On May 9th, the Arvada Chamber hosted the 73rd Annual Awards Luncheon, a long-standing tradition in Arvada recognizing outstanding community involvement, generosity, and overall impact. This year’s luncheon was hosted at Arvada Center Event Spaces. Read about the award winners below and watch a video of the Pioneer Award and Man and Woman of the Year.
2023 Man of the Year: Keith Sorci
Keith has been involved in bettering the community for over 20 years as president of the Arvada Gardeners, a volunteer with the Arvada Historical Society, working with the local schools, and distributing food. In addition to his volunteer work, Keith Keith works for the Jefferson County Justice System, training crews to be polite and helpful, as they do volunteer work around the community.
Learn more about Keith in the below video and in this Arvada Press article.
Image Award: Normalee Lee
Normalee Lee deserves the distinguished honor of the Image Award for her dedication and commitment to the Arvada Police Department since 2006. She has dedicated countless volunteer hours throughout the department, as well as serving as a past Chairperson for the Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association. Normalee’s volunteer activities have a tremendous positive impact on the Arvada Community beyond the Police Department. This impact is highlighted in her involvement with the annual Bike Rodeo event run in conjunction with Apex Parks and Recreation District.
Image Award: Joel Folk
Joel is a retired veterinarian and a 30-year member of the Arvada Jefferson Kiwanis. Joel is active in AWRSAY – the Arvada-Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth. His countless volunteer hours have helped serve the lives of the youth and the elderly in our community for many years.
Image Award: Heather Fiedler
Heather Fiedler has been a member of the Arvada Community Garden for over ten years and has served as the president for the past four years. She has been instrumental in developing the Garrison Garden Paseo project and teaches over 15 classes a year to over 400 attendees. She goes above and beyond in her duties and is described as an adaptable and dedicated leader.
Young Professional Leadership Award: Ashley Palacios
Ashley has served Hope House Colorado for more than nine years and is currently leading Hope House as their Operations Director through the change management process for opening and running their new Early Learning Center, among many other projects.
In addition to her work at Hope House, Ashely has volunteered with Whiz Kids for 12 years, tutoring at-risk elementary school children weekly. Ashley has also coached youth soccer.
Young Professional Leadership Award: Stephanie Paul
Stephanie has revolutionized Olde Town Arvada’s marketing landscape as the Director of Marketing and Events for the Business Improvement District. Her visionary leadership transformed the Olde Town Arvada Second Saturday summer concert series into profitable events, with attendance doubling since her tenure began. Stephanie’s exceptional contributions have elevated the community and Olde Town Arvada businesses, making her a deserving candidate for recognition.
Stephanie’s unwavering commitment to Olde Town Arvada is her passion and her advocacy for Olde Town Arvada extends beyond her professional responsibilities. She actively engages with community business members, and champions initiatives that align with the district’s growth and success. Her steadfast dedication to making Olde Town Arvada a vibrant and successful downtown district serves as an inspiration to all who work alongside her.
Rising Star Award: Terenn Tracy
Terenn is described by her advisors as an all-around stellar human being. She embodies the spirit of leadership through kindness, integrity, commitment, awareness, respect and empathy.
As an intern with Outdoor Lab, she has shown to be intelligent, level-headed and above all else, she leads with understanding.
At Windy Peak, she found the curriculum around Native Americans was lacking, and she kindly offered to adapt it in an authentic and meaningful way.
In addition to Outdoor Lab, Terenn is involved in the Jeffco Indigenous Student Council, Native American Student Alliance, Health Occupations Students of America, Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America, and Arvada West High School Tennis.
View all photos from the 73rd Annual Luncheon here.
Thank you to our event sponsors, PBS Wealth Management, Summit Cleaning, 23:11 Financial Planning and Elitch Gardens.
We want to also thank Mountain Media Productions Co. for the videos, Olde Town Flower Shoppe for the flowers, La Patisserie Francaise for the cookies, Equalized Productions for our audio/visual, Alphagraphics for printing the programs, and LeBaron Photo for capturing the event photos!
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