Four Community Volunteers honored as Richardson Real Heroes. From left: Carol Levy, the Eisemann Center; Margie Golden, NETWORK of Community Ministries; Barbara Gatti, The Warren Center; Mary Korn, Volunteers in Police Service
The Richardson Real Heroes organization recently honored four people whose unselfish and unheralded volunteerism contributes to making Richardson a better place to live.
The honorees and the organizations for which they volunteer:
- Barbara “Barb” Gatti, The Warren Center
- Margie Golden, NETWORK of Community Ministries
- Marty Korn, Volunteers in Police Service
- Carol Levy, the Eisemann Center
The four were celebrated April 14 at the seventh annual Richardson Real Heroes awards ceremony at the Richardson Civic Center. Ken Hutchenrider, president of Methodist Richardson Medical Center and Chairman of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, was keynote speaker. Hutchenrider told the crowd of nearly 200 people that volunteerism was “the secret sauce” that helped make the area a great place to live and work.
Richardson Real Heroes was founded by The Richardson Coalition with the motto of “Honoring Silent Generosity.” Nominees are sought from the public and non-profit organizations operating in Richardson. The Real Heroes committee chose the honorees from among that list. Real Heroes operates with the premise that volunteers operating in leadership positions usually receive public recognition, but those operating in the background are doing tremendous work without accolades.
The 2016 honorees:
Barb Gatti: Barb was nominated by The Warren Center, but has left her volunteer fingerprints all over Richardson. She hosts the Taste of Eastside fund raiser and is a major helper with auction items, tickets and other operations for Fantasy Football, The Warren Center’s major fund raiser. She also recruits companies and individuals to collect toys for the Center’s Toy Drive. This year, Barb chaired a new fund raiser, High Tea at the Chocolate Angel, which brought new donors and friends to The Warren Center. Barb also serves on the boards of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce and Animal Luv and volunteers with numerous other Richardson nonprofits including Berkner Park, NETWORK of Community Ministries, Metrocrest Food Bank, Carter BloodCare, the Eisemann Center, Richardson Boys & Girls Club and the Methodist Richardson Hospital Foundation.
Margie Golden: Margie started her volunteer career at NETWORK of Community Ministries in 1985 when NETWORK first opened its doors. She has spent more than 500 hours each year working in the various NETWORK departments, ranging from the food room to interviewing clients. She is a founding member and President of Women in NETWORK (WIN), an auxiliary of NETWORK. WIN raises funds to support several NETWORK programs including Toyland Express, Backpacks for Richardson and Richardson ISD children, Big Meals for Little Kids and dental supplies for city and Richardson ISD children. She was the creator and power behind WIN’s “High Tea for Tots,” a successful fund raiser for WIN’s programs. Her efforts in WIN add more than 350 additional hours each year to her total as a volunteer.
Marty Korn: Marty has contributed nearly 7,500 hours with Volunteers in Police Service in the past 11 years. Marty supports first responders with traffic control at accident scenes and citywide events, and by performing house watches. Last Thanksgiving holiday, Marty did 28 house checks in one day to ensure home security for traveling families. He also assumes other tasks that free time for our professional officers. Marty and a volunteer partner used license plate technology to locate a wanted person for DFW Airport police, leading to an arrest, and to locate a person reported missing. Marty oversees certifications and maintains more than 200 pages of procedures for the Richardson PD. He chaired the Scholarship Committee for the Richardson Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association, which awarded $6,000 in scholarships in 2015. Marty also volunteers more than 100 hours annually with First Richardson Helpers, a resource for seniors with basic home maintenance needs.
Carol Levy: Carol began her volunteer service with the Eisemann Center more than years ago as one of the volunteer receptionists during construction. The staff estimates Carol has almost 7,000 volunteer hours. The Eisemann Center used her skills with several special assignments and projects. She assisted House Management in training new ushers joining the Eisemann Center’s volunteer program. She also applied her computer skills to enhance the flow of client data, designing a program to provide trend analyses to management. She was one of the inaugural participants in the “Friends of the Eisemann Center,” a donor program. Carol also volunteered during the past 12 years with both the Richardson Police Department’s Neighborhood Crime Watch Patrol and The Dallas Opera, transporting guest artists to and from DFW airport and assisting with other needs while in the area.
More facts about the Richardson Real Heroes Program and award recipients can be found at www.richardsonrealheroes.com.
For more information on this story, contact Tom Brooks, publicity chair of Richardson Real Heroes, at tom@tommywrites.com or phone 214-415-2551.