The Violet Richardson Award recognizes young women between the ages of 14-17 who make the community and the world a better place through their volunteer efforts. Violet Richardson-Ward was the first president of the first Soroptimist club. Richardson-Ward was committed to creating opportunities for girls and young women through her affiliations with Soroptimist, the Girl Scout Council and the American Association of University Women. Her passion for volunteer service, particularly as it affected women and girls, has been an inspiration to Soroptimists throughout the years. Each of these young ladies will receive $250 and $250 for the charity of their choice.

Skyler DeMatties told us she loves volunteering at different places when the opportunity pops up. Of the many places she has volunteered, the most beneficial place is the Ray Ellis Memorial Volunteer Ambulance Corps. (REMVAC) She told us that after the first call she fell in love with it. She said, “At first, I thought I’d like to be a paramedic, but I have decided on being a pediatric nurse. I love to help people, especially children.”

Skyler says the biggest thing she has learned is putting her personal feelings aside without judgment when she is on a call that might hit close to home or is unethical to her. She feels her community has done so much for her and she would love to help IT as much as she can.

Congratulations Skyler — you are a definite asset to our community. Skyler has chosen to give $250 to the Ray Ellis Memorial Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

Madelyn Archibald spent her summer volunteering at our library here in Forks. She learned through her Girl Scout project that students forget a huge chunk of information they learned during the school year over the summer. She also discovered that if students fall behind or are not at grade level by third grade, they most likely never will be.

Knowing this, she gathered 1,572 children’s books and passed them out at the 4th of July parade — she was determined to get Forks kids reading! It sounds like she pretty much ran the NOLS summer reading and other events the library runs during the summer. The people at NOLS were fortunate to have this high schooler sitting in their library reading a book and modeling to young patrons that it’s cool to read a book … even in the summer! Madelyn has chosen to give $250 to North Olympic Library Forks branch for its Summer Reading program.

Maya Trettevik told us about all the places she has volunteered here in Forks and believe me she has quite a list! She makes salads for the Feeding of the 5,000, serving pie at the Harvest Dinner, serving at luncheons at her church, helping with the Caring Place auction, serving at the veterans luncheons, concessions at the Demolition Derby, ocean and beach cleanups, cleaning the Bear Creek campground recreational trails, planting trees for Arbor Day, giving tours of the school for the Twilight weekend, mentored a new student at FHS and she has held many offices in different groups at FHS. That’s quite a list, right? Maya says being an active community member has been part of her life and it’s what she does best and takes pride in. Congratulations Maya, Forks has been lucky to have you in our community! Maya has chosen to give $250 to the Caring Place.