A mix of clouds and sun with a slight chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
Scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Updated: May 12, 2023 @ 8:51 am
Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Nonprofit Resource Center Development Director Julie Ledbetter, left, hands a boxed lunch to Rachel Buford during the center’s Volunteer Appreciation drive-thru lunch on Thursday.
Lindsey Roberts waits inside a vehicle to help Neighbors Building Neighborhoods distribute box lunches during NBN’s Volunteer Appreciation drive-thru lunch on Thursday.
Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Nonprofit Resource Center Development Director Julie Ledbetter, left, hands a boxed lunch to Rachel Buford during the center’s Volunteer Appreciation drive-thru lunch on Thursday.
Lindsey Roberts waits inside a vehicle to help Neighbors Building Neighborhoods distribute box lunches during NBN’s Volunteer Appreciation drive-thru lunch on Thursday.
Volunteering paid off in several ways for Rachel Buford this past year.
On Thursday, she was one of 80 people set to receive an appreciation certificate for her volunteerism from Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Nonprofit Resource Center. NBN staff and board members presented the certificates, box lunches and goodie backpacks to honorees during a drive-thru Volunteer Appreciation Lunch on Thursday at Honor Heights Park.
“I’m very thankful because I actually moved to Muskogee during the pandemic, so I didn’t know anybody in this area,” Buford said after getting her honors. “Through my job at OSU and the Foundation, I got the chance to make a lot of community partnerships, and it is been a blessing to be able to be involved in the community and have those connections and being able to give back.”
Buford’s passenger seat had boxes of food, beverages and supplies she said she was going to distribute to Catholic Charities children’s clinic. She came to Muskogee to work with the Oklahoma State University High Obesity Program. She now works for the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality.
NBN Development Director Julie Ledbetter said the City of Muskogee Foundation nominated Buford for a Volunteer Appreciation certificate because she helped with its food box distribution last summer.
Buford said she appreciates “that all of our work in the summer and all our work in the community has been noticed.”
Continuing concern about the COVID-19 pandemic prompted NBN to move the annual event outdoors this year. The 2020 event was canceled because of COVID-19.
Ledbetter said NBN wanted to recognize volunteers in “an unusual year.”
“We still had a lot of agencies who had volunteers,” she said. “Agencies still needed volunteers to run their organizations.”
Volunteers stepped up in many ways, Ledbetter said.
As an example, she said the City of Muskogee Foundation’s food box distribution last summer “needed additional support to make it happen.”
Fur Babies nominated 22 volunteers, Ledbetter said.
“And they still have agency needs. They still need volunteers to foster fur families, and they still need individuals, with or without the pandemic,” she said.
Emily Miller and her family were honored for helping Fur Babies Adoption and Rescue.
“I’ve done it my whole life,” she said. “It’s kind of been my thing to be around animals and help the ones that need help.”
Christina Henderson said her family helps Fur Babies find, rescue and foster animals.
She recalled helping puppies who were dumped near Okay several weeks ago.
“We got the puppies; the mama had run off,” she said. “So we’ve been fostering those puppies and also some others that had been taken in.”
Her daughter, sixth-grader Bryanna Maxwell said, “We love to help animals and we love to create a home for them.”
“We all do our part,” Henderson said.
Catholic Charities honored 11 volunteers.
Center coordinator Liliana Carbone said volunteers were “super wonderful.”
“I couldn’t do my job without them,” she said.
Cameron Stacey, who helped haul donated food for Catholic Charities, said he enjoys being able to help and donate his time.
“There’s not many of us who have a truck big enough to bring the food, because we put full pallets of food on the trucks,” Stacey said.
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center – Trust Authority: Cedric Johnson, Kenny Payne, Leroy Walker, Mike Miller, Tish Dawkins, Juanda Perkins, Roy Tucker, Derrick Reed.
• City of Muskogee Foundation: Lacey Wallace, Jessie Collins, Rachel Buford, Tammy Perry.
• Founders’ Place Historical District Inc.: Jonita Mullins, Diana Newton, Jennifer Gammill, Adrian Whitaker, Camille Sain, Russell Sain, Mike Riggs, Teresa Chaudoin, Melissa Jessel.
• Fur Babies Adoptions and Rescue: Nathasha Benge, Robert Benge, Wes Benge, Egan Bowen, Tonya Miller, Jared Miller, Xavier Miller, Emily Miller, Melinda Tye, Mike Tye, Billie Lewis, Karen Coker, Kay King, Kathy Palmer, Mary Hall, Mary Potts, Sherry Cotner, Rebecca Reaume, Chris Brassfield, Rose Hutton, Eddie Hutton, Jeremy Shanks, Heather Shanks.
• Green Country Behavioral Health Services: Forrest L. Kirk, PhD, LADC, BCC, Police Chief Johnny Teehee, Loretta Reed.
• Kelly B. Todd Cerebral Palsy & Neuro-Muscular Foundation Inc.: Kaylynn Tootill, Melissa Poffel.
• MONARCH Inc.: Roy Tucker, Chad Farmer, Evelyn Hibbs, Haley Stiles, Ronia Davison, Lindsey Roberts, Jim Eby.
• Muskogee Catholic Charities: Jennifer Wiedel, Jonathan Wiedel, Walter Wiedel, Pat Self, Mary Upchurch, Elaine Connors, Rose Wiedel, Rosie Spriggs, Patria Johnson, Nancy Quezada, Cameron Stacey, Mike Stroup, Richard Helms.
• Muskogee Farmers Market: Kay Rosson, Carolyn Moses.
• OG&E: Muskogee Service Center, Muskogee Power Plant.
• St. Joseph Catholic School: Benny Traylor, Jeannette Bartholet, Nicole Neuzil, Katie Impson, Brandie Russell, Jamie Adams.
• (NBN) Prevention Programs (Muskogee CAN Coalition): Cliff Casteel, Leslie Hamil.
• Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Board: Delsie Lewis, Jerry Keeley, Debi Busch, Jennifer Groover, Trish German, Stephen Highers, Mark Green, Lori Jefferson, Angela Turney, Cindy Perkins, Matt Price, Ron Ramming, Tim Thompson, Marlon Coleman.
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