A couple facing eviction contacted Maranatha-Carlisle several years ago for financial assistance. They later celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a cash-advance cruise.
It’s stories like these that keep Maranatha-Carlisle founder Joan Jones volunteering there, and it’s her volunteer hours, 40 to 50 of them each week, that have earned her the Champions for Better Health Heather Schwartz Volunteer of the Year award.
Partnership for Health Improvementfoundation dedicated to promoting health and wellness in the region, hosted an awards ceremony Thursday night at the Comfort Suites Downtown Carlisle to recognize Jones along with six other individuals or organizations committed to helping the community reach its highest health potential.
“I don’t feel like I deserve this kind of award because the staff does a lot of hard work, but it’s such a blessing,” said Jones, who turns 84 next month.
Maranatha Carlisle is a nonprofit organization that provides financial counseling to residents of Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties. Or, in Jones’ words, “we make a difference.”
“My kids think I’m crazy for spending so much time on things I don’t need to, but that’s what makes life worth living,” she said.
Kurt Danish, Founder and CEO Tomorrow’s neighborsaccepted the Nonprofit of the Year award on behalf of his organization, which helps people in the recovery process after incarceration.
“It’s everything to me,” he said of the award. “It’s a recognition of what we do, the value of what we do in the community.”
A self-recovered Danish, he began creating Tomorrow’s Neighbors during his 24 years in prison. The nonprofit will receive a $1 million county grant to create the Cumberland House, which will centralize reentry services and provide housing for 10 to 15 returnees at a time.
Danish said the need in the community motivates him to continue his work and also to do for others what others have done for him. While accepting the award, he recognized several of his friends and family members who attended the ceremony, including his mom and fiance Tammy.
“It’s great,” he said of the crowd. “Being a returning citizen, you don’t always get the chance to be proud of your family, so today is really nice.”
Thursday’s ceremony marked the Partnership for Better Health’s sixth Champions for Better Health awards event and the first since the COVID-19 pandemic; it was last held in 2019.
At the event, seven laureates were awarded in four nominations:
Professional of the Year: Honors a healthcare professional or other individual who has played a key role in improving health and wellness in the region.
Nonprofit of the Year: Awarded to a nonprofit or government agency that plays a leading role in improving community health and well-being
Philanthropist of the Year: Awarded to an individual, family or private foundation that has demonstrated financial generosity to promote health and well-being in the region
Heather Swartz Volunteer of the Year: Awarded to an individual or family who play a role in improving health and wellness through their volunteer leadership
Partnership for Better Health Sixth Annual Match Madness 2021 Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Other categories in past years have included Youth or Youth Group of the Year and Business of the Year, but Health Equity Director Marcellus Taylor said there were no awards this year.
Each award recipient had the opportunity to donate $200 from Partnership for Health to a nonprofit of their choice in the organization’s service area, which includes central and western Cumberland County, Perry County, northern Adams County and the greater Shippensburg area. Those donations totaled $1,400.
While the Partnership for Health Improvement typically reviews nominees in the same categories year after year, this year’s volunteer award has changed. The award was officially named Heather Swartz Volunteer of the Year in honor of the former director of communications for the Partnership for Better Health, who died this year, Taylor said.
He said the organization debated what award to name in honor of Schwartz, whom he described as a “big figure” with a “gentle soul.”
“We really settled on volunteering because volunteering was the essence of who she was,” Taylor said.
Thursday’s ceremony also included the unveiling of a plaque in Swartz’s honor, presented to members of her family who attended the event.
The nomination process for this year’s awards began in early July and continued through mid-to-late September, Taylor said. Applicants must work in the Partnership for Better Health’s service area and meet one or more goals to be considered: building healthy communities by supporting solutions, environments, and systems that promote health; ensure equal access to medical services; or strengthen the ability of groups to collaborate and participate in health improvement strategies.
From there, Taylor said the winners are chosen by an awards selection committee.
For him, Champions for Better Health is about celebrating and promoting the work being done in the community.
“I don’t believe superheroes exist, but if we had superheroes, these people would be them,” Taylor said.
Maddie Seiler is a reporter for The Sentinel and cumberlink.com covers Carlisle and Newville. You can contact her at mseiler@cumberlink.com and follow her on Twitter at: @SeilerMadalyn
