Locals receive governor awards

DENVER — On Thursday the 2017 Governor’s Service Award winners were announced. The awards are presented in recognition and appreciation to individuals, community/civic leaders, nonprofit organizations, SeniorCorps volunteers, and AmeriCorps members that have positively impacted Colorado communities through their service and volunteerism.

The Governor’s Service Awards are presented by Serve Colorado, the Governor’s Commission on Community Service. Serve Colorado promotes community service throughout the state to build a culture of citizenship, service, and individual responsibility.

Colorado governors, current and past, recognize the importance of all Coloradans in solving statewide issues, and for the past 20 years have honored volunteers who have made profound change in their communities.

Honorees include:

Outstanding AmeriCorps VISTA Member Vanessa Moore

As a veteran herself, Vanessa Moore has worked to help meet the specific needs of student veterans to help to ease their transition from military to civilian life and success in college. Moore created and maintains a community resource web to assist veteran students and veterans across the San Luis Valley with financial instability, behavior health issues, and navigating disability.

Vanessa Moore was born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa. In 2009 she enlisted in the Iowa National Guard as a Combat Medic. Upon completing both basic training and medic training she spent one year of service in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, where she was stationed with a male infantry unit in the middle of the mountains.

After returning from Afghanistan, Vanessa attended school sporadically and continued to serve in the National Guard for six years until her contract was completed and she was honorably discharged in 2015. Vanessa then moved to Alamosa, Colorado and served two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the SECond Mission project at Adams State University.

As an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the SECond Mission project Vanessa worked to help meet the specific needs of student Veterans to help to ease their transition from military to civilian life and success in college. In 2015, Vanessa was instrumental in Adams State instituting an in-state tuition policy for all veteran students and a policy for student veterans to live independently in family housing on Campus. Vanessa created and maintains a community resource web to assist veteran students and veterans across the San Luis Valley with financial instability, behavior health issues, and navigating disability.

In her own words, “Through AmeriCorps VISTA, I have grown as a young professional and found the sense of purpose I lost after returning home from Afghanistan. I have put my passion for student veteran success into action, and created actual reform in an area that serves many veterans. We have students that come back now, and are blown away by the changes that have been made to our Center on campus, because it was something they never had. I personally struggled in school because I felt out of place, as most student veterans do. Through my service, I can “pay it forward”, and help those student vets who struggle like I did. The military is based upon group mentality, so recreating that in a student veteran environment is incredibly important. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA and serve my fellow veterans.”

Vanessa was awarded her bachelor’s degree from Adams State University, and this fall will begin attending University of Colorado Denver to pursue a masters in education.

Outstanding AmeriCorps State/National Member Nicolas Sablan

Nicolas served two terms with La Puente Home Inc.’s AmeriCorps State program in Alamosa as a Volunteer Coordinator. Beyond his direct responsibilities of coordinating 397 volunteers who contributed more than 12,280 hours to his community, Sablan filled many of his evenings and weekends connecting with people to complete projects that improved their community.

Nicolas was born in Houston, Texas and relocated to North Carolina at a young age. He grew an appreciation for the outdoors through his involvement in the Boy Scouts of America, and a mutual respect for city streets through skateboarding. After receiving his rank of Eagle Scout, Nicolas took it upon himself to continue staying engaged in service. He found ways to serve his communities such as becoming a mentor for Big Brother Big Sister, working in Student Government, and being involved with local committees and coalitions to advocate for the rights of skateboarders at Appalachian State University.

Nicolas served two terms with La Puente Home Inc.’s AmeriCorps State program in Alamosa, Colorado as a Volunteer Coordinator. Beyond his direct responsibilities of coordinating 397 volunteers who contributed over 12,280 hours to his community, Nicolas filled many of his evenings and weekends connecting with people to finish up projects that improved their community.

In his position as Volunteer Coordinator, Nicolas worked hard to ensure there were projects available for all ability and skill levels so that anyone could serve in a way that was meaningful to them. He always followed up with people to let them know the full scope and impact of the service they provided, which help motivate them to continue volunteering. Nicolas remains true to the heart of service and inspires others to do the same.

At the beginning of his service Nicolas and a community volunteer began devising a plan to get a shipment of bikes donated to La Puente. Bikes are crucial to the lives of La Puente’s clients in the San Luis Valley as there is no form of public transportation. Nicolas understood just how valuable this resource would be to those he served, so over the course of nine months and through much coordination, Nicolas’ efforts resulted in 22 bikes with helmets and locks brought to the San Luis Valley to be given to La Puente’s clients. This would not have happened if not for Nicolas and its impact will be felt long after he leaves.

Since arriving in Colorado for AmeriCorps, Nicolas has grown a love for long backpacking trips and backcountry snowboarding. Nicolas joined AmeriCorps hoping to make a change, big or small, in the San Luis Valley; what he found was a major change in himself.