Hooray for Volunteers!

By Joelyn Hansen

Last night I was reminded of how much I love my job. I had the great pleasure to honor some very deserving folks for their volunteer time.

I even managed to keep it a surprise about their awards!

In 2012, the CWP volunteered approximately 1500 hours of time to the community and the department as they assisted with abandoned vehicles, graffiti abatement, special events, vacation watches, patrols and other various miscellaneous assignments.

Based on a special formula, that equates to about $100,000 in savings to the city of Idaho Falls in 2012.

This year, the IFPD began participating in the United States President’s Volunteer Service Award program. This program, which began in 2003, recognizes the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and encourage more people to serve.

Volunteer hours are tracked and volunteers are recognized at different levels of service based on their volunteer hours.

For the year 2012, the CWP members, Broc Humpherys, Glen Riddle, Steve Cannon, Sherri Barnes, Hal Rapp and Phil Bowyer, reached the Bronze level status for contributing more than a 100 hours of service.

Though, they did not meet the requirements of the Bronze level in 2012, we’d also recognize Judith Vincent, Elizabeth Taualii, Rea Winterbottom, Abe Winterbottom, Robert Siedelmann, Blaine McCord and Chris Mickelsen for the valuable time they contributed.

This group really works as a team and I'm clearly biased, but they are the best volunteers anyone could ever work with! I'm honored to work with them!