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The City of Dublin recently recognized local volunteer service from both individuals and groups in a ceremony at the Shannon Community Center earlier in the month.
The City Manager’s Office Volunteer Recognition awards ceremony was held on March 3 to honor the awardees for the 2021 Citizen, Young Citizen, and Organization of the Year titles.
“The purpose of the awards is to recognize outstanding individuals and groups who have contributed to the quality of life in Dublin this past year,” an announcement from the city said.
The awards’ nomination criteria for both individual categories includes exhibiting the 11 “Integrity in Action Characteristics,” including empathy, honesty, trustworthiness, giving, and cooperation.
Outstanding Citizen of the Year was awarded to Steve Wright, with Summer Shi being named Outstanding Young Citizen of the Year and the non-profit Breaking BEARriers being named Outstanding Organization of the Year.
Wright, who serves as a Dublin Planning Commissioner, was praised for a longstanding track record of volunteer service throughout the Tri-Valley in his nomination, including working with Open Heart Kitchen throughout the height of the pandemic to deliver fresh meals to vulnerable, unhoused community members.
A 30-year Dublin resident, Wright worked as a journalist for 25 years, formerly serving as editor for the San Jose Mercury News.
“Throughout his career, his passion has always been to help underserved communities, whether it was to demystify government actions or to highlight the cultures and the lives of people
that were often overlooked by the media,” Wright’s nomination said.
Shi, this year’s Outstanding Young Citizen, is a Dublin High School student and co-founder of Breaking BEARriers, who won this year’s organization award.
Shi’s nomination points to the work she undertook during the height of the pandemic as well, when she provided free classes in subjects such as debate, golf, and “destination imagination” aimed at helping students combat educational challenges and disengagement as school closures wore on.
“Her goal was to give students an outlet to escape the harsh demands of online learning and
explore activities they may have never thought of doing before,” Shi’s nomination said.
Like Wright’s, Shi’s nomination also pointed to her work engaging with the community as a writer journalist, with the student newspaper the Dublin Shield.
Shi was also honored, along with her five co-founders and fellow Tri-Valley students, for their work with the awardee of Outstanding Organization of the Year, Breaking BEARriers. The six students founded the non-profit as freshmen in 2019, with the mission of using technology and new ways of thinking to support youth leadership development worldwide, growing to more than 40 members since its inception.
Last year, the organization hosted free summer classes for kindergarten through eighth grade students in math, writing, debate, Chinese, basketball, golf, and saxophone, aimed at keeping younger students engaged and sparking new interests over the summer. The organization also collected more than 1,600 books during a book drive that lasted less than a month, with 600 being distributed to the local organization Children’s Book Project, and 1,000 being sent to Ghana for efforts to build a local library. The organization additionally supported the African Library Project via a Mother’s Day Bakesale, which generated $500.
In addition to the three volunteer awards presented to nominees, Hernandez presented the Mayor’s Award and Mayor’s Legacy Award, to John Samples and Eddie Joe Mack respectively. The latter was unable to attend, and Connie Mack, her longtime friend and last year’s recipient of the same award, accepted it on her behalf.
The Mayor’s Award is an opportunity for the mayor to recognize “someone whom she believes has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Dublin community in the previous calendar year,” according to the city’s announcement, while the Mayor’s Legacy Award recognizes an individual or group’s long-term service and dedication to the community.
Wright and Shi were awarded with $300 donations to their nonprofits of Choice, with Breaking BEARriers receiving a $500 cash prize. The awardees are set to be recognized at the Dublin City Council’s March 15 meeting.
