Washington chamber announces annual awards at banquet

During Monday night’s Greater Washington Business Partnership Annual Dinner at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, the chamber organizations announced their annual awards.

The partnership includes the Washington Economic Development Group (WEDG), Main Street Washington and the Washington Chamber of Commerce.

Almost 300 attendees gathered to enjoy a social hour, dinner and a program highlighting the organizational accomplishments from this past year.

One of the most anticipated parts of the evening are the award announcements from each of the economic development groups.

Washington Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year: Jacqueline Arreola, LLC

Jackie Arreola is an independent insurance agent dedicated to assisting individuals in personalized insurance needs. Her services expand beyond the traditional offerings with Spanish-English bilingual counseling to help our local immigrant community feel supported and have a voice in Washington.

She not only owns and operates a business downtown Washington, but she also finds time to give back and volunteer for her community through serving as a co-founder and current senior board member of Latinos for Washington, Inc. nonprofit.

Washington Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year: Michael Moore

Mike has served on many boards and received many awards, but most importantly, he is a person that is always looking to make the surrounding community of Washington a better place to live, work and raise a family.

Mike has raised his family in Washington and recently retired as the CEO/President of the United Presbyterian (UP) Home where he served in the role for over 25 years, in addition to being the associate CEO for another 14 years.

Two of Mike’s biggest accomplishments were very innovative for our community. In 1983 he made the decision to start hiring the intellectually disabled clients of WCDC to do the laundry for the U.P. Home. This inclusionary action was proactive for its time and helped the U.P. Home, but even more importantly, gave the WCDC clients an opportunity for employment with job coaching.

The other achievement was the implementation of the U.P Home Daycare, a multigenerational day care facility that gave residents at the residential living home the opportunity to interact and help in the day care.

The day care encourages the concept that it takes a village to raise our youth. Residents were given the chance to be a grandparent once again and improved the mental health of the residents’ self-worth, not to mention giving the children the opportunity to learn and connect with the oldest generation in our community.

Main Street Washington Volunteer of the Year: Maddie Widmer

Main Street Washington is proud to announce Maddie Widmer as their Volunteer of the Year for 2021. Maddie joined the board in late 2019 with the intent of making an impact on her hometown. That impact to Main Street has been significant.

During the earliest days of the pandemic Maddie proposed the Quarantine Kitchen Program, a zoom cooking program that melded the idea of mail order meal kits (like blue apron) with food network cooking shows; all featuring local chefs that would help raise funds for Main Street.

A winning idea was born and a delicious fundraiser was born.

Maddie has been at the forefront of telling the Main Street story through the Show The Love campaign on Facebook. It features local business investors, volunteers, and board members highlighting what Main Street means to them. She jumps in whenever called to help.

WEDG Harvey Holden Award Winner: Washington County Public Health

Since 1998, the Washington Economic Development Group has awarded the Harvey Holden Outstanding Service Award. The award is named for Harvey Holden. Mr. Holden retired in 1998 from the City of Washington after several terms as Mayor, and several prior terms on the Washington City Council. He was a farmer and businessman.

He served on the board of directors of several businesses and nonprofit organizations. He was passionate about Washington and doing his best.

It is in this spirit of dedicated service that WEDG has awarded the Washington County Department of Public Health with the 2021 Harvey Holden Award.

This group has worked tirelessly, especially in the past two years, to keep Washington County residents safe and informed in a rapidly changing health care environment.

They went above and beyond in establishing clinics and test sites, answering questions and leading us through uncharted territory.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected our county’s medically and socially vulnerable populations in various ways: loss of employment, food insecurity, and reduced access to essential medical and social services.

This group worked closely with private individuals as well as the business and the health care sectors to address the needs of our communities. They have an important and unique role in mitigating the economic consequences of COVID-19.