has supported exponential growth of local nonprofit industry.
- Through peer and expert-led training sessions,
- boots on the ground volunteer coordination support, and the creation and ongoing evolution
- of bloomingtonvolunteernetwork.org. The BVN has helped local nonprofits build healthy dependable basis
- of volunteer support. Volunteers are crucial to the high quality of life that we experience here in
- Bloomington.
- A volunteer who commits to regular service hours helps a charitable organization serve more meals, rehome
- more animals, or build more houses, while simultaneously supporting the work of paid staff. When you
- talk about local nonprofit leaders, they will tell you none of the miraculous programs our community
- rely on are possible without volunteers.
- In the difficult economic times we are facing, the role of volunteers to support social service, arts,
- and public welfare programs our community relies on cannot be understated. As our selection committee
- reviewed this year's impressive batch of nominees, we encountered a trend. During the 2025 multiple
- organizations in Bloomington
- told us that they had experienced such a decrease in federal funds that elements of their programming
- could not have survived were it not for the dedicated volunteer or volunteer groups. Stepping in, sometimes
- even taking on the workload of a full-time employee and kept vital community programming operational
- for free. Tonight, at the end of another day where we have no doubt
- seen scary things in the news, we are gathered to do what Mr. Rogers implored us to do. Look for the
- helpers, because there are always helpers. Tonight, we will honor eight volunteers or volunteer groups,
- helpers, whose dedication to volunteerism provided critical support to our community in 2025. Now, I
- would like to welcome Marcus Whitehead,
- the Program Director for Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. Thank you so much, Asia.
- I got to say, I'm really glad to have Asia in seeing the event tonight. I've got to know her over the
- last year or so, and she is an outstanding human being. So Asia, congratulations.
- As she said, my name is Marcus Whited. I am the program director at the Community Foundation of Bloomington
- and Monroe County. You know, when I was in the early days of my career, I was thinking about this. I
- had the valuable, what I consider valuable life experience of working directly with at-risk youth and
- their families during times of crisis. Each one of those families was going through a really difficult
- Period of time and I remember I remember this vividly. I remember at one point having a conversation
- with a seasoned volunteer coordinators name was skip I haven't talked to skip for a long long time,
- but he made an impression on me because I remember this conversation that we were having and I was talking
- with him about how just
- noticeably profound that the impact that the volunteers that we had were having on these at-risk youth
- and their families that were going through difficult times. And I was just telling them how important
- that was. And he said something I've remembered now for like 30 years. He said, you know, there's no
- question the impact that the volunteers have on the folks that they work directly with
- But what we don't always think about is the effect that they have on everyone else, like us, right?
- All of us in this room. There's a ripple effect to what they do. It helped me understand that volunteering
- and serving others, I mean, it creates like a contagious spirit, right? Because when you see
- people that are serving in this way, and when they're doing it on their own volition, spending their
- own time doing this, it inspires the rest of us. And so that was something I never really had thought
- too much about before, but I think that it's a really important thought as we celebrate those that are
- receiving these awards tonight.
- As we celebrate these remarkable people, I would encourage you, I know what I'm going to do is I'm gonna
- think about the ways, yes, of course, that they've lifted other people up, but I also wanna thank them
- for doing more than that, for inspiring us, for inspiring us to do more ourselves and to be more, right?
- So I just wanted to share that with you as we,
- begin this evening. You know, at the Community Foundation of Bloomington Monroe County, we fuel innovative
- ideas and lasting impact in Monroe County, and we do this in a variety of ways. We make grants, we offer
- expertise, we collaborate, we kind of synergize to meet others, and kind of work towards the community's most
- pressing needs and compelling opportunities. And so when we have an opportunity to partner with the
- City of Bloomington for the Be More Awards every year, we're super excited to do that. It really encompasses
- the spirit of the work that we try to do. So we're very proud to partner with the City of Bloomington.
- We will be awarding a $1,000 grant to each of the organizations that are represented by outstanding
- volunteers.
- this evening and that's our pleasure to do that. Now before we get started handing out the awards, I
- do want to recognize the City of Bloomington, the United Way of South Central Indiana, and the IU Credit
- Union for their sponsorship of this year's program. The Community Foundation and the City of Bloomington
- Volunteer Network are very grateful for these agencies' investment into this event and to celebrating
- our community's most outstanding volunteers. So let's give it up for our sponsors.
- Okay, let's get down to business on this. Let's hand out some awards. The first award of the night,
- which I have the privilege of announcing, is the Be More Engaged Award. Now, this award honors an individual
- or a group
- employed at a business or organization who engages in volunteer activities and programs on behalf of
- their employer. This year, the Be More Award Selection Committee chose to honor an organization that
- helps individuals, single or families, find their way out of poverty, which is a great thing. In this
- unique program, individuals experiencing poverty make a commitment to long-term community building.
- They're partnered with volunteers from the community who have stable resources and want to understand
- poverty in a very deep and personal way. The program encourages these partners, and they're called Captains
- and Allies, which is really cool, to build intentional friendships through acts of mutual aid
- and volunteerism in the wider community. So many of you recognize who I'm talking about. I'm talking about
- SCAP's Thriving Connections program. Incidentally, Thriving Connections participated here recently in
- the Heading Home Housing Summit, and they gave an outstanding presentation, so that was really terrific.
- So in 2025, the captains and allies of SCAP Thriving Connections experienced the natural but unfortunately
- timed departure of both full-time staff members. Due to uncertainties surrounding funding and sustainability,
- the program became dependent on one part-time staff member to keep the whole thing going. Never daunted,
- the community of captains and allies stepped up to help coordinate the program
- ensuring participants' needs continued to be met and relationships were kept alive and healthy. For
- their dedication to eradicating poverty through the commitments to one another in the community at large,
- the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network is proud to present the 2026 Be More Engaged Award to the
- Captains and Allies of SCAP's Thriving Connections Program. Come on up.
- It's so awesome. Who wants the money? I think Eddie. Eddie wants the money. He'll make it up here. Okay.
- Congratulations. Thanks. Good evening. I am Eliza, and I am a captain. And I am just gonna share my
- experience and set this down so I don't break it.
- I joined Thriving Connections looking for a place where I could be myself, but I never expected how
- much I would receive in return. My children and I haven't been around anything of this magnitude. This
- journey has fundamentally changed my life by teaching me that true service is a circle. While I set
- out to offer my time and my skills and
- to find a place to have a sense of belonging, the community offered me perspective, resilience, and
- a deeper sense of belonging. This is the beauty of reciprocity. When we lift others, we inevitably lifted
- ourselves. At Thriving Connections, volunteering isn't just a solo act of kindness. It is a shared exchange
- that strengthens the heart of volunteers as much as their lives.
- of the lives of the ones that we serve. Yes, adding to what Eliza stated, I'm Shekay. I've also been
- a part of Thriving Connections for a while, and I, too, am thankful for this cycle. Because without
- the volunteers, Thriving Connections would not be what it is to us.
- Our allies volunteer their time, wisdom. Many in the community volunteer their services, and all of
- this has empowered not just myself, but my children. Being able to experience things that would not
- normally be available to those of us living in poverty, i.e. poetry writing classes, dance,
- track opportunities, speaking engagements, not for us, but for our children, and just having a deeper
- understanding of what and how you can get out of poverty.
- credit budgeting courses, tutoring, among many other things. Having these opportunities opened our minds
- to how we can give back. So we as a collective make blankets for those in need, preparing survival bags
- for those who need it.
- cleaning after the Pride Fest, and then individually, we have folks who volunteer on commissions,
- lead PTOs, teach youth step and dance, among many other things. I mean, when you're then 10-year-old,
- it's trying to find ways to give back. It just does something to you. As a community, we want to thank
- the city of Bloomington. We want to thank the Bloomington Foundation for seeing us.
- for seeing us worthy, and in all actuality, it's only right that we get out here and invest in our community
- how they have invested in us. Because what I learned is, it works. It really makes a difference in you
- and those you are helping. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. And if we have a quick second, are you...
- wants to say something because we not only encouraging volunteers in our adults, we do it in our youth.
- Thank you guys.
- Hello, my name is Cassie Hacken. I am the marketing director at Constellation Stage and Screen, and
- I will be presenting the Be More Creative Award. The Be More Creative Award honors volunteer work within
- the Bloomington Arts community. This year, the selection committee chose to honor a nominee working
- in the oft-overlooked creative field of radio.
- WFHB's youth radio program provides youth in Bloomington the opportunity to create and produce original
- radio shows on topics that they are interested in. High school student Winnie Dong used this opportunity
- to create What the Health? an original show exploring health related topics. On the show, local health
- care experts are interviewed about health care, the wellness industry, and about what it takes to forge
- a career in medicine in related fields.
- As the show's creator and producer, Winnie does it all. She conducts interviews, researches guests,
- edits audio, and promotes the show on social media. For her work producing original media at WFHB Community
- Radio, the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network is proud to present the 2026 Be More Creative Award
- to Winnie Dong.
- Hi. I'm overjoyed to receive this award today. A big thanks to my mom and dad who are in the crowd,
- and to everybody at WFHB, especially my youth radio director, Jesse. And a huge thanks to all my friends
- in the crowd, too. I'm so glad you guys were all able to make it to celebrate this moment with me. Today
- on the stage, I would like to share a quote from Cheryl Lee Ralph, a human rights activist who has shaped
- my perspective and influenced my work at WFHB.
- She says, just because you have rights today does not mean you will have rights tomorrow. Do not sit
- there in your happiness. Do not sit there looking good thinking that you have won the fight. The fight
- has just begun. My platform at WFHB has always been for the people and the public. Here, we do not erase
- history. We learn from it.
- We do not only hear from medical professionals about their careers, but about their impact on society.
- As a woman and a first-generation student, I have faced many battles in my life. The right to have health
- care for my parents, the right to have an education, and the right to have my work recognized. And today,
- for the first time, I believe that hard work does pay off.
- is a victory to all the young women in the world who have been shunned, who have been told that they
- are not enough and are discouraged from being creative and expressive. I stand here to tell you, you
- can do anything you put your minds to. Thank you.
- Good evening. My name is Leanne Schwartz and I am the Youth Prevention Specialist for the Youth Services
- Bureau here in Monroe County. And I facilitate one of the larger prevention subcommittees, the Monroe
- County Youth Council. MCYC provides leadership opportunities to all Monroe County high school students
- through advocacy, community engagement, and service.
- The culmination of the Council's work happens in April during Global Youth Service Month, where members
- plan and facilitate service projects, and they put in a lot of work, and you can really see their skills
- there, which is awesome. These are our representatives of our 2026 projects. My name is Anaya Boone, and as
- As the representative for the Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee, I am pleased to share with you our Global
- Youth Service Week project. This year, we developed a Google form to survey high school students regarding
- the impact of balancing employment with academic responsibilities. Our survey aims to determine whether
- students experience burnout as a result of managing both schoolwork and employment, thereby assessing
- the correlation between these activities and mental health.
- Our objective is to foster a sense of community among students facing these challenges and to quantify
- this correlation and support a future policy initiatives designed to improve student mental health.
- While the data collection is still in progress, we have approximately 40 responses. Reach out if you
- are interested in partnering with a similar project with us next year. Thank you.
- Hello, my name is Shayan Shams. I'm a leader of the Community Engagement Subcommittee in MCYC. This
- year we hosted a pickleball tournament open to all ages and skill levels. We partnered with the Warehouse
- and Bloomington Pickleball Club, and we had an amazing tournament with 20 participants and 15 volunteers,
- and truly accomplished our goal of raising money for the Warehouse and MCYC at the same time. We cannot
- wait to see you all next year, and thank you so much for your time.
- Hello, everyone. My name is Lien Suleiman, and I'm the representative of the Monroe County Youth Council's
- Education Subcommittee, specifically STEM-UP. The Education Subcommittee helped facilitate a combined
- event on April 17th with the Environment and Mental Health Subcommittee. We partnered with the Brandecker
- Center to host a community science experimentation event for students from kindergarten through sixth
- grade to learn about STEM. Our goal is to make STEM interactive, engaging, accessible, and hands-on.
- Students created optical illusions,
- learned about circuits, and observed callous reactions. The event was a success. With your help, we
- wish to lead the next global service day with greater impact. Thank you. I'm Noah Gordon, and
- I'm representing the environmental subcommittee. Our combined event this year had 44 participants, and
- our project was opening a donation drive for nine different community organizations in Bloomington.
- Creating one centralized location for participants to donate items for multiple organizations really
- simplified the donation process and helped raise awareness for community organizations people might
- not have known of in another way. Our event, Donate and Decorate, was a great success and we received
- many donations for different organizations. We are at the Banneker Center and are open for donations,
- so feel free to stop by to donate.
- Please contact us using the emails behind us if your organization is interested in receiving donations,
- and thank you. Hello, everybody. My name is Winnie Dong, and I'm the representative for the Mental Health
- Self Committee. This year, we created an event station that allowed community members to express themselves
- through various art mediums. With our project, we hope to spark open conversations about mental health
- and support self-expression.
- Many of our children depicted what they valued at the time, such as their parents or their house, while
- others were, let's just say, more abstract. Either way, the event was a huge success, and we were fortunate
- enough to have PizzaX donate pizzas for a combined event. With your help, we hope to make an even bigger
- impact next year. Thank you so much.
- My name is Melanie Vestledge. I'm the prevention coordinator at Youth Services Bureau, and I also support
- MCYC. And aren't these teens just fabulous? They are awesome. It has been a great experience facilitating
- connections with community partners to create opportunities for folks to learn and grow in service to
- the broader Monroe County community. And this doesn't happen in a silo, right? It happens by developing
- relationships and
- So if you are an agency that's interested in working with MCYC and our teens, either as an adult ally
- or co-planning one of our 2027 Global Youth Service Day projects like these, please reach out to myself
- or Leanne. So thank you so much.
- Hello, good evening. My name is Suzanne Allen and I'm the Director of IU Core at Indiana University's
- Office of Student Life. IU Core serves as the front door to the Bloomington campus, serving as a bridge
- to connect community partners and student volunteers through meaningful volunteer experiences shaped
- by community identified needs.
- We are grateful to our nonprofit partners for the invaluable experiences and relationships they create
- with IU students, faculty, and staff. To connect with IU Corp, email us at iucorps.edu or stop by our
- table in the outer lobby after the event. We would love to meet you. As a firm believer in the impact
- young people can make in their communities and in their own lives,
- Through dedicated volunteer service, IU Core is proud to present this year's Be More Energized Award
- honoring an individual or volunteer group under the age of 25. This year's Be More Energized Award recognizes
- a group of IU Bloomington students who have delivered age-appropriate after-school programming in information
- systems, coding, and robotics to 400 boys and girls clubs of Bloomington,
- Boys and Girls Club members of Bloomington Club members over the past five years. During their Teach
- IT sessions, the students of Serve IT provide critical skills to help young people navigate an increasingly
- technological society. Boys and Girls Club staff remark in their nomination how grateful they are for
- the resources and skills training Teach IT provides. Without the students who run these programs, they say,
- the clubs would not be able to offer this level of technological and digital education. For their dedication
- to educating the next generation of coders, informatics experts, and robotics enthusiasts, the City
- of Bloomington Volunteer Network is proud to present the 2026 Be More Energized Award to Serve IT.
- Thank you. My name is Eunith Acker. I'm the director of Serve IT, and Teach IT is one of our biggest
- teams. I'm really proud of it, because it was my baby at the beginning, back in 2016. We really grew
- it, and part of growing it involved the Boys and Girls Club, because they have several clubs. So we
- were able to really expand what we were doing.
- Since 2016, we've sent nearly 150 teams of students to lead fun technology workshops in the Bloomington
- area. Each team visits their site to lead 10 sessions per semester, adding up to nearly 1,500 sessions
- since 2016. Through these sessions, kids explore problem solving, creating digital images, learning
- to write code, and more recently, robotics.
- Perhaps most importantly though, our local youth get to connect with amazing college students like these
- who make technology and hopefully college feel approachable and exciting.
- I know we had some rough news over the weekend, but if you are tempted to think that having young adults
- in your town will cause problems, I want you to remember these young adults who jumped at the chance
- to bring the excitement they find in technology to kids who might not get the chance for this kind of
- programming elsewhere. So I feel so lucky to get the opportunity to work with such amazing, hardworking,
- earnest students and can't wait to see what they do next.
- Help me give them a large round of applause for their work. Thank you.
- Hello, excuse me. Hello, my name is Raquel Anderson and I'm a board member for Centro Comunal Latino.
- And I am excited to present the 2026 Be More Bloomington Award honoring an individual or group demonstrating
- excellence in addressing the issues of 2025. In 2025, the issue of immigrant and refugee welfare was
- front and center for our community. As organizations like El Centro,
- Exodus Refugee Migration and the Bloomington Refugee Support Network faced uncertainty and a growing
- sense of danger for their clients. They called for assistance from the community. Many individuals and
- groups rushed to answer this call. Last year, David Mayer, a longtime volunteer with multiple local
- refugee support organizations and co-chair of community service for the Rotary Clubs of Bloomington,
- arranged for the Bloomington Rotary Clubs to support an Afghan refugee family of four. Fiscally supported
- by the club, David worked countless hours to help this family meet a variety of basic needs. Then, last
- spring, the husband of one of the family members was arrested by ICE agents after leaving English classes
- at Broadview Learning Center. Immediately,
- David sprung into action. He secured appropriate legal representation for the man and raised $10,000
- in financial support for this case. For his work to protect and serve immigrant communities
- in the Bloomington area, the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network is proud to present the 2026 Be More
- Bloomington Award to David Meyer.
- Well, there has been a lot of darkness in matters of immigration over the last year, but I'd like to
- focus on the bright side of all of this. First of all, I'd like to thank the Bloomington Rotary Club
- and most especially the Bloomington Rotary Foundation, which was a partner in raising the money in order
- to help that unjustly incarcerated individual from the family that we supported. I'd also like to honor
- the countless
- literally countless volunteers in the community that have worked over the last several years to help
- refugees begin their lives anew in the United States in our community of Bloomington. Bloomington is
- a remarkable place and could not be a better place for refugees to be resettled because as you all know,
- everyone that is sitting here, Bloomington is incredibly welcoming, very open,
- and does not prejudge people by their appearance, their culture, their religion, or any other matter.
- They judge people by their character and the kind of people they choose to be. So I'd like to make sure
- I make Bloomington aware of how unique we truly are in this world. I did have the luxury of working
- with refugees.
- I was able to work with a variety of other people, volunteers, I just, as I say, representing those
- folks. Six refugee families in total starting in December of 2021 when the second Afghan family that
- came to Bloomington after leaving Afghanistan after it fell to the Taliban arrived on December 26th,
- the day after Christmas,
- on 2021. And we met a shell shocked husband and wife with two small children and a pregnant mother was
- pregnant at the time. So it was it was quite an experience. And then five more families after after
- that. One of the last ones being the family that had the
- gentlemen arrested and detained before we were able to secure his release through raising money for
- legal defense and federal court for illegal detention. But I would say it's an odd award to get for
- volunteerism because I honestly feel that I have gotten more out of my interaction
- with these remarkable people who are starting their lives anew here in the United States, then I certainly
- have given. They are resilient people, they are determined people, and they are very grateful for the
- opportunity to have a second chance to begin their lives anew. So with that, I will end and say that
- I do hope and pray that our country
- will once again become a welcoming place for those that have fled violence in their home countries and
- refugees. Thank you.
- Hello, my name is Julius Mitchell, and I'm the Legislative Affairs Specialist for the City of Bloomington
- Office of the Mayor. The City of Bloomington currently supports 54 boards and commissions covering a
- range of special interests, from public transportation to arts to urban enterprise to the Tree Commission.
- These bodies were created to open the door to citizen involvement in city projects and services. If
- you're passionate about a subject impacting public life and are interested in making change at the local level,
- I invite you to start by serving on a city board or commission. Just scan the QR code for a full list
- of current commission openings. As a passionate advocate for community service, I'm excited to present
- this year's Be More Involved Award. This award honors an individual who has volunteered for three or
- more nonprofit organizations for at least one year each. This year's recipient of the Be More Involved
- Award has committed himself to improving quality of life for Bloomington residents through 20 years
- of service to various community organizations.
- In addition to his eight years of service to the City of Bloomington Board of Parks Commissioners, Israel
- Herrera has served on the Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs and the Lotus Education and Arts
- Foundation Board. Beyond his board service, Israel has acted as a volunteer for Tietro Vida, WFHB's
- Ola Bloomington, Sister City's Cubamistad, La Escuelita Para Todos, and the Lotus Blossoms event. Israel
- is passionate about many things,
- but shows a particular interest in serving local Hispanic and Latino youth and their families. His nomination
- described the work he has done to break down the social and cultural barriers that prevent Latino families
- from feeling a sense of belonging in their own community, assessing local social services, and providing
- for their basic needs. For his years of service to Bloomington, and in particular for his recent service
- on the Board of Parks Commissioners, the Bloomington Volunteer Network is delighted to present the Be
- More Involved Award to Israel Herrera.
- Well, thank you. I would like to thank the award selection committee from the city of Bloomington for
- this honor. And I would like also to thank different colleagues, different people who have supported
- me in this service career. In this moment, my colleagues in the Board of Parks and Recreation Commission
- And also previously I was engaged with the Commission on Latino and Hispanic Affairs. It was a long
- service with this commission where I was able to contribute with recognition to our Latino students
- and also in educational projects with different members in that year. Also I would like to thank people
- in the Lotus Festival and also Lotus Blossom.
- for all the trust, all the confidence in taking me into account in different events where I want to
- include the Latino community, the Spanish in our concerts in fall, and also the great moment that I
- enjoy with children in lotus blossoms. There are so many groups that I would like to thank. Maybe I'm
- missing one, but I would like to thank Grupo de Teatro Vida
- that is also one of the groups that I was very involved in organizing place in our city in different
- venues. La Escuelita Para Todos, Daniel Soto at the Monroe County Public Library with some teachers
- from the corporation. Ola Bloomington as well, the Latino Outreach Office. With this office, I have
- been also working on different
- events in the city and I have been engaged in his events. Also the Spanish and Portuguese department
- with the support of different chairs. This award also goes to my family who has supported me during
- many years in the city. Without the support of my family, my friends, everyone in the community who
- knows me, I think that I wouldn't have
- the flame to continue. It's also a pleasure to receive this award because I have told my little one,
- my daughter, that service is very important in a community for transformation to change. And I'm glad
- that since very early age, 13 years old, she has been involved in different groups. Service shouldn't
- be paid because it's something that you have a passion for.
- And also, it's a way to contribute to the community in different ways. It's making changes for a better
- world. And I had the pleasure to work with the right people who also believe that we need to all together
- work in these changes. Service is very important. Service has been part of my life. I also teach.
- and I also enjoy life. But service has been since very, very, very early age when I was a young person,
- as the ones that we have seen here from different organizations. It's so great to see young blood with
- this spirit of serving and helping people that are in need. So I hope that I have covered everything.
- I'm so glad with also the department.
- It's a great environment to also plan activities in our parks, in recreational events, and also with
- my previous organizations, my previous colleagues, has been a very important moment in my life. So thank
- you very much.
- Good evening. If volunteers are the lifeblood of community organizations, then volunteer boards and
- committees are the beating heart of every nonprofit organization. My name is Vaughn Welch. In addition
- to being a longtime repeat board member, I am also a co-founder of Elevate, a new program from the United
- Way of South Central Indiana. At Elevate, we pair individuals with relevant skills and experiences
- with local nonprofits who need those skills for a short-term project or program. Do you want to help
- a local organization solve problems and take their work to the next level, but aren't looking for a
- long-term commitment? If so, I encourage you to check out Elevate. You can learn more by visiting our
- page on the Bloomington Volunteer Network, or the link to that page is on the screen over my shoulder.
- As a board member, I am delighted to present this year's Be More Phenomenal Award to an individual who
- has shown outstanding leadership through board, commission, or committee involvement. This year's Be
- More Phenomenal Award recipient has served on the board of directors at Bloomington Development Learning
- Center, BDLC, for four years, where he chairs the Grounds and Maintenance Committee. In his role,
- Matt Stonebreaker maintains the safety and cleanliness of BDLC's facilities and grounds, responding
- quickly and without hesitation to calls for assistance. Matt's professional expertise in grounds and
- maintenance means his volunteer contributions to BDLC are of a quality that would typically cost the
- organization a substantial amount of money. Instead, Matt provides his services for free.
- Furthermore, Matt's attitude is always one of humility, kindness, and a genuine desire to help others.
- For his dedicated service to the staff, families, and children of BDLC, the Bloomington Volunteer Network
- is proud to present the 2026 Be More Phenomenal Award to Matt Stonebreaker.
- Thank you. I am honored to be recognized in this way, to be seen for the many small things that we do
- throughout the day. Bloomington Developmental Learning Center is a nonprofit daycare that has been operating
- for over 50 years. And in addition to a high quality of care that these passionate professional teachers give,
- It is a community of teachers, students, and families that I love every day to be a part of. They truly
- motivate me to do more than I otherwise think I could. I also want to thank my wife for making the space
- for me to be able to give my time and energy in this way, and my children, Frank and Simon, for reminding
- me, often in little ways,
- what it means to owe each other and what it means to belong to a community and one another. The thing
- that I dearly hope for everyone, for every single person, is that you can find something like this,
- some cause, some group that you can tend to like a garden, patiently, quietly, and just a little corner
- of the world that you can make better for the people around you. Thank you.
- everyone. My name is Aubrey Cedar and I am the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network Coordinator. I'm
- so grateful to be here today with you all in a new role that I am profoundly grateful to have. The work
- of our local nonprofits and their volunteers makes Bloomington the unique and special place we all love.
- And in a time of economic austerity our community organizations need volunteers now more than ever.
- To meet that need I
- I invite you all to join an exciting challenge that the Bloomington Volunteer Network launched at the
- beginning of this year. Of course, I'm talking about the 2026 Be the Change Challenge. We are challenging
- Bloomington residents to complete 100,000 volunteer hours in 365 days, from January 1st, 2026 through
- December 31st. 100,000 hours is a terrifying number,
- I know this because I was terrified when it was assigned to me. But then I broke it down. There are
- 85,000 people living in Bloomington. If all 85,000 people did less than two hours of service, we would
- reach our goal. Now, some of those people are babies and kids under the age of 10, which means they
- aren't technically eligible to volunteer.
- And some folks of volunteering age may not have the time, transportation, or resources to volunteer.
- So if we set our sights on a more conservative number of 25,000 participants, each person would only
- need to put in four hours over the course of an entire year. That's it. And it follows from there. 10,000
- people work 10 hours, 5,000 people work 20 hours. All of a sudden, 100,000 seems really doable to me.
- Over the course of our first quarter, from January 1st to March 31st of 2026, a number of local community
- organizations were kind enough to keep me updated on the number of hours their organizations volunteers
- were putting in. In just three months, across just 16 organizations, Bloomington residents put in 15,198
- volunteer hours. I think that that deserves a round of applause.
- And I wanna show you a breakdown of the top seven organizations that sent us their hours data for quarter
- one. Isn't that incredible? Each of these numbers represents so many dedicated people. It also represents
- thousands of tutoring sessions completed, new families supported, meals served, animals fostered, and
- public lands cared for.
- And these numbers represent just a fraction of the organizations active in Bloomington today. So if
- you're an organization leader who would like to add your volunteer hour totals to this list, please
- reach out to me. With 84,802 hours left to complete in this challenge, here is our updated breakdown.
- Just 3.5 hours of community service put in by 25,000 residents across the entire year would get us to
- 100,000 hours. And I think that's a pretty doable goal for each of us, 3.5 hours. So, Bloomington's
- community of volunteers, as I think we've heard, is a community of people worth joining if you haven't
- already. Whether you can volunteer for two hours this year or 20, you can make a difference. And here's
- how you do it.
- Set up an account on the Bloomington Volunteer Network. You can get there by scanning this QR code.
- Choose from hundreds of volunteer opportunities, both recurring and episodic. And whenever you complete
- a volunteer shift, come back and log your hours to help us reach 100,000. All of this information is
- also available if you scan the QR code on that cute bookmark that you received in your program for tonight's events.
- You can also go to bton.in slash btc2026. As Asia said at the beginning of this program, we all know,
- we know that right now in the world, right now the world feels out of control. As you look for the helpers,
- know that you yourself can become a helper. We invite you to be the change you want to see in the world
- by joining the Be the Change Challenge. Thank you.
- Thanks, Aubrey. How's everybody feeling? Are you guys feeling inspired? I know I am. The recipients
- that we are honoring tonight were chosen by our selection committee from a large number of impressive
- nominees. The hardest part of the Be More Awards is choosing just eight individuals and groups to be
- honored. We want to celebrate every nomination we read
- At this time, we'd like to thank the selection committee for their contribution to this program. If
- you would join me in applauding them. Each nominee for 2026 is listed in your program, has a remarkable
- record of service to this community. At this time, we'd like to honor all of our nominees and recipients
- with a special video.
- to give a shout out and a big congratulations to Beast Wars Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter
- for being the recipient of the 2026 Be More Impactful Award. Today we celebrate something truly meaningful
- the time energy and heart each of your volunteers has given. Volunteers like you don't just support
- a cause you strengthen an entire community.
- A shout out and a big congratulations to Beast Wars, Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter, for
- being the recipient of the 2026 Be More Impactful Award. Today we celebrate something truly meaningful,
- the time, energy, and heart each of your volunteers has given. Volunteers like you don't just support
- a cause, you strengthen an entire community. Your dedication has made a real difference and it has not
- gone unnoticed. Thank you for showing up, for caring, and for proving how powerful generosity can be.
- It's better because of you. Congratulations, I want to take a moment to tell you how deeply proud we
- all in Bloomington are of you. Every day we see your strong dedication and your hard work and you truly
- inspire the Bloomington community. You deserve all this recognition and we are so glad for having you
- in the city.
- Congratulations one more time, Israel Fernando, for the Be More In Board Award. Thriving Connections,
- congratulations. A well-deserved Be More Award. Could anyone be more engaged? I don't think so. I know
- you all don't even record maybe even half of the volunteer hours that you put into our community, which
- is what has kept it alive all these years.
- We are happy to see you recognized for your efforts, and have a great night. Dave, congratulations on
- your visa. You're very useful. Dave, all the best to you. I know you also deserve it. It's such fun
- working with you on the refugee process. Dave, everything you do, you've been very well, and I really
- appreciate you as a Rosemary and NFE community.
- And Dave, you're an inspiration to me and everybody in the club for the extraordinary work that you
- do in the community. Thank you so much for everything that you've done for us. I really like it when
- you taught us about Australia. And we really liked it when you taught us about Sudoku. I like when you
- helped us create ours. You make our school a better place. We appreciate your time and kindness. You're amazing.
- On behalf of the students, faculty, and families at Unionville, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Main
- on her award. She has devoted countless hours to supporting the students of Unionville. Her dedication
- and commitment to Unionville is amazing. Thank you, Mrs. Main, for all you do. Congratulations, Winnie.
- WFHB is so lucky to have you here as a volunteer. You bring so much positive energy to Youth Radio and
- so much creativity to your podcast, What the Hell. I'm thrilled to share all of the success tonight
- with the community, so go Winnie. Congratulations, Servite team. So first off, I want to congratulate
- you guys on getting your award. And I want to give a special shout out to Jeffrey.
- for helping me out and teaching me how to code. I want to give another special shout out to Peter Griffin,
- because he was helpful. He made me think about trying to get that W. I want to say thanks to Asia,
- because he, along with Jeffrey, he taught me a lot of the things I know about coding. I want to say
- thanks to Candace for always bringing a positive attitude. And I want to say thanks to Eni for just
- being there and supporting us all. And thank you.
- Thank you so much. Hi, Leslie Absher, CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bloomington. On behalf of everyone
- at the club, thank you and congratulations, Serve IT. Griffin is the GOAT! Matt, congratulations on
- winning the Be More Award. Your time as the Facilities Chair at BDLC has been incredible. The building
- has truly never looked better. The doors don't squeak and the bathroom
- hasn't had issues and I appreciate everything you do to keep our old girl working and in good condition.
- And you've also built a committee of volunteers to help you, which is really the sign of a true leader.
- So thank you for your help and enjoy the evening.
- evening. Hello everyone my name is Vanessa McCleary and I'm a member of the Kiwanis Club of South Central
- Indiana and the Local Council of Women. I'm excited to be here tonight to present the Be More Dedicated
- Award which recognizes a person over the age of 60 for a lifetime of service to the community. This
- year's recipient has been supporting elementary school students and teachers at Unionville Elementary
- for over 15 years. Mrs. Joanne Mayne volunteers at Unionville three days a week
- while school is in session. She writes lessons plans, grades papers, and provides feedback to 50K through
- sixth grade students that she works with in small groups. Joanne began volunteering after retiring from
- a career as an elementary school teacher. Her skills and experience coupled with her consistency as
- a volunteer make her a vital part of the teaching staff at Unionville. Without her,
- Her nominator says the school would not be able to adequately meet all the learning needs of all the
- children she supports. Joanne volunteers to shoulder responsibilities that typically only paid staff
- take on. Her generosity of spirit is astounding to her colleagues. In honor of her 15 years of service
- to Unionville Elementary and in celebration of her final year, volunteering at the school, the City
- of Bloomington Volunteer Network
- is proud to present Joanne Maine with the Be More Dedicated Award for a Lifetime of Service.
- want to thank the organizers and sponsors of tonight. It's a great honor to be up here. I also want
- to thank the family of Unionville with the administration, the staff, the students and the parents.
- It would not be possible for me to have hung in there for all these years. The kids have taught me probably
- more than I've taught them and I appreciate each one of them every day. I also want to
- let you know that I understand that I am just a representative of very dedicated volunteers in all of
- the schools and elsewhere in the community. And I'm going to challenge each of you that when you see
- people that are helping other people, acknowledge them, give them a thank you or a smile or a helping
- hand. And if you understand what they're doing, you might actually
- understand why they're doing it and help being a participant in that. Thank you again.
- Good evening, everyone. I'm Deputy Mayor Gretchen Knapp, and it's such a joy to be here tonight. It's
- a little bit overwhelming to hear the stories of the work that people are doing and the generosity of
- spirit, the love for your community and your neighbor. It's humbling, and I'm so grateful for all of
- your service. I'm here tonight to present the Volunteer of the Year Award. For years, Bloomington, like
- many cities,
- has worked tirelessly to address the issues of homelessness and housing insecurity. As local organizations
- and branches of government collaborate and work together to try to find long-term solutions, individuals
- living on the streets have to face a more immediate question. Where can I find a safe place to sleep
- tonight? This question becomes even more urgent during the winter when unhoused community members are
- in severe danger of frostbite
- hypothermia, and even death as the temperatures drop below freezing and winter storms roll in, now with
- increasing frequency. In 2024, the Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter was born from a group
- of volunteers and local faith-based organizations who wanted to provide safe options for shelter during
- extreme weather events. Since that time, the Beeswars,
- Volunteer team has sprung into action each time a severe weather event has been forecasted. Pop-up shelters
- at First Christian Church and First United Methodist Church have consistently provided 30 extra beds
- for unhoused folks, sometimes for many nights in a row. Volunteering for the shelter is no small feat.
- It requires many people to interrupt their typical work and sleep schedules, their family lives,
- Volunteers begin setting up the shelters around 5 p.m. Others stay overnight to monitor the shelter
- and provide assistance and comfort to guests during the night, leaving only in the early hours of the
- morning after all of the guests have left. Regardless of the short notice of the discomfort that comes
- with overnight work, each time that BSWR's organizers call for more volunteers, their sheets are quickly
- filled. That's the generous spirit of the community that we live in.
- This generosity of spirit is felt by shelter guests whose time with BSWRS demonstrates to them that
- this community does care for their safety and for their wellbeing. And so for their life-saving work,
- caring for the most vulnerable members of our community, the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network is
- proud to present the 2026 Volunteers of the Year Award to the Bloomington Severe Weather Emergency Shelter
- Volunteers.
- Good evening. My name is Dan Caldwell, and I'm one of the leadership team members for BSWRS, and I'm
- also the volunteer wrangler. It's an unofficial title. But I want to thank a bunch of people. I want
- to thank Alex Krauss, who's one of the after hours ambassadors for nominating us, as well as all of
- the after hours ambassadors.
- They're out there doing in the trenches every night and just helping the most vulnerable people in our
- community. So we really appreciate them. And yeah, and so thank you Alex for nominating us. I'm gonna
- just name our leadership team real quick here. We have a bunch of other volunteers as well. So our leadership
- team is made up of Annette Hill Briggs, Dan Watts, Fran Klinger, Lori Council, Joseph Abwanda,
- and our three newest members that will start helping us for next year, Martha Michaelson, John Grismer,
- and Matt Gargiolo. And so most of those folks are up here, along with some of our most dedicated volunteers
- who showed up as well. And I also want to say that this past year, we had two staff coordinators as
- well, Edgar Workman and Josh Grismer.
- and they played an absolutely essential role in helping us pull off the shelter each and every night
- that we opened. And I want to thank the Bloomington Fire Department, EMTs, paramedics, Bloomington Police
- Department. Anytime we needed help, they were there in minutes, and that was crucial. I want to thank
- Wheeler Mission. They did all our laundry, and we produced a ton of laundry, and so we really couldn't
- have done it without them.
- I want to thank the Stride Mobile team. Anytime that we had more guests than we were able to accommodate,
- we would call Stride Mobile and they'd come and make sure that guests had a ride somewhere so that no
- one had to sleep outside. And I want to thank First United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church,
- and First Christian Church. Those are the three churches that are host sites for us and couldn't do
- it without them.
- So our purpose is to try and make sure that people who don't have a place to sleep can have a warm safe
- place to sleep when the weather gets dangerously cold. But we also try to make sure that people are
- treated with dignity, respect, compassion, and that we start to build relationships with folks.
- Those are our primary purposes, but I was thinking about what what Marcus was saying earlier. We also
- hope to have that ripple effect so that we had 225 unique volunteers and I think that all of them just
- this season. I think all of them got to know our guests and I think that.
- I'm confident that that changes the way that people see unhoused people. And I think that can have a
- huge ripple effect in our community. And so I'm very proud of that as well. Just some quick stats. We
- were open 57 nights this past season. We served 256 unique guests. And like I said, we had 225 unique
- volunteers in addition to the leadership team.
- That came out probably somewhere near 4,000 total volunteer hours. We'll have to make sure that we get
- those sent to the right place to get that number up. We'll be doing this again next year. If anybody's
- interested, it's a really great experience. It's a great team of people to volunteer with. Actually,
- you'll find that the guests are
- also wonderful people to get to know as well. And so I'd encourage anybody who's interested to get involved,
- you can go to bswords.org and learn more. So thank you so much. We appreciate it.
- All right, thanks to each of you all for spending your evening with us. We're so grateful for your time
- and attention. If you are interested in any of the volunteer opportunities you've heard about tonight,
- including IU Corps volunteering, City of Bloomington Boards and Commissions, the Monroe County Youth
- Council, United Ways Elevate,
- and the Be the Change Challenge. There will be more information on how to sign up for those in the lobby.
- And also on the screen behind me. Thanks for coming out tonight, you all. Have a good night.