The Shepherdstown Rotary Club has given its highest award, the Paul Harris Award, to Cheryl Groen, of Shepherdstown.
Nominated by Teri Biebel, the award was presented at the club’s bi-weekly evening meeting at The Bavarian Inn on
May 15th. An accompanying photo shows from left, PHF Chair Walt Eifert, Evening Chair Teri Biebel, Groen, center, charter member Bill Howard, with Club President Jim King. The Paul Harris Award is named for the man who founded Rotary International in 1905, Paul
Percy Harris (1868-1947). The Shepherdstown Club periodically gives this award to nonmembers and members who
have served their community exceptionally well and who therefore exemplify the Rotary motto “service above self.”
Cheryl Groen exemplifies what “service above self” means in her quiet, behind the scenes work. She does not like the spotlight, preferring instead to sit back and let others take the credit. However, since joining our club as a Charter Member of the Evening group in June 2019, she has been quietly pitching in under the radar. In addition to working full time and raising a family, Cheryl started the partnership between our Evening Group and the EPEC Adopt-a-Family program, doing all of the legwork in coordinating the families, the Rotary volunteers who get gifts for each family member, collecting all the donations and delivering them to EPEC every year. Last year we opened this program up to the Morning group and had tons of great gifts for some very happy and deserving families, strengthening the bond between both meeting time members.
Cheryl also coordinates the Eastern Panhandle Reading Program and has managed to keep it going and growing since taking over. She coordinates the volunteers, assign them to their schools, handle all of the orders, coordinate delivery and distribution to these deserving students. And every year, they are almost always available to volunteer for the Christmas and Fourth of July Parade lineups as well as volunteering with their daughter at our Fourth of July Picnic. This person is passing on their love of volunteerism and service above self to their children.
