The Governor George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteerism 

This award, which honors an individual who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community involvement and volunteer service, was presented to Judge Edward Sosnick of Bloomfield Hills.  

  

The Mentor of the Year Award  

This award, which honors an individual who has made a significant difference in a child's life over time through mentoring, was presented to LeeAnn Ludwig of Mount Pleasant.  

 

Ludwig has been involved with mentoring for many years. In high school, she participated in the school's Peer Mentoring Program, acting as a friend and confidant to others in her classes. Now in her adult life, Ludwig has been successfully matched with her mentee for two years through the Helping Others Prepare for Everything (H.O.P.E.) Mentoring Program. This relationship is especially significant as Ludwig's mentee has faced unique challenges as a young person previously in foster care. Despite this, Ludwig has been there for her mentee. Though her mentee has now moved away to college, Ludwig still makes the effort to maintain the mentoring relationship and has been named by her mentee as "one of the most influential people in her life."

The Outstanding National Service
Program Award  

 This award, which honors an extraordinary organization that provides a high-quality national service program that yields a significant impact in their Michigan community, was presented to the Schools of Hope AmeriCorps Program in Grand Rapids.  

The Schools of Hope AmeriCorps Program is a unique national service partnership between the Heart of West Michigan United Way and the Literacy Center of West Michigan. The program, which originally began with seven AmeriCorps VISTA members in 2007, now has 15 full-time AmeriCorps state members whose service is helping to close the third-grade reading achievement gap in Grand Rapids Public Schools. Schools of Hope AmeriCorps members support 14 in-school tutoring programs, 16 after-school reading programs and seven family literacy programs. In 2011, AmeriCorps members in this program supported more than 300 students in after-school programs, 719 students in in-school tutoring programs, 230 parents in family literacy instruction, and recruited, trained and managed more than 800 volunteers. On average, students in the program improved their reading growth by 1.2 years, helping to put them on track for future success in their education.

The Outstanding Volunteer Program Award  

This award, which acknowledges the importance an organization or club makes in community life through volunteerism, was presented to the Family Literacy Center of Lapeer.  

For more than 30 years, the Family Literacy Center of Lapeer has been providing quality programing for residents of Lapeer County. With a small paid staff of only four employees, the Center relies heavily on the support of more than 100 volunteers who act as tutors, administrators, fund raisers and more. Through the services and support provided by their volunteers, the Center is able to offer free one-on-one tutoring for Lapeer County adults who wish to improve their reading, writing, spelling, basic math, or English-speaking skills. Additionally, the program provides tutoring for local children, Parent and Child Together workshops, kindergarten readiness activities, and other hot-topic workshops that cover subjects such as bullying, social skill development and more. In 2011, the Family Literacy Center received more than 9,000 hours of volunteer service, which allowed them to teach workshops to 1,694 people, assist 43 students in obtaining their GED, and tutor 557 adults and 58 children.    

The Senior Volunteer of the Year Award  

 This award, which honors a senior citizen who has taken action to make his or her community a better place to live, was presented to John Hilliard of Kalamazoo.  

Since moving to the area 10 years ago, Hilliard has been a dedicated volunteer in his local community. After noticing that a need in Kalamazoo County was going unmet - many could not afford the medical equipment they required - Hilliard founded Lending Hands. This nonprofit organization in Portage loans medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers and canes to people in need free of charge. Originally operated out of his home, Lending Hands has continued to grow under Hilliard's volunteer direction, and has had to move to a larger location three separate times. In its seven-year history, the program has lent more than 10,000 pieces of equipment to more than 7,700 clients in 110 southwest Michigan communities, helping its clients to save more than $2.6 million. Though he relies on the assistance of other volunteers, Hilliard has been the primary motivation behind the organization's success and spends his time assisting clients with equipment, repairing donations, developing community relations and more.   

The Volunteer of the Year Award  

This award, which honors an individual who strives to improve the lives of neighbors, friends, community or congregation, was presented to Anthony Anderson of Buckley.  

Anderson is a committed member of the Traverse City community who volunteers his time as a way to honor his childhood mentor. Early in his service career, Anderson served as a volunteer fireman, EMT and middle-school basketball referee before signing up to become a Big Brother in 2005. After joining the Big Brothers Big Sisters program of Northwestern Michigan (BIGS-NW), Anderson was soon enlisted to serve on the BIGS-NW board of directors where he quickly ascended to the role of president. Today, Anderson is still a mentor for an 11-year-old boy, but his commitment to the BIGS-NW program has not ended there. Anderson runs several marathons each year, with 100 percent of community pledges going to BIGS-NW. To date, Anderson has raised more than $30,000 for the program by running in marathons in 20 different states. Aside from his service to BIGS-NW, Anderson also volunteers his time to the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce board of directors and Robin's Nest, a program for children who have lost a parent.

The Youth Volunteer of the Year Award  

This award, which honors individuals age 21 or younger who have already begun making a significant difference in their community by volunteering, was presented to Deonte Lucas of Detroit.  

Growing up in Detroit, Lucas has used service and volunteering to help him steer clear of pitfalls many of his peers have faced. After first volunteering to help plant trees with Greening Detroit, Lucas discovered he enjoyed improving his community. As a result, he has dedicated much of his time to serving others, volunteering with organizations such as Neighbors Building Brightmoor, Earthworks, Blight Busters and more. Lucas found volunteering so rewarding that he enlisted to serve two terms of AmeriCorps service: as a part-time member with Detroit Youth Energy Squad where he gave 550 hours of service to help residents adopt energy-saving behaviors; and as a full-time City Year Detroit member, in which he still serves. As a City Year member, Lucas serves as a tutor, coach and mentor to at-risk Detroit youth.