VolunteerSiouxland Billboard Contest

Winners Announced, Volunteers Celebrated

At a joint press conference Friday, April 20 with the City of Sioux City, VolunteerSiouxland officially unveiled six community volunteers whose faces may become a familiar site over the next couple of months. Each will be featured on a billboard recognizing their contributions to a better community through volunteerism.

The announcement was the culmination of a two-month competition sponsored by Avery Brothers which allowed organizations to recognize some of their great volunteers, for the community to vote, and the top six vote recipients to be selected. More than 1,200 votes were received in the first year of the competition.

“The billboard contest really surpassed our expectations this first year,” said VolunteerSiouxland Co-Founder Ryan Martinez. “We had so many amazing volunteers that were nominated. We wish we could have given them all their own billboard, but the six are really a great example of the terrific volunteers we have here.”

Appropriately announced during National Volunteer Week, the six volunteers include:

Chris Van Beek of Sioux Center, IA
Terri Pauling of Le Mars, IA
Jon Strong of Hawarden, IA
Dan Bernholtz of Sioux City, IA
Carrie Radloff of Sioux City, IA
Amy Macfarlane of Sioux City, IA

“There is no shortage of wonderful volunteers to recognize,” said Martinez, “so we hope to turn this into an annual event. It’s a great way to thank volunteers to continue to build on the culture of volunteerism in Siouxland – the place that we call home.”

6 Contest Winners:

Chris Van Beek of Midwest Honor Flight

In 2017 Chris was inspired by her son's suggestion of bringing Honor Flight to their area. Her mission became to bring Veterans out to Washington DC to see the memorial built in their honor and to give them closure. Chris was one of the 3 founding board members that assisted in the process of beginning Midwest Honor Flight and getting approval to be a part of the National Honor Flight Network! On March 14, 2017 Midwest Honor Flight was approved and Chris was name the Medical Director.

The inaugural flight happened August 22,2017 after raising over $100,000 to support her mission! The plane was chartered, flying 160 guests to Washington DC, INCLUDING: 7 WWII VETERANS - 46 KOREAN WAR VETERANS AND 32 VIETNAM VETERANS! Each Vet was accompanied by their own guardian. The 2ND Honor Flight is in the making with Chris under it's wings!

Terri Pauling of Floyd Valley Hospital

Terri has been volunteering and serving with the Auxiliary board at Floyd Valley Healthcare for over 8 years. She completes 40 plus hours of volunteer work PER WEEK! Through volunteerism, Terri manages the gift shop, and assists with all of the hand-crafted baby items for the gift shop, and for patient needs (e.g. baby blankets, etc.). She offers support and guidance in many other auxiliary fundraisers. Terri has served as President of Floyd Valley Auxiliary for two years, and vice president for one year. Additionally, she has been on the Foundation Board and Board of Trustees for Auxiliary Representation.

Jon Strong of Hawarden Fire Rescue

Jon gave 43 years of service to the Hawarden Fire department. He served 16 years as Fire Chief. He gives of his time, effort more than just when the pager goes off, by speaking to children at schools and making himself available whenever needed. Strong retired in December 2017 but he is still active in the department and community. Recently, Strong was one of the first on-scene to a Central Avenue fire to the Hawarden Auxillary's Thrift Shop downtown business fire. Strong provided countless volunteer hours to the City of Hawarden and its residents and deserve this recognition.

Dan Berholtz of Hospice of Siouxland

As a Hospice of Siouxland volunteer, Dan spends time with many of our patients on a regular basis, visiting and providing companionship. He also makes deliveries of needed items to patients who are homebound, helping them as well as our staff. Hospice of Siouxland can count on him to be dependable in all aspects of their program-serving people no matter what the situation.

Carrie Radloff of Sierra Club

Carrie currently serves as Chair of the Northwest Iowa Group of Sierra Club focusing on research, communication and outreach. She has helped for about five years with various environmental efforts in our area. She helped develop community outreach and strives to create mutually beneficial connections. She does this and more for the city Environmental Advisory Board and the Loess Hills Wild Ones chapter, which she helped to get off the ground, too.

Carrie has a strong work ethic, is driven to help make good things happen, and has a pleasant temperament and humorous honesty that makes her the first person to turn to for help for so many things. Her true motivations lie in working for the greater good.

Amy Macfarlane of multiple Siouxland organizations

Amy brings a special niche to her volunteer efforts in that she volunteers whenever she is asked, from a very broad range of fundraisers & charities. Certainly some of these organizations have special meaning to her personally, but overall, her philosophy in life is, “Just pitch in and help out. You’ll feel good about yourself, learn something new, get to meet lots of amazing people you would not normally have an opportunity to meet.”