Awards Recognize Good Deeds and Community Service
The Mayor and Council presented the city’s annual Good Neighbor Awards on Monday, honoring community members for exceptional contributions to preserve and improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods through good deeds or acts of service.
This year’s honorees were:
Helene Anderson
Ida Wallenmeyer nominated neighbor Anderson, who helped Wallenmeyer keep her yard tidy. “When she cut her grass, she cut my grass also,” Wallenmeyer said. “She made it look so nice and she always did it with a big smile.”
Dafeng Cai, Pat Casey, Peter Cole, Rick Holcomb and Kevin Meyers
Wallenmeyer also nominated several neighbors on Anderson Avenue for their efforts during January’s blizzard.
“Fantastic” and “amazing” were words she used to describe their efforts to dig out her car, driveway and sidewalk – repeatedly – during the storm. She described neighbors working together to clear each other’s driveways and sidewalks, giving her “A warm feeling for good neighbors.”
Rebecca DeFrees
“Becky looks out for neighbors young and old,” said Janet Wilson. “From taking neighbors to their respective doctors’ appointments, caring for a neighbor’s cat, to volunteering her time to community events, Becky’s desire to help others when they need help comes deep from the heart.” That extends to morning walks with a bag to pick up trash along the way, clipping newspaper articles or coupons related to neighbors’ interests, ensuring they know about upcoming events and even driving them there. “If only more people were as caring as Becky DeFrees, the world would be a kinder place,” Wilson said.
Isabel Marbury-Mauro
A longtime volunteer, Marbury-Mauro has served as president of the Glenora Hills Citizens Association, maintained the garden plot for the neighborhood sign and coordinated the neighborhood’s holiday progressive dinner and fall picnic. She has also created, distributed and updated a neighborhood directory and is the point-of-contact for any critical information that needs to be distributed by email to the neighborhood. “Clearly our neighborhood is lucky to have someone who does so much on a volunteer basis,” said Robin Bourne. “This award is just a small token of how she has made Glenora Hills a better place to live.”
Amy and Brian Palmer
The Palmers stepped-up to snow blow, shovel, and treat several roads and countless walkways and driveways, from Edmonston Drive to Brice Road in their Hungerford neighborhood during January’s blizzard. “Amy and Brian are among the most giving and caring of Rockville residents, and we are fortunate to claim them – not only as neighbors in our community, but as residents of our great City,” said John Hall.
Judy Rudolph
As the volunteer chairperson of the New Mark Commons Homes Association’s Communications Committee, Rudolph revived the neighborhood’s quarterly newsletter, introduced a web-based monthly newsletter and spearheaded the relaunch of the neighborhood website. She also championed the New Mark Commons Village concept – a neighborhood assistance program focused on helping seniors age in place, and revitalized the neighborhood book club following the departure of its founder. “She invests tremendous time and energy into all of these activities and our community is stronger for her support,” said Jonathan Smith.
Good Neighbor Award nominations are accepted throughout the year and awarded in the fall. To learn more, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/goodneighbor or contact Hjarman Cordero, at 240-314-8344 or [email protected].