Community Leadership Award
The VT Community Leadership Award is presented each year at VCRD's annual Summit to celebrate Vermonters who exemplify “dedication, integrity and honorable service to community and to rural Vermont,” and who have had a “transformational” effect on their communities. The awardees are:
2010 - Albert and Marcia Perry
The following is excerpted from the dedication speech given by Catherine Dimitruk at VCRD's Summit on the Future of Vermont's Working Landscape. Read the full speech by clicking HERE.
Richford is a small community located along the northern border. It is a former mill town, often cited for its struggles with employment, education and poverty. But Richford has another side, one of committed citizens working together to bring ideas and vision to reality. Albert and Marcia Perry are at the forefront of this side of Richford. Marcia and Albert were founding members of Richford Renaissance Corporation, a nonprofit affordable housing organization; Albert currently serves as the President, Marcia as Secretary. Together Albert and Marcia can be credited with the success of several important projects for Richford, the most visible being the renovation of the Main Street Mill. This former Sweat-Comings furniture plant had been vacant since 1996. With the help of many partners, it is now the home to affordable apartments, the Richford Health Center and Mac’s Market. Albert and Marcia were both tireless in their work to ensure this project became a reality. The Main Street Mill is a beautiful multi-story, 47,000 square foot example of their ability to identify a local need and work to turn a vision into reality. Despite all of their time working on difficult and often frustrating projects, Albert and Marcia remain idealistic and convey a hope for possibilities of the future, and that hope is contagious. Their intentions are honorable. Their work is tireless. Their successes are many.They dream. They listen. They work hard. They are undeniably successful in their individual efforts and either one of them alone is deserving of our award. Any community would be pleased to have one of them working on their behalf. Richford, Franklin County and Vermont are grateful to have them both, and we are all better for it.
2009 - Vermont Center for an Agricultural Economy Board members
Monty Fischer, Annie Gaillard, Tom Gilbert, Pete Johnson, Andy Kehler, Andrew Meyer, Warren Rankin, Linda Ramsdell, Tom Stearns, and Neil Urie make up this special team who have together accomplished something that no one could do alone. They have built a vision for the Hardwick area as a dynamic center for the future of agriculture in Vermont. They are making this vision come true through hard work, partnership, collaboration and enthusiam. They have included a strong respect for the work of rural people, and the tradition of self-reliance and interdependence. Visit their website to learn more about them.
2008 - Robert McBride and Richard Ewald, Bellows Falls/Rockingham
With their leadership and inspiration, Bellows Falls has reinvigorated its village center, improved downtown amenities, and built recognition throughout Vermont and beyond as an dynamic center of innovation. Bellows Falls has become a very special Vermont model of the creative economy — it has used arts and cultural events as partial foundations of its revitalization efforts, and done it in a uniquely Vermont way — not trying to be something it’s not to appeal to tourists, but really celebrating what is it and bringing people together. The successful downtown and surrounding core of innovative businesses is testimony to the success of the whole community, but Robert and Richard deserve special credit as motivators, guides, and organizers. Robert McBride is the Founder and Executive Director of the Rockingham Area Museum Partnership (RAMP). Richard Ewald, planning and development director for the Connecticut River Watershed Council, was employed for nine years by the Town of Rockingham first as Historic Preservation Coordinator and then as Community Development Director. In addition to his work for the town, Richard served as the Executive Director of two non-profits – the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance, and the Bellows Falls Area Development Corporation. Together, Robert and Richard have brought people together. They have also told their story to other towns throughout Vermont and helped them look at starting points for their own redevelopment.
2007 - Monica Greene, Alburgh
As Alburgh was struggling to redefine it's identity, and thanks to Monica's leadership, folks came together to accomplish several community projects that have resulted in improved quality of life for the people in Alburgh. Monica’s dedication has been instrumental in the efforts of the Alburgh Revitalization Committee, the 8th Grade Parents Committee, and After School Teen Project. Monica possesses an amazing range of business and interpersonal skills that allow her to see the problem, need or big picture; to analyze it, come up with viable solutions and move forward by motivating others. Monica Greene is the President of Vermont Precision Tools, Inc., providing 130 jobs to people of Franklin County.
2006 - Edgar May, Springfield
Mr. May was the visionary force behind the Southern Vermont Recreation Center in Springfield, mobilizing, fundraising, and leading volunteer efforts to transform the neglected and abandoned Foundry Building into a vibrant community asset. His leadership has inspired a group of more than 150 individuals to become active volunteers in a project that will provide a space for heath, recreation, and community gatherings in an affordable public facility that will serve as gateway to Springfield. Edgar May, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, has been deeply committed to serving the state of Vermont and his community of Springfield. After a full career in journalism and national leadership in the Peace Corp and Vista program, Mr. May became a leader in the Vermont State Senate, where he acted as chairman of the Appropriations Committee before he retired in 1991. Altogether, he served 16 years in the State House, including 8 years in the House of Representatives where he was chairman of the Committee on Health and Welfare. A respected statesman, he has served on numerous boards including the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, and as a trustee of the University of Vermont.
