Volunteer of the Year Recipients

2022 – Brad Hart

Brad is a person of many talents. He brings great technical skills to EVCNB. He is a valued member of the Communication and Outreach team, in charge of sending out EVCNB information to the community via Facebook, BBQ and local news outlets. He is a member of his Zone Yellow Radio Leadership Team and is an active CERT. He is also a great project manager, helping to keep our major projects on track. He is organized, calm, and thorough.

With all of this volunteer’s skills, he is unfailingly a delight to work with. Everyone in EVCNB wants Brad on their team!

2021 – Covid-19 Response Team

This team responded to the Covid-19 crisis by volunteering with Tillamook County Community Health, initially by helping with Contact Tracing, and then by helping to staff the many vaccine clinics across Tillamook County. Covid-related volunteer hours in calendar year 2021 add up to more than 2500 hours. Volunteers include both MRC members and CERTs.

This effort has been made possible by the extraordinary leadership of three individuals who will receive the award: Velda Handler, RN and Kate Grimm, RN/ANP, the co-leads of the Medical Reserve Corps of Nehalem Bay, and Jo Cooper, the CERT program lead.

2020 – Velda Handler

Velda successfully oversees regular shelter drills to engage, empower, and educate EVCNB and non-EVCNB volunteers. Routine practicing of shelter and emergency warming center processes provides validation that what is in place is appropriate for our community families in the event of need. Velda has engaged the support of our cities and multiple agencies, facilitated EVCNB’s ability to work seamlessly with our Red Cross partners, and has been a key leader in developing a strong continuing education program for our medical volunteers involved in the Medical Reserve Corp.

2019 – John Beaston

John has been an unexpected gift to EVCNB. His skills and experience have been of great benefit to the Emergency Communication technical team, creating the infrastructure for communication drills and a credentialing process for evaluating and developing our ham radio skills. He gives tirelessly of his time to educate, train and provide technical solutions for the entire organization. John is the model for servant leadership.

2019 – Linda Kuestner

Linda Kuestner is an incredibly skilled super star who gets more done than any ten people put together. She brings her extraordinary experience in technical support to our new Little Green Light information system. She is a CERT, an active contributor to our Yellow Radio emergency communication strategy, and the newest member of our Board of Directors. Generous of spirit, kind, and always looking for ways to help others …… EVCNB is so very fortunate to have Linda as part of the team.

2018 – Education and Engagement Team

This team led by Betsy Chase, includes Patrick Corcoran, Dave Dillon, Marc Johnson, Bruce Maxwell, and Carl Whiting. Because of them, we have brand recognition with a new logo, badges for each of our divisions, transportable banners and more. They really stepped up our efforts in community engagement with a very successful Preparedness Fair. This amazing team will long be appreciated for EVCNB’s ability to communicate emergency preparedness strategies to the Nehalem Bay Region.

2017 – Bruce Maxwell

Bruce Maxwell has tirelessly shared his talents, skills and experience in building community resilience at a time when we were sorely in need. He brought our Nehalem Bay Region’s emergency communication infrastructure and skills to a whole new level. He has taught innumerable classes to Hams, CERTs, and community members in the use of the Yellow Radio. Emergency communication after the October 2016 tornado and CERT communication during July 4th traffic management, are just two examples of Bruce’s invaluable community impact. He supported EVCNB’s outreach by assisting in the development and maintaining the first website. We sincerely appreciate and have greatly benefited from the many talents of Bruce Maxwell.

2017 – Margaret Steele

Margaret has spent untold hours working on projects to support EVCNB, not the least of which is securing grant funding for EVCNB’s sustainability. Her leadership of the Medical Reserve Corps is impressive and recognized throughout Tillamook County. Margaret, a retired doctor, is a lifelong learner and is a teacher committed to successful learning experience for everyone else. She has a persistent can-do attitude and is thoughtful and thorough in assessing reality! Margaret is deeply respected, loved and a critical part of EVCNB’s success.

2016 – Betsy Chase and Paul Knight

It is rare to see new members of our community make such an amazing impact so quickly. Betsy and Paul are highly experienced and organized and have the extraordinary gift of quiet, caring leadership. They led the effort to develop and circulate a community survey to help us understand “How Prepared are we….really?” They engaged the community in a re-energized discussion of personal preparedness not seen in recent years. Betsy is responsible for guiding the organization from one that gets a lot done on pure commitment and energy, to one that identifies measurable goals and action plans. Paul has devoted countless hours identifying and developing emergency preparedness resources and being a critical cheerleader to engage people in personal preparedness. We are so very fortunate to have this team’s leadership and commitment.

2015 – Bill & Karen Harshbarger

Bill and Karen Harshbarger quickly provided exceptional leadership when asked to develop the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), a critical preparedness asset to the community and to our professional responders. With their energy and competence, they organized our program and have developed it to be one of the most highly rated and effective CERT programs in the State. Under their leadership, EVCNB developed monthly training meetings, a Teen CERT training program, worked closely with Nehalem Bay Fire & Rescue volunteers, and supported the development of other teams throughout Tillamook County. Bill and Karen are the GOLD STAR of CERT for EVCNB. Without their leadership (and Karen’s cookies), we would not have grown to the revered organization we are today.

2014 – Mary Moran

Mary Moran’s experience with the Alaska Highway Department and Anchorage Emergency Services fit right into EVCNB’s goals for educating our communities in disaster preparedness. She came to us already CERT-trained and has been active in the Map Your Neighborhood planning. She has been a volunteer for the Firefighter Rehabilitation Food program, bringing art and beauty to feeding the firefighters. She is qualified as a Red Cross Disaster Action Team responder and is trained in very realistic moulage …… making well people look seriously injured. Mary always gives her best ideas, best work, and best efforts to EVCNB.

2014 – Peter Nunn

Through his leadership of the EVCNB Mass Care Committee, Peter has devoted countless hours developing action plans that have resulted in a strong working relationship with the cities, an outstanding shelter plan and grant funds that support our mission. Peter’s quiet demeanor, extraordinary competence, terrific sense of humor and willingness to give of his time to the community makes him one of our most valued citizen volunteers and one for whom EVCNB is honored to have on our team.

2013 – Paula & Bill Peek

Paula and Bill are quite a team…the energizer bunny and the engineer! Paula charges ahead while Bill, quietly in the background, makes things work. Paula is our “go to” person for all things related to the CERT and Map Your Neighborhood programs. Bill has made sure our emergency communication network is ready for any emergency. He introduced ham radio to the community and has been instrumental in the increase of ham licensed citizens. Paula and Bill are a team ……. and so important to the growth of EVCNB.

2012 – Tim Anderson and Larry Wiedenhoft

Larry and Tim have been very active participants in the initial phases of EVCNB. They introduced Yellow Radio, acted as liaison to American Red Cross and brought First Aid and CPR training to the Nehalem Bay Region. Their community commitment, focus on preparedness, and exceptional teaching abilities are unsurpassed. Larry and Tim are most deserving of the very first Volunteer of the Year Award!