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RCAC rewards outstanding affordable housing volunteer
HOUSING/HEALTH NEWS
Carbondale, Colorado — Many rural volunteers spend long, unpaid hours helping a plethora of individuals and organizations in their communities who really need the assistance. Often their appreciation and thanks comes in the form of requests for more assistance. However, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) grants the unique Yoneo Ono award to reward and publicly recognize outstanding rural volunteers in a prestigious, yet fun manner. This year’s Yoneo Ono award winner is Kay Clarke Philip.
Kay Clarke Philip received
the RCAC 2010 Yoneo Ono award.
Photo taken by Sharon Wills, RCAC PR communications coordinator
RCAC presented Philip with the 2010 Yoneo Ono Award at a 6 p.m. ceremony on August 4 at Eagle’s View Restaurant at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale, CO 81623.
The Yoneo Ono Award is named in honor of one of RCAC’s founding fathers. During his lifetime, Yoneo Ono continually worked to better the lives of people living in America’s rural regions. In recognition of his tireless dedication to this vital cause, RCAC officials presented Ono with an award upon his 1984 retirement from the organization’s board of directors. Since then, RCAC has presented the Yoneo Ono Award to 28 outstanding rural volunteers in 12 Western states.
Philip, the award’s 29th recipient, received a reception held in her community and $4,000 to donate to a charitable organization of her choosing in her community. She was being recognized for nearly 20 years of voluntary assistance provided to low- and moderate income workers, town employees, resort workers, Latino service workers and the homeless in the Roaring Fork Valley area of Colorado. (Look for highlights from the ceremony in the next issue of RCAC’s Network News.)
"Few people in the Roaring Fork Valley region of Colorado have been untouched by Kay’s dedication and commitment to this region," said Connie Baker Wolfe, RCAC rural development manager.
"Few people in the Roaring Fork Valley region of Colorado have been untouched by Kay’s dedication and commitment to this region. She has tremendous leadership qualities and has dedicated most of her free time to work with families to provide safe, decent and affordable housing,” said Connie Baker Wolfe, RCAC, regional housing manager. “Kay is very quiet and soft spoken and is not the type of person to ask for recognition. She is quietly (sometimes behind the scenes) making things happen and would be the first one to tell you she has not accomplished anything without partners and other volunteers,” Baker Wolfe added. During the last 10 years, Baker Wolfe and other RCAC staff have provided technical assistance to organizations where Philip is a board member or volunteer.
“Kay Clarke Philip’s personal passion and commitment to ensuring that people who work in the Roaring Fork Valley have an affordable place to live in the Valley, is unparalleled. She has mastered the fine art of community involvement and participation, making certain that the public has a voice. She is a true champion,” said Dr. Florine Raitano, president, RCAC board of directors.
The Roaring Fork Valley area has experienced rapid growth during the last 15 years, and the cost of housing in the area has risen in some instances more than 200 percent in a single year’s time. The region includes Carbondale, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Basalt, Rifle and Eagle. The area struggles with escalating real estate values, staggering land costs and other complications related to its 62 percent second homeownership composition.
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