After several years of hiatus due to the pandemic, the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation has brought back their annual Awards Recognition Ceremony Event honoring extraordinary individuals, groups, and businesses that have gone above and beyond to support their mission.
The SNMHF Volunteer Outreach Steering Committee was awarded the 2023 Volunteer Group of the Year during Tuesday’s event held at the Gold Miner’s Inn in Grass Valley.
The Volunteer Group of the Year Award recognizes the efforts of a business entity that provides valuable support to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation by providing financial and in-kind support through volunteerism.
“This team is there for our organization at all events, providing strategy and organization for our volunteer program, and represents SNMH Foundation in our community at community outreach events,” a release said.
Volunteer of the Year for 2023 was awarded to Lizabeth Meyers, who has provided over 1,000 hours of volunteer service to SNMH Foundation.
“Liz Meyers has been a volunteer since 2015 and comes into the office once a week to support the team. She also helps at all of our events and has been a dedicated part of our family,” the release said.
Autometrix & South Fork Vodka were awarded the SNMHF’s Businesses of the Year.
“This year we had two outstanding nominees for Business of the Year and had to recognize both of them for their efforts to support the community during the pandemic,” the release said. “Autometrix and South Fork Vodka both are well deserving of this award. Autometrix made face shields for Hospital employees when personal protection equipment was running drastically low. South Fork Vodka supplied the Hospital and community with hand sanitizer. Both companies selflessly did what was needed to keep our community safe.”
Drs. Mark and Melisa Agness were awarded the Glaister A. Dawkins Humanitarians of the Year for 2023 also during Tuesday’s event.
The award was created in 2002 by the SNMHF Board to recognize Western Nevada County residents that have made humanitarian contributions at a global level while serving people in countries all over the world.
According to the release, Melisa Agness, who is a retired radiologist spent much of her career specializing in mammography and education with a focus on women.
“She served her first medical mission in Ethiopia through Samaritan’s Purse and then joined the Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team approximately two and a half years ago,” the release said, adding that she also served in Wisconsin working with Afghan refugees and in the Ukraine in the last year.
Mark Agness practiced for seventeen years as an ER Physician at Rideout Hospital in Marysville and retired two years ago to pursue medical missions according to the release. “After doing his first medical mission in 2003 in Nairobi he was ready for more,” the release said. “He has served in Bulgaria, Mexico, and Ethiopia. He joined the Disaster Response Assistance Team of Samaritan’s Purse four years ago and has been able to serve in Italy, Honduras, Sudan, and Southern California,” the release said, adding that he deployed three times to the Ukraine and most recently in Turkey.
Monty East was awarded the Curtis Grimes Perpetual Leadership Award for 2023 by the SNMHF.
The Curtis Grimes Perpetual Award is presented annually to a volunteer who has demonstrated the outstanding leadership that Curtis Grimes exemplified. Grimes was instrumental in creating Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation two decades ago.
“Monty East joined the Hospital Board in October of 2015 and also served on the Hospital Foundation board. Monty is an active member of the Philanthropy Committee providing strategy and raising funds for key projects and initiatives over the year,” the release said.
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