Rotary Club of Wilsonville presents award at 2022 Heart of Gold Dinner & Auction
WILSONVILLE, OREGON, APRIL 10, 2022 — As a volunteer, Lisa Krecklow certainly didn’t let her energies go to waste during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, she was named Wilsonville’s newest First Citizen. The Rotary Club of Wilsonville presented the award to her Friday night, April 8, at Set A Course for Service: The 2022 Heart of Gold Dinner & Auction.
“Lisa is a wonderful community volunteer with a great deal of warmth, heart, talent and determination,” Rotary Club President Curt Kipp said in a statement. “We are all about Service Above Self, and she is exactly the kind of community servant our award is meant to recognize.”
Lisa was honored for her work with many groups. With the Wilsonville High School Boooster Club, she and her husband Mike restored the concession stands at Randall Stadium. With Scouts BSA, she became assistant scoutmaster with Troop 5194, a new girls’ troop, and put together a weeklong, COVID-safe summer camp for girls 11–14.
Additionally, Lisa was involved with the Wilsonville High School Grad Night planning for 2021. She has served as president of Wilsonville’s chapter of PEO International, which provides scholarships for young women, and she has also volunteered in the Wilsonville warehouse of Sunshine Division, helping feed those with food insecurity.
In her acceptance speech, Lisa touched on the evening’s theme as well as her own journey as a community volunteer. “Setting a course for service may not always be deliberate, but one does have to be open to opportunity,” she said. “I might advise everyone who wants to be involved to ‘just begin.’ Do something. It will evolve. It will unfold as it should. It’s what has led me here.”
Lisa recognized others for helping her connect with the local community. “I know I’m being recognized for my service tonight, but since moving to Wilsonville, there have been tremendous kindnesses shown to me,” she said. “I’m so glad my course of service is here. For that I am incredibly grateful.”
The Wilsonville First Citizen award has been presented annually since 2002. Each year, it recognizes someone for the calendar year just concluded. This year’s finalists also included Pat Wolfram, who volunteers with Rotary, American Cancer Society Relay for Life and his church; and Jan Rippey, who established Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program in Wilsonville and has volunteered in local schools in a variety of roles.
As the 2021 First Citizen, Krecklow joins 22 past individuals or couples to win the award. The most recent was Elaine Swyt (2020). Prior winners over the past decade include Jake and Dianne McMichael (2019), John Budiao (2018), Jordan Scoggins (2017), Tim Knapp (2016), Jaimy and Sherine Beltran (2015), Donna Bane (2014), Kathryn Whittaker (2013) and Jay Puppo (2012). All of them are listed online at https://www.wilsonvillerotary.com/first-citizens/, with links to biographies of each.
Nominations are accepted continuously at www.wilsonvillerotary.com/nominate. Any adult individual or couple that lives, works and/or volunteers in the Wilsonville community is eligible. Nominations are reviewed by a committee chaired by that year’s club president and comprised of Rotarians, community leaders and past Wilsonville First Citizens.
Proceeds from the annual Heart of Gold gala support the club’s community service projects and programs both local and global. The club has an extensive portfolio of service projects. Its signature service projects include the Wilsonville Rotary Summer Concerts; the Good Eggs Omelet and Pancake Breakfasts to raise funds for local groups; and the Through a Child’s Eyes program to support the relationships between women in custody at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and their families.
Other club projects include awarding more than $10,000 in scholarships annually for local high school graduates; conducting the local Rotary Youth Exchange for inbound and outbound exchange students; the local Peace Pole project that includes three Peace Poles in the community and counting; sponsoring local Scouts BSA and Cub Scout troops; and mentoring the Wilsonville High School Interact Club, a service club connected with Rotary.
The Rotary Club of Wilsonville is known for creating partnerships with other groups. In the current Rotary year (July 1–June 30), the club has participated in a build with Habitat for Humanity in Woodburn; and provided supplies for local students through the West Linn-Wilsonville School District Family Empowerment Center.
Additionally, the club provided sports bags for boys in foster care in partnership with Boys and Girls Aid Cypress Branch; and raised nearly $2,000 for excursions for local seniors by planning a takeout spaghetti dinner with Wilsonville Community Seniors Inc. In many of these cases, the club has been able to tap into matching funds from Rotary International and District 5100, which covers northern Oregon and southern Washington.
International service is also important to the club. The club recently raised $7,100 for aid to refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine, and last summer raised the same amount for End Polio Now, with the goal of eradicating polio. Over the years, the club has collaborated with others to lead youth literacy, clean water and solar energy projects on other continents, just for starters.
The club is comprised of 37 members currently and meets at noon Thursdays in the community meeting room at Grace Chapel in Wilsonville. For more information, log on to www.wilsonvillerotary.com or write the club at info@wilsonvillerotary.com.
About Rotary
Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 36,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping those in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. Through Rotary’s disease treatment and prevention programs, members educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. For more information, visit Rotary.org
About the Rotary Club of Wilsonville
The Rotary Club of Wilsonville was founded in 1975 and is dedicated to friendship and service projects. The club carries out several signature service projects throughout the year, including the innovative Through A Child’s Eyes program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the annual Wilsonville Rotary Summer Concerts, several Good Eggs omelet and pancake breakfasts throughout the year, the Wilsonville First Citizen awards program, and much more. The club meets weekly, Thursdays at noon, and has 37 members. Log on to www.wilsonvillerotary.com for more information.