The Big Event: Celebrating the Upper Valley’s Heroes and Leaders

By Enterprise - May 31, 2016

Nancy Nutile-McMenemy—Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photographBill Geraghty with honoree Susan Reeves at the fifth annual Heroes and Leaders dinner, held May 19 at the Quechee Club. The event was a benefit for the Leadership Upper Valley program of Vital Communities. Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph (www.photosbynanci.com)

Nancy Nutile-McMenemy—Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photographTommy Clark, of Grassroots Soccer, Sven Karlen and Carol Dunne of Northern Stage, and Susannah Clark share a laugh during the dinner break at the fifth annual Heroes and Leaders dinner, held May 19 at the Quechee Club. The event was a benefit for the Leadership Upper Valley program of Vital Communities. Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph (www.photosbynanci.com)

Nancy Nutile-McMenemy—Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photographKeynote speaker Elizabeth Sawin of Hartland, co-director of Climate Interactive, speaks about her mentor, the late Donella Meadows, at the fifth annual Heroes and Leaders dinner, held May 19 at the Quechee Club. The event was a benefit for the Leadership Upper Valley program of Vital Communities. Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph (www.photosbynanci.com)

Enterprise-Big Event 5th Annual Heroes and Leaders 2016 Hosted by Leadership Upper Valley Quechee Club Quechee, VT May 19, 2016 Copyright ?2016 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Valley News: http://www.vnews.com Image Galleries: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Valley-News

Nancy Nutile-McMenemy—Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photographPeggy O'Neil, from WISE, Gretchen Rittenhouse, of Stafford, and Jim and Deb Alexander, of Canaan attend

Nancy Nutile-McMenemy—Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photographFred Thomas and his wife, Marjorie, and daughter Barbara, all of Thetford, at the fifth annual Heroes and Leaders dinner, held May 19 at the Quechee Club. The event was a benefit for the Leadership Upper Valley program of Vital Communities. Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph (www.photosbynanci.com)

The themes change from year to year — 2016’s was “mentors” — but Vital Communities’ annual Heroes and Leaders celebrations share a common thread. The event, which honors the people who make the Upper Valley a “really special place,” winds up being “a kind of feel-good evening about the Upper Valley,” said Stacey Glazer, who manages Vital Communities’ Leadership Upper Valley program. “People say, ‘There are all these amazing people who live here and have done all these great things.’” A benefit for Leadership Upper Valley, the event was held May 19 at the Quechee Club. With 183 attendees, it was sold out for the third year running.

This year’s honorees have inspired others, Glazer said. It’s “a perpetuating sort of thing.” The keynote talk by Elizabeth Sawin, co-director of the Washington, D.C.-based Climate Interactive, “kind of brought the whole evening together,” Glazer said. Sawin, who was mentored by the influential environmentalist Donella Meadows, described the experience of working with a mentor “and how that changes your life.”

Here are the 2016 honorees: Jim Alexander, emergency management coordinator at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; Barnes Boffey, Aloha Foundation; Tommy Clark, Grassroots Soccer; Carol Dunne, Northern Stage; Peter Faletra, Crossroads Academy; Dan Jantzen, Dartmouth-Hitchcock; Shirley Jefferson, Vermont Law School; Joe O’Donnell, Geisel School of Medicine; Peggy O’Neil, WISE; Susan Reeves, Colby-Sawyer College; Gay Sabin, Grantham Village School; and Fred Thomas, SCORE.

— Aimee Caruso

The Big Event: Celebrating the Upper Valley’s Heroes and Leaders

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