Library announces its ‘shining stars’

Seven “shining stars” received awards Saturday from the Stanislaus Library Foundation, which also honored volunteers from the county’s 13 library branches.

The Shining Star awards were established in 2004 to honor individuals, businesses and organizations, as well as Friends of the Library members, for their support, according to a news release. Support includes volunteer efforts, advocacy, programs or financial contributions.

Also awarded was the Joan Patterson Stellar Award, which recognizes longtime library volunteers. This year’s honoree is Maree Hawkins, who’s completed 15 years as a member of the Stanislaus Library Foundation board, the longest in board history. She has served as secretary, treasurer and board chairwoman. “Her wisdom and experience and unqualified love of the library have served as an inspiration to the SLF board members,” according to the release.

This year’s other Shining Stars awards were presented to honorees in three categories:

Friends of the Library

▪ Judy Pierce joined Friends of the Modesto Library in 2011 and has served as co-president of the group and as publisher of its newsletter. She has been a liaison with library management through renovations of the Children’s Room, funded by FOML.

▪ Sandy Mann is active in Friends of the Turlock Library and has been responsible for book sorting, done 34 times each year to prepare for the annual book sale.

▪ Nancy McNatt volunteers daily at the Salida library, arranges the book tables and coordinates the two books sales each year for Friends of the Salida Library.

▪ Frank Clark serves on the Oakdale Board of Directors for the Friends of the Oakdale Library. As part of his many volunteer efforts, he helped in fundraising for Measure T and promotes the Oakdale library to community and civic organizations.

Individual volunteer

▪ Dorothy Watson has been volunteering for the Ceres library since 1992, going to the library every Monday morning and spending two hours shelving, pulling holds and supporting the library staff in numerous ways.

Business

▪ Since 2003, Paul Rey’s company, Foothill Systems, has provided hosting, registration and name domain of the foundation’s website and has continued the work at no cost. Paul also assisted with the Yes on T campaign.

This story was originally published April 18, 2015 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Library announces its ‘shining stars’."