Alliance of Eastside Agencies Ninth Annual Awards Recognizes Seven Heroes

 Public Invited to luncheon honoring outstanding contributions to human services in East King County

REDMOND, Wash. (May 30, 2013)—The Alliance of Eastside Agencies (AEA), a professional membership organization of human service providers, is honoring five individuals and two organizations at its ninth annual awards luncheon being held at Bear Creek Country Club on Wednesday, June 12 at noon. Keynote speakers will be David Bley and Marie Sauter of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who will speak about the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have on development. More information and reservations are available online at AEAawardsLuncheon.eventbrite.com.

Award recipients in seven categories were chosen from several nominated by Eastside human service providers. Each has made outstanding contributions to health and human services in East King County. 

Elected official of the Year—Amy Walen, City of Kirkland Council Member 

Ms. Walen, who was elected in 2009, was nominated for her support of a variety of non-profits from Evergreen Hospital and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation to KITH (Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing) and animal rescue organizations. She was also instrumental in passing a city ordinance to allow section 8 voucher holders to compete for housing units equally with those utilizing other sources of income to pay their rent. 

Youth Volunteer of the Year—Eila Studivant, Youth Eastside Services  Read More >>

Eila was nominated for her work with Youth Eastside Services’ anti-bullying program. As an ambassador in the PEACE (Peers Educating And Coaching Empathy) program, she gave up her lunch and recess two days a week for four weeks to learn how to be a peer leader. She then went to classrooms and helped educate others on ways to stop bullying and help build a stronger community. As she transitioned into middle school, Eila continued to make others aware of the harm bullying can cause.

Volunteer of the Year— Art Mabbott

Art has dedicated his retirement to helping youth in need. He started volunteering for Friends of Youth (FOY) by involving his church as a dinner donor at the emergency shelter for young adults. More recently, he became trained as an on-call volunteer with the Safe Place program, learning how to accompany FOY staff on calls responding to youth in crisis. He even recruited his wife, MaryAnn, to volunteer. Both are dedicated and excellent ambassadors at all of FOY events. Art’s unceasing advocacy for youth is inspirational.

Non-profit Staff of the Year— Danny Hanson, Youth Eastside Services

Danny stands out for his exemplary work to address the issue of violence in our community. He helped develop and stewards an effective anti-bullying program for local schools. The program called PEACE (Peers Educating And Coaching Empathy) is unique in that it focuses on training young people in the elementary schools to be "ambassadors," teaching other students to identify, resist and actively work to eliminate bullying. In 2012 this model reached 13 schools, impacting over 430 young people.

Faith Organization of the Year—Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church

The Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church (SVA) was nominated for their work running a popular clothing bank, operating a teen center, assisting the local food bank, and regular donations of shoes, socks, sleeping bags, and hygiene items to organizations in the community. Their members also volunteer regularly, most recently opening a free health clinic. SVA is also a founding member of One VOICE (Valley Organizations in Collective Effort), a collaboration of faith-based and secular helping organizations.

Business of the Year—CFO Selections

Since its inception, CFO Selections has systematically allocated a portion of their revenues each and every month to their foundation, CFOS Foundation.  They are particularly interested in children's issues and currently are exploring issues around foster care. In addition, to the grants that the Foundation makes, partners in CFO Selections, and on the board of the foundation, give high level, strategic, talented pro-bono consultation to the organizations that they fund. 

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Legacy Award—Mimi Siegel, Executive Director of Kindering Center

Since 1978, Mimi Siegel has dedicated her career to Kindering, the Bellevue-based neurodevelopmental center helping infants and children with special needs. The largest and most comprehensive program in the Northwest, Kindering offers comprehensive early intervention and family-centered services. As executive director, Mimi has led Kindering, founded by five Bellevue-area mothers, into a nationally renowned program. Today, Kindering supports over 3,500 infants, toddlers and their families annually. 

"The AEA is pleased to honor members of the community who have played a significant role in supporting human services in East King County. This year we were happy to have a Legacy recipient, someone who has truly made a mark in the world of non-profit human services providers," said AEA Co-Chair David Downing, who is also associate director at Youth Eastside Services. "All of the individuals and organizations being awarded help make the Eastside a better place to live and work."

The Alliance of Eastside Agencies is a 40 plus member alliance of human service non-profits with the mission of strengthening human services infrastructure in East King County to build healthy communities.

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For More Information Contact:

·         AEA Co-Chair David Downing, Associate Director, YES:  425-747-4937, DavidD@YouthEastsideServices.org

·         Press Release: Cate Koler, Administrative Assistant, ckadmin@comcast.net