Posted by Jill Norcross on January 20, 2010 at 19:35:25:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award Recipients Named
Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, Jan. 18.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The 2010 Reston Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Planning Committee named three recipients for its 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award and one special award recipient for International Impact by a Reston-based Organization. Reston Interfaith, the Langston Hughes Middle School Peer Mediation Program and HAND (Housing Association for Nonprofit Developers) Executive Director Jill Norcross are among those who will be honored Monday, Jan. 18 with the 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. Global Camps Africa will also receive a Special Award for International Impact by a Reston-based Organization. The awards ceremony will take place on Monday, Jan. 18 at 10:30 a.m. in the CenterStage at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods. Winners will be presented with a commemorative plaque to congratulate them on their exemplary work. The public is invited.
Each year, a review committee analyzes nominations for the awards submitted by community members. Committee members seek individuals and organizations that exemplify the ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. by making meaningful contributions to the Reston community through leadership, service and education. All winners are chosen based on contributions to the community in support of tolerance and equal opportunities, efforts that reduce poverty and promotion of non-violence and conflict resolution.
“These awards recognize the quiet, daily way the recipients live the values espoused and modeled by Dr. King. Their efforts are a testament to the power of individuals to change the world by making their communities open, generous and accepting of all people and their inherent dignity. In this way our 2009 Community Service awardees continue Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy," said Leila Gordon, RCC Executive Director.
The commemorative program is from 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. Visit www.restoncommunitycenter.com for more details on the weekend celebration from Jan. 16-18.
Award Recipients
Jill Norcross (Individual), executive director, Housing Association for Nonprofit Developers (HAND)
Norcross embodies Dr. King’s ideals of tolerance, equity and the promotion of peace. She has been serving the Reston community in a variety of capacities, including as the Executive Director of the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND). This organization was formed in 1991 to bring together the community of housing providers in order to increase the supply of affordable housing in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C.-Richmond corridor. In addition to her professional role with HAND, she is an active volunteer in the community. She recently began her second three-year term as a member of the Reston Interfaith (RI) Board of Directors. She has been an active member of the Program Oversight and Resource Development Committees, as well as chairman of the Affordable Housing/Homeless Prevention Task Force of the Board that serves as a liaison between RI and its affiliate, Reston Interfaith Housing Corporation and is the spokesman for these issues with volunteers/civic groups. She also chaired a Task Force that was in discussions about potential development of affordable housing around transit-oriented development, such as plans for Wiehle Avenue and Reston Town Center transit stops. Norcross is also an involved volunteer with Buzz Aldrin Elementary PTA and has organized community service opportunities for elementary students to learn about homelessness in the community, for example, an annual walk to raise awareness and funds for the Embry Rucker Shelter. She is a co-leader of her son's Boy Scout troop and has been a youth Sunday school teacher at St. Timothy's for more than five years. She has organized St. Timothy's volunteer efforts for feeding the homeless and providing guest support at the winter hypothermia program.
Langston Hughes Middle School Peer Mediation Program (Youth) - In 2009, The Peer Mediation Program sponsored numerous projects including the Thanksgiving Food Drive to collect canned food from students and staff members to benefit the Reston Interfaith Emergency Food Pantry; Random Acts of Kindness "Have a Heart: Show You Care,” a week long theme event to educate students on the importance of kindness and service to others; Red Ribbon Week, a week long theme event to educate students about being drug-free; and Peace Week "Paws/Pause for Peace” educating students on peaceful mediation methods of conflict resolution. Through these efforts, the Peer Mediation Program at Hughes has been directly involved in creating a positive school environment that aids in reducing prejudice and youth violence.
Reston Interfaith (Organization) - Reston Interfaith has worked in the greater Reston area since 1970, providing attractive and affordable housing in the community, a child development center and parent education/support, food and financial assistance, and other programs that help men, women and children live successfully in the community. No other Reston organization so completely lives the ideals of the world Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sought. Reston Interfaith uses the foundations of love, concern, compassion and healing in every faith community to build the beloved community that Dr. King envisioned. Reston fulfills the promise of such a place because of the broad-based, community-wide collaborative and caring approach to solving the problems of poverty and social inequity and providing opportunities to all to reach their potential. Participants in Reston Interfaith programs don't just benefit from help; they become givers themselves as they make positive changes in their lives. These are the strong threads that bind the community together and that Reston Interfaith weaves into the fabric of Reston's life.
Global Camps Africa (Special Award for International Impact by a Reston-based Organization) - Global Camps Africa has mobilized the Reston community in the spirit of Dr. King. The community has opened its heart to the children of South Africa and responded with an outpouring of energy, enthusiasm and love. Global Camps Africa has been Reston's own international humanitarian organization since 2003. Hundreds of Reston residents have donated their time and expertise to Global Camps Africa through fund raisers, art shows and special events as well as helped to sponsor legislation, donated facilities and supplies, and volunteered in the Reston office and at camps. Many Reston residents have traveled to South Africa at their own expense to be volunteer counselors at the camps. Global Camps Africa embodies Dr. King’s legacy, rooted in its core curriculum of tolerance, especially of those being discriminated against due to HIV/AlDS, peaceful conflict resolution and most importantly, respect and love for one another.