Volunteers Cheered

The Foundation's Annual Dinner is a chance for old friends to socialize, the forum where retiring trustees are honored and new additions to the board are welcomed. But perhaps the brightest highlight of the dinner is when awards are announced for those who've gone "above and beyond" during the previous year in their volunteer efforts on behalf of the Foundation and Queen of the Valley.

This year's dinner, held November 9 at the Silverado Country Club, was no exception. Cheers and applause greeted the announcement of the three honorees, each of whom has contributed outstanding effort on the Foundation's Behalf.

Kenchelian Award: Lorraine Yates The Kenchelian Distinguished Service Award is named for the Foundation's first president, Karney Kenchelian. In her presentation at the dinner, board vice president Dorothy Arata said, "This award is our way of honoring those trustees who by their distinguished service and leadership are an inspiration to others."

Lorraine epitomizes that kind of extraordinary contribution of "time, talent, and treasure," Dorothy said. Now in her 13th year as a Foundation trustee, Lorraine has been an active member of the Executive Board, chair of the Special Events and Public Relations committees, and has played a leadership role in every Designer Show House since that event began in 1988 and also with "Day for the Queen." In addition she also works on the Wine Auction and the Transamerica Senior Golf Tournament.

"She gives freely of the time and effort to achieve success in every responsibility she undertakes," Dorothy said. "And I can personally testify that she consistently goes above and beyond what is required."

Volunteer of the Year: Ann Ferrigan Healy Ann chaired the 200 Day for the Queen, one of the Foundation's major fundraising events-the first non-trustee to take on that daunting task. "Thanks to her organizing efforts and guidance, she helped make it one of the most successful 'Day for the Queen's ever," trustee Jim McKeever said in his presentation.

The year before, Ann and her husband, Francis Healy, MD, an pulmonologist on the hospital's medical staff, co-chaired "Day" with Him and his wife, Doris.

"As we all know," Jim said, "this event requires coordination of all committee activities… She was able to recruit other outstanding volunteers to accomplish the task of presenting this multifaceted event and produce record-breaking results."

Jim noted that, in addition to her work on "Day for the Queen," Ann has also agreed to work on the Foundation's first gala fundraising ball, set for next December.

"She really deserved this award," he said afterward. "I hope it'll convince her to keep working on for the Foundation!"

President's Award: Barbara Wiggins The President's Award honors a volunteer who has never been given a member of the board of trustees but has given distinguished service over many years. This year that honor fell over to Barbara.

Barbara, who owns The Mustard Seed in Napa, has been working with the Foundation for the last dozen years her greatest contribution has been in her work on the fashion shows for "Day for the Queen" and "Reach for the Stars," for which she has proved not only cutting-edge clothes but also often arranges the fittings, rehearsals, music, and lights. In addition she has been very generous in contributing raffle prizes and auction items. For the past two years she did the fashion shows for both events, and this year she'll be once again provide the women's fashions for the "Day for the Queen" show.

In his presentation of the award, Foundation board president Jim Tidgewell noted that the President's Award is not given every year, but reserved for those whose contribution has been very special. Barbara, he said, met that standard easily, for she is "truly a remarkable volunteer for our Foundation."