Recognizing outstanding volunteers
Laboratory retiree Bill Todd is the latest recipient of a Vecinos award for outstanding volunteer work. Coordinated by the Laboratory's Community Programs Office (CPO) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, the Vecinos program recognizes outstanding volunteers.
Vecinos, which is Spanish for neighbor, aims to recognize those Lab employees, retirees and subcontract personnel who are outstanding volunteers while also raising awareness about the importance of volunteer service.
The Los Alamos Retired and Senior Organization of Los Alamos County, a nonprofit organization that is the recipient of Todd's volunteer service, will receive a $1,000 grant in honor of his volunteer service. Todd will receive a certificate, said Debbi Wersonick of CPO.
Todd retired in 1994 from the former Engineering Sciences and Applications (ESA) Division. He was nominated for the award by Pauline Powell Schneider, executive director of the Los Alamos Retired and Senior Organization of Los Alamos County.
According to Powell Schneider, Todd has been instrumental in running the White Rock Senior Center. Todd serves on the center's steering committee and for three years was chairman of the organization's board of directors. Todd, "is at the center almost daily to ensure that rooms are set up for various activities, that coffee is made and that events run smoothly," said Powell Schneider. "He is a true pillar of that center."
Todd makes sure that chores are completed at the center, oftentimes doing those chores himself, and looks for ways to improve the center and its services.
"He warmly welcomes everyone who comes to the White Rock Senior Center . . . Bill has a way of finding out when seniors need special help, and whenever he can be, he is that help," Powell Schneider wrote.
Todd also volunteers for the Laboratory Retiree Group and the Wildlife Center.
"To know Bill Todd is to know a truly outstanding citizen, community member and friend," Powell Schneider concluded.
All Laboratory full- and part-time employees, limited-term and subcontract personnel, students and Laboratory retirees are eligible for consideration. They must volunteer their time and services to nonprofit New Mexico educational institutions, Internal Revenue Service-qualified 501 (c) (3) organizations, government agencies and Native American communities serving Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe and Taos counties.
Individuals and nonprofit organizations can submit nominations to Community Programs at P.O. Box 1663, Mail Stop A117, Los Alamos, N.M. 87545. The nominations should include a letter from the executive director or chief operating officer of the organization supporting the employee's nomination. A copy of the organization's certificate of tax exemption from the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, school or pueblo community; and documentation of registration and compliance with the Registry of Charitable Organizations in the Consumer Protection Division of the state Attorney General's Office also should be included in the nomination.
The deadline to submit a nomination is the first day of each month; nominations are now being accepted for the January 2007 Vecinos award, Wersonick noted. The nomination form is available on the CPO and Laboratory Foundation Web pages.
A committee of Lab employees and a representative from the Laboratory Foundation review all eligible nominees and make a recommendation to the executive committee of the foundation, which has final approval.
Wersonick said nominations are reviewed based on achievement and sustained contributions to organizations. Nominations must reflect actual accomplishments by a nominee through service, and the nominee's contributions must address education, learning or community development. Volunteer service must be hands-on and ongoing, and volunteer activities should reflect innovative or unique contributions to solving problems and issues.
Organizations not eligible for consideration of volunteer-service contributions include fraternal, veteran, labor or athletic organizations that serve a limited constituency; political or lobbying organizations; organizations whose activities are mainly international; national health and disease and animal welfare organizations; private foundations; and capital fund drives of colleges. Organizations not registered with the Registry of Charitable Organizations in the Consumer Protection Division of the state Attorney General's Office also are not eligible.
For more information, write to vecinos@lanl.gov by electronic mail, go to the CPO and Laboratory Foundation Web pages, or contact Community Programs at 5-4400 or the Laboratory Foundation at (505) 753-8890.
