CHARLESTON, W.VA. – Governor Joe Manchin will honor two individuals from Harrison County for their outstanding dedication to volunteerism and community service. Rev. Raymond Shaw and Karen Betler will receive a Governor’s Service Award on Wednesday, July 15 at the Charleston Civic Center at a banquet held as part of Faces of Leadership, the annual state volunteerism conference.
Shaw will receive his award in the senior category. Betler will receive her award in the lifetime achievement category.
Presented annually since 1995, the Governor’s Service Awards honors youth, young adults, adults, seniors, families, organizations and businesses who exemplify outstanding dedication to volunteerism and community service in West Virginia.
Rev. Raymond Shaw of Bridgeport has worked hard to improve emergency response systems in Harrison County and to bring the faith-based community into the emergency response equation. In 2006, following a pandemic flu presentation, Shaw realized that the faith community was unprepared for a catastrophic event and wondered if a manual could be prepared for ministers to begin disaster preparation in their churches.
Project GRACE (Getting Ready Ahead of Catastrophic Events) was Shaw’s response. He prepared a 279-page manual that can be used by churches to prepare for all types of disaster. In 2008, Shaw travelled to more than 50 churches in Harrison County presenting Project GRACE to pastors and their congregations. Project GRACE manuals have been requested by 17 other West Virginia counties and 18 other states to use as an example of faith-based community disaster response.
Shaw also recruited 10 strategically-located churches to serve as alternate care sites, distribution centers, shelters or communication sites during a hazardous event and obtained a Homeland Security grant to purchase communications equipment for them.
In addition, Shaw created the Harrison County Emergency Response Team Chaplain program, which now boasts 10 trained and uniformed pastors who were called out in the June 2008 flood and participated in the Harrison County Emergency Drill last November.
Shaw established the Harrison County Citizens Corps Council and serves as its coordinator. He has trained more than 100 Community Emergency Response Team volunteers and 40 Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.
“Ray has been able to get local government, businesses and churches to work together,” Ramona Swiger, a nurse with the Harrison Clarksburg Health Department who nominated Shaw for the award, said. “Because of his tremendous volunteer efforts, Harrison County is better prepared for any hazardous event.”
Karen Betler of Nutter Fort volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children. For the past 12 years, she has dedicated many hours each week to her cases. Cases can last many months or even years and Karen Betler is there for her kids from the beginning to the successful resolution of the case. She represents the best interests of the children involved; she is their voice. Throughout the length of each case, Betler is a constant in the lives of the often damaged and broken children she represents.
“Karen is there to fight for her children and to hold their hands and let them know there is someone who really cares,” Charlene Kenney, director of the Harrison County CASA program who nominated Betler for the award, said.
Betler has observed countless children’s weekly visitations with parents, has attended hundreds of scheduled court hearings and meetings, and has maintained frequent contact with foster parents, teachers, principals, counselors and service providers.
“She is always working to ensure that damaged and broken children aren’t further victimized by an imperfect system,” Kenney said. “Her steadfast commitment is to be with her children physically and to tell them that she cares now and forever. No matter where they are placed in foster care, or even if they are in residential facilities outside the state, Karen is there.”
Betler’s fellow CASA volunteers describe her as relentless in fighting for her children.
“She gets difficult cases and unravels them until she gets answers,” Sheila Gray, another volunteer, said. “She goes above and beyond for every case.”
The Governor’s Service Awards are administered by Volunteer West Virginia, the State’s Commission for National and Community Service. They honor outstanding individuals, organizations and businesses solving community problems through volunteer service. A panel of volunteer judges, including past awardees, choose the recipients on the basis of achievement, community needs, continuing involvement, innovation and impact of service.
Other recipients of the 2009 Governor’s Service Awards include, by category:
- Lifetime Achievement: Vivian Crane, Greenbrier County
- Youth: Jonathan Ross and Anastacia Meadows both of Cabell County
- Adult: Annette Fetty-Santilli, Barbour County
- Senior: Betty Russell, Berkeley County
- National Service: Ruth Pepper, Jackson County
- Organization: The Hope Shop, Wirt County; The Shepherd’s Center of Greenbrier Valley, Greenbrier County; Generation Charleston, Kanawha County
- Business: Beckley Newspaper – the Register-Herald, Raleigh County
For tickets to the awards banquet, or information about the conference, contact Moya Doneghy at (304) 558-0111 or 1-800-WV-HELPS, or by email at Moya.Doneghy@wv.gov.
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