If you want to job, done…call the 2002 Volunteer of the Year

Many of you know the recipient of this award. But I bet very few of you know how much she does. Her first choice is always to fly below the radar screen. But let me assure you of one thing – if you need a job done right, she is the one to ask.

Are you looking around the room for a race director thinking this person might be one? Well, she doesn’t wear that title very often, but if you need someone to make sure the Tom Brown Bash, Fall Fest, The Pot Luck Bash, Women’s Distance Festival, The Ten Mile Challenge and lord knows how many more races are well organized and run, you might call her. Come to think of it each of the directors of those events did just that. And every one of them owes her a big debt of thanks. Parenthetically, I would note this volunteer is especially valuable if the race director breaks her collar bone.

So maybe you think she conducts beginning runners’ classes? Well, not exactly but, if you were going to conduct classes for new runners and you had lots of people show up and you needed someone to help out that you could really depend on you might just call her. And in fact, that is just what happened.

See, no one label captures her total effort. If you are tired of looking around the room trying to figure out the category she fits in, well let me tell you she quietly seems to be everywhere except in the limelight. But if you needed help stuffing bags for Springtime packages, you might just call this person to make sure they all got stuffed. I bet you guessed it by now, someone did and she showed up. And perhaps most importantly if you need someone to come up with some of the wackiest gifts for your race, I cannot think of anyone more imaginative or creative person.

And if you need someone to be a star on a committee that requires a lot of hard work and organization, you might just call her. Yep, she has served on the Chenoweth Committee for longer than anyone can remember and has tirelessly promoted its goals to coaches and schools and others throughout the area. Whether it is the children of Belle Vue Middle School or elite runners reaching for National Competitions she always goes the extra mile to get the job done.

Well, I know this is probably the toughest job she has ever tackled, one of the few she would never volunteer for, but it is time for Toma Wilkerson to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight for long enough to accept the Volunteer of the Year Award.