CRC Banquet Will Introduce Award Honoring David Little and Bob Rhees

Picks n Sticks performing at the 2013 CRC Volunteer Recognition Banquet

The Community Resource Center’s 27th annual Fundraiser and Volunteer Recognition Banquet set for Friday November 14th is coming up fast and this year will have a decidedly musical tone. “Name That Tune” is this year’s theme. A delicious dinner will be served, during which Sticks & Picks String Band will be in the house, providing the “tunes” for participating contestants to “name” in order to win prizes and share lots of laughs. Dr. Dana Andrews will be serving as emcee. The main event will be the presentation of awards by area organizations honoring volunteers who go the extra mile to make Manchester such a wonderful place to live.

As in previous years, the banquet will be held at the Chelsea Hospital Dining Room. It costs $45/person to attend, part of which is considered a tax deductible donation. Appetizers and open bar begin at 6:15pm. Dinner, Name-that-Tine and awards begin at 7:15pm. The CRC confirmed that they still have seats available for reservation at the moment but they expect to have the approximately 150 seats totally filled in the next few days. If you would like to attend call the CRC office at 428-7722. All funds raised will go to help the Community Resource Center fulfill its mission of serving area families and individuals in need.

Every year special awards are presented to a few of the volunteers being honored by their organizations, one of these being the Claire Reck award. This year a new special award category is being introduced, the D. Little-B. Rhees award. This award is named after the 2012 and 2013 Claire Reck Award winners David Little and Robert “Bob” Rhees, both of whom were recently deceased upon receiving the award. Volunteers who are no longer with us are eligible to be recognized for this special award named in their honor.

Laura Seyfried, director of the CRC noted that another change this year is the increased involvement of young people. She stated that as nominations by groups started to come in and volunteers lined up to work at the banquet, the banquet committee was excited to note that more students are not only nominated this year, but also volunteering for the event.

During the evening, attendees can bid on wonderful silent auction items from area businesses and artisans. Seyfried listed some of the items that will be up for bid. These include a hand-knitted, hand-spun wool shawl donated by Lorrie Green of North Cabin Fiber Crafts, a private wine collection from the cellar of and donated by renowned Chef Dan Huntsbarger, art by Ann Arbor artist Ester Kirshenbaum donated by Worth Repeating, one-of-a kind hand crafted doll house built by Elaine Burkhardt donated by “the 5 friends”, a year’s supply of Zingermans bread donated by The New Chelsea Market, passes to the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton Ohio, handcrafted, hardwood walking stick created and donated by Pleasant Lake Hardwoods, handmade quilted table runner & napkins made and donated by Sidney Palmer and a micro-distilling experience for 10 including hors d’eovres and spirits sampling at the Ugly Dog Distillery donated by the Ugly Dog Distillery and Carolyn Dyer. A selection of auction items will be on display in the Old National Bank Window soon!

Sonja Rhees, center, accepts the 2013 Claire Reck Volunteer of the Year Award on behalf of her late husband, Bob Rhees at last year's banquet.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.