Medfield Foundation Announces Volunteer Award Recipients

The Medfield Foundation, Inc. has announced the names of three Medfield volunteers who will receive the Lifetime Achievement, Volunteer of the Year and Youth Volunteer of the Year awards at its Sunday, March 18 community reception at The Center at Medfield, as well as the names of 19 Medfield volunteers who will also be recognized at the event sponsored by .

John Harney will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement award for more than 30 years of civic and community work in Medfield; Bill Massaro will be honored with the Volunteer of the Year award for his work on environmental and re-use issues at the site; and junior Jane Garofalo will be honored with the Youth Volunteer of the Year award for her work with the Medfield Food Cupboard and its “.”

The Medfield Foundation received 22 award nominations this year that were evaluated by six judges. Nominations were evaluated based what the volunteer has done; the community need he/she addressed; the impact the volunteer’s efforts have made; how well they inspired others to get involved or support their cause; and any special challenges or circumstances they had to overcome. Each nominator was also asked to provide the name of at least one reference.  

This year’s judges were Medfield Foundation board members Leanne LaBelle and Abby Marble, resident and business leader Juli Sinnett, Medfield parent and leadership consultant Ellen Bankert, MetroWest Health Foundation President and CEO Marty Cohen, and Medfield Foundation 2009 Volunteer of the Year award recipient Gary Wheeler.

“It was incredibly inspiring to be a part of the process, and to see how much our volunteers are doing right here in Medfield to support the community,” said Sinnett. “It was difficult choosing the final award recipients, but knowing that everyone who was nominated would receive meaningful, public recognition made it a little easier.”

Stephen Phillips, president of the Medfield Foundation, which is entirely run by volunteers, is especially appreciative of the work that went into the volunteer recognition program this year.

“Working closely with Pete Peterson, who founded the volunteer award program four years ago, we had a subcommittee of volunteers who have worked tirelessly over the past year to create a new nomination and evaluation process to build on the success he established, as well as plan the March 18 event,” said Phillips. “Our team has enjoyed seeing the foundation volunteer recognition efforts grow and evolve, and most importantly, continue to inspire others to get involved in helping to make Medfield such a wonderful community.”

The Medfield Foundation volunteer award reception, sponsored by Rockland Trust, is open to the public, and nominees’ friends, members and colleagues are especially encouraged to attend. The event will be held at 4 p.m., Sunday, March 18 at The Center at Medfield on Ice House Road. An official RSVP is not necessary, but for refreshment planning purposes, it would be helpful if anyone planning to attend could send an e-mail to mfivolunteeraward@gmail.com.