Last night, Raleigh Parks & Rec. honored its top volunteers with the 2013 Fred Fletcher Outstanding Volunteers Awards. Ten volunteers and one agency were selected for recognition, no easy chore considering 9,000 people volunteered more than 140,000 hours last year to help Raleigh’s parks and recreational facilities exceed their budgeting constraints.

Before the ceremony at the Fletcher Opera Theater downtown, I had a chance to talk with one of the recipients, the Anderson family of east Raleigh, which collectively won the Outstanding Greenway Volunteer Award. When the Andersons moved into their new home in the Heddingham development in 2006, they discovered a great, unheralded amenity: the Neuse River Greenway. At the time, the greenway was natural surface (it has since been paved and is part of the now 20-mile, soon to be 28-mile Neuse River Trail), it was wild and surprisingly remote, and, to then 6-year-old Avery’s dismay, littered with trash.

“I’m a civil engineer,” father Sean Anderson told me, “and I know some people at city hall. So I used my connections to see what we could do.”

“Used connections” with city hall to see how they could pitch in and help — there’s a novel concept.

Soon, the Andersons — including mom Aimee and other daughter Peyton — signed an Adopt A Park agreement and were making garbage patrol on their neighborhood trail part of their regular routine. They’ve been doing it ever since, for seven years now.
During the ceremony there were other great volunteer stories to tell.

There was coach Dan Dunn, who’s been coaching a variety of youth sports at a variety of parks around town for 35 years. Someone figured out he’s guided more than 700 kids during that time. The person who nominated him, Tonya McNeill, a recreation center supervisor, noted that not one parent had ever said anything even slightly negative about Coach Dunn. If you’ve ever had any connection with youth sports, you know what a remarkable achievement that is.

Ever wonder why the Raleigh Municipal Rose Garden is impeccable? You have Walter Bull, Outstanding Adopt-A-Park Volunteer, to thank, in large part. When the city needs extra help on a project, from planting trees to removing invasive plants, they frequently call on the folks at Haven House for a helping hand. Outstanding Specialized Recreation Volunteer Tony Flores was heralded for never saying “I don’t think you can do that” to any of the Special Olympics athletes he’s coached in 14 years, and Viola Bullock, Outstanding Program Volunteer, was praised for her perpetual positive spirit in five years of helping at the Worthdale Community Center. Outstanding Park Volunteer Mary Scott, Outstanding Project Volunteer Judy Morgan-Davis, Outstanding Senior Adult Program Volunteer Ken Long and Award of Excellence Winner Graham Smith are all folks you should thank for making Raleigh a better place to live.

It was two volunteers, though, that I was especially proud of, and I happened to be sitting between both of them. In fact, they both live in my house.

My stepdaughter, Kate Rice, was one of the finalists for Outstanding Teen Volunteer, an award won by her stepsister — my daughter — Hana Miller. Both are good students, both play on their respective schools’ sports teams. While good grades or a PR are great, those achievements do not compare to being recognized for giving back to their community. Hana was recognized for giving more than 80 hours of community service (a concept that’s changed in meaning since I was in high school) and for her four years on the Raleigh Youth Council. I’ve obviously been aware of her involvement, but over time I’ve come to recognize it less as something special, more as simply part of who she is. She’s set an example for me to follow.

So, a big thanks to all the volunteers recognized last night for making Raleigh’s Parks & Rec. system what it is. And a big hug to two volunteers in particular.