Gov. Mike Leavitt presented nine more Governor's Points of Lights awards this past week for outstanding volunteer service.
In a ceremony at the Capitol, Dr. Ray Barton, Catherine Pedersen, Gina DeLeon, Debora Stevens, Leone Gurr, Lynda Hales, Betty Hansen, Ronald Mecham and Elaine Resch were named the 32nd to the 40th recipients of the award. Leavitt has been recognizing volunteer efforts around the state since October.
Barton is a longstanding board member of the Granite Education Foundation and founded "Straight Talk," a program for students from kindergarten through grade 12 that provides volunteers for school assemblies and workshops that help students understand the harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs. The program reached more than 40,000 students last year.
Pedersen has been president of the Granite Education Foundation the past two years and has been involved in several capacities for five years. She also served 25 years on the state PTA board and was a member of the Governor's Mansion Restoration Committee.
DeLeon volunteers an average of 18 hours a week at the Davis County Food Bank and is said, at age 72, to set the pace for her co-workers stocking shelves, sorting food and making food bags.
Stevens was honored for diligently providing the students of Riverdale Elementary School with a plethora of learning opportunities. Stevens has organized art fairs and basketball clinics, reading and writing competitions and student achievement programs. She also organized a Neighborhood Watch and is on the Riverdale City Citizen Committee.
Since 1952, Gurr, 76, has taught more than 10,000 students to swim free of charge. Instead, she encourages her students to donate to a charitable organization. Through her affiliation with the Red Cross, Gurr was in charge of the swimming program at Lagoon amusement park for years. She also taught swimming to students at the Deaf and Blind School in Ogden and to disabled children at the Clearfield community pool.
Hales is involved in the North and South Utah County Medical Coalition to help find resources to improve health-care access for low-income or uninsured families. She also donates time to the Nebo School District Summer Migrant Program, United Way and many other community service programs.
Hansen is a resident of the Weber County Senior Center and assists many people as a volunteer with Meals on Wheels and the Weber Senior Nutrition Center. Hansen also works with a group of residents coordinating the distribution of food surplus from the Ogden Rescue Mission to neighborhoods across the county.
Mecham decided he would spend extra time helping others with disabilities when his own eyesight began to deteriorate. He is on the Utah Blind Consumer Council and the Legislature's Council for Persons with Disabilities.
For more than 15 years, Resch has contributed her talents to several departments in Salt Lake County Aging Services. For the past two years she has served as a secretary for the Sunday Anderson Senior Center advisory council and conducts monthly book reviews.
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com