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Tonight, 11 Trumbull County residents will be celebrated as the newest class in a wonderful group of local Community Stars being recognized for their amazing level of service to our community.
Incredibly, it has been more than two decades since this annual event began in 2002 celebrating local residents who go beyond expectations to make a significant impact in the lives of others. None do it because they expect reward or something in return. They do it simply because it's the right thing to do.
What is perhaps even more incredible is the fact that, year after year, we never seem to exhaust the list of local residents worthy of this honor. Every year, we continue to receive dozens and dozens of nominations for these wonderful and giving members of our community.
These nominees never shy away from hard work. They truly want to give of themselves to their neighbors and their community simply to make Trumbull County an even better place to live.
The Tribune Chronicle and Trumbull 100 again are co-sponsoring this evening's banquet and awards ceremony.
And again, we find ourselves humbled by the honorees and, in fact, by all the nominees. It is particularly uplifting to see the number of past Community Stars who nominate others for the award and who, then, return to the awards banquet to help honor others who give as selflessly as they have.
We offer our appreciation to those past recipients, to all those who took the time to send us a nomination and to all the very deserving nominees. As always, this year's selection process was a challenge because so many nominees are worthy of honor for the love and dedication they offer their community.
The 2023 class of Community Stars includes:
• Sherri Bercheni of Warren, who was nominated by 2008 Community Star Deryck Toles, founder and CEO of Inspiring Minds. She is the organization's leader for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.
• Linda Morton Cowin of Cortland, nominated by LaBrae Superintendent A.J. Calderone. Morton Cowin serves on the Leavittsburg Historical Society and is a founding member of the LaBrae Alumni Hall of Fame.
• Ken David of Girard, nominated by friend Jean Parke and his sons, Kevin and Brian. He is a highly decorated Army veteran who works in numerous capacities for area veterans.
• Madelyn Fonagy of Brookfield, a sophomore at Hubbard High School, nominated by her grandmother, Susan Fonagy. She is very active in her church, St. Thomas the Apostle in Vienna, and is a volunteer for United Way.
• Justin Meade of Hubbard, nominated by his wife, Ashley. He is the founder of the Autism Awareness Training and Acceptance Program.
• Melinda Mock of Warren, nominated by her daughter, Andrea Mock. She is president of the Howland Friends of the Library.
• Christine Novicky and Jeff Ford of Vienna, nominated by Pam Clower, vice president of the Vienna Historical Society. Novicky is president of the society, and Ford is an active member;
• Chuck Potashnik of Warren, who was nominated by 2019 honoree Linda Aggarwal. He is involved in numerous community organizations.
• Dennis Rossi of Warren, nominated by his son, Marc. He is on the board of numerous organizations, including at W.D. Packard and Trumbull Family Fitness.
• James Sweet of Warren, nominated by Sandy Pavlic. He is involved with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Knights of Columbus.
This year's Community Stars will be saluted and honored at tonight's banquet. Then, as in past years, their inspiring stories will be told again in a special full-color magazine inserted in Wednesday's Tribune Chronicle. We hope reading these stories will help bring renewed hope that, even in a world where we so frequently report the bad news of the day, there still remains an incredible amount of good in our community.
Congratulations to them all!
And remember, it's never too early to begin thinking about who might be a good nominee for next year's class.
editorial@tribtoday.com