By Polly Mikula
Three prominent volunteers in Killington were recognized last week for their service to the town.
“We didn’t get to recognize last year’s volunteers at the Fourth of July festivities so we recognized them all last week,” explained Stephen Nisimblat, co-chair of the Killington Recreation Commission, which presented the awards.
Fourth of July in Killington always draws hundreds of community members out to enjoy the parade, barbecue, pool party, lawn games and fireworks, making it a great event to honor community members who’ve contributed most.
The 2022 Volunteer of the Year awards went to Jim Haff and Roger Rivera for their efforts collecting bottles and cans at the town transfer station, bringing them to the redemption center and donating the money to the recreation department for camps, scholarships, and fireworks.
“Those funds allowed us to do more programming including camps and allowed us to hand out some scholarships to children that otherwise would not be able to be involved,” Nisimblat said. “It was all because of Jimmy and Roger. It was an unanimous choice by the board.”
The 2023 Volunteer of the Year award went to Arra Derderian for his efforts to put together the hockey rink at the rec deptartment. this past winter.
“He went out, fundraised for it, and then with help from other volunteers put it all together. Really, he spearheaded the whole thing, he got hockey going for the kids… and he helped to maintain it all winter.”
After the winter season, in April, Derderian ended up joining the Killington Recreation Commission.
The recipients of the Volunteer of the Year awards are chosen by the commission, which included co-chairs Nisimblat and Amy Spear, Andrew McKenna and Evan Ehmann.
“We recognized these folks for these specific things, but really they do so much more for the community in so many areas and in so many ways. We are very grateful to have such dedicated volunteers in Killington,” Nisimblat concluded.
