COMMUNITY HEROES

Montgomery County Civic Federation, Inc.

List of MCCF Community Heroes

The Montgomery County Civic Federation regularly honors people and organizations from our community who are heroes — taking time from their lives, and working hard to make the county a better place for all of us.  The following is a list of all those who have been honored as Community Heroes from 2004 to the present.
2020/10 Elliot Levine, a member of the Park Hills Civic Association and the East Silver Spring Citizens Association, is recognized for his innovative support of important community-based food security organizations in Montgomery County and the State of Maryland
2019/01 Corinne Hart, President of Woodside Park Civic Association in Silver Spring and Co-Chair of the Dale Drive Safety Coalition, an advocacy group formed by residents working to ensure the safety of all pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists using Dale Drive
2017/12 Jennifer Alvaro, a licensed clinical social worker and certified sex offender treatment provider, has been on the front lines of the battle to protect children from sex abuse in Montgomery County’s Public Schools system since 2012
2017/11 Chris Richardson, President of the Park Hills Civic Association in east Silver Spring, has assumed leadership roles on a variety of issues that have helped define Silver Spring’s rapidly growing and increasingly diverse community, including school, transportation, library, environmental, and general community development issues, working tirelessly to bring neighbors together and working with elected officials and county government representatives for solutions to longstanding problems
2017/03 Valarie Barr, President of the Rosemary Hills Neighbors Association, and Charlotte Coffield, President of the Lyttonsville Community Civic Association, have taken leading roles in guiding their west Silver Spring neighborhoods through a long process of planning and land use in their neighborhoods and, specifically, the deliberations surrounding the Greater Lyttonsville Sector Plan
2017/01 Anita Neal Powell, an effective advocate for communities of color through community-building and civic engagement, has worked tirelessly to strengthen the Montgomery County community through her advocacy and volunteer activities involving church, schools, government, and nonprofit organizations
2016/12 Bernadine “Bernie” Karns, President of Calverton Civic Association, which maintains public grounds in Calverton, promotes public safety, and advocates on transportation, traffic, roads, street lighting, schools, residential and commercial development, and environmental concerns in both Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties
2016/11 Sisters Lene and Abeda Tsegay, co-owners of the Kefa Cafe in Silver Spring, an important community gathering place which hosts civic meetings and local events and regularly features the work of local artists, as well as supporting a local homeless shelter and many newly established businesses in the area
2016/09 Malcolm “Mike” Winffel and Carl Unger, who intervened to prevent a carjacking at Westfield Montgomery Mall [both were shot; Mr. Winffel was killed]
2016/04 Terrill North, a founder of the community-serving organization MANUP, which works with teenage males at-risk of joining gangs
2016/03 Peter Murtha, a cofounder of 350MoCo, who led the ongoing effort to divest the County’s pension funds from fossil fuel companies that drive climate change
2016/01 Tom Hearn, who has advocated for many years to increase our knowledge and awareness of concussions and their effects on our student athletes — particularly in football — and to push for safeguards in school sports
2015/11 Ricardo Loaiza, founder and Executive Director of the After School Dance Program and the After School Dance Fund, Inc., two programs that have helped hundreds of Montgomery County students realize their extraordinary potential as both students and Latin dancers
2015/09 Max Bronstein, for his long-term involvement in community issues
2015/05 Ron Ely, for his work in exposing deficiencies in speed camera programs throughout the state of Maryland
2015/03 Jim Turner of Bethesda and his collaborators for their quick action on establishing and obtaining, in less than a week, over 1,000 signatures on a petition opposing MC 24-15, state legislation to create an Independent Transit Authority and fund transit through property tax increases beyond the Charter limit
2015/02 Jasmine Andoh-Thompson, a John T. Baker Middle School student who spoke out when she was touched inappropriately by a Montgomery County Public Schools contractor
2014/10 Committee to Save Kensington, which works diligently on public interest land use and government accountability
2014/09 Gordon Brenne, Vice President of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League
2014/05 Erwin Mack, pedestrian and bicyclist safety advocate
2014/03 Clair Garman, Kathleen Samiy, and Anne Vorce, environmental activists with Friends of Sligo Creek
2014/02 Abbe Milstein and Eric Hensal, public utility (electric power) activists
2013/11 Lyda Astrove, education activist
2013/09 Intergenerational Bridges, mentoring program for ESOL students
2013/04 Safe Healthy Playing Fields Coalition
2013/03 South Four Corners Civic Association and Harriett Quinn, for efforts in opposing application for excessively intensive Special Exception in SFCCA neighborhood
2013/02 Jean Cavanaugh, Marilyn Piety, Naomi Spinrad & William Mentzer, for work on legislation amending county Accessory Apartment standards and approval process
2013/01 David Reile & Barbara Suddarth, Olney master plan and environment defenders
2012/12 Sophia Maravell, local and organic food and agriculture educator/activist
2012/05 Brickyard Coalition, and Sara Shor of "Save Nick's Organic Farm"
2012/04 David Lucia, Head Coach of Montgomery Cheetahs, one of only three special needs youth ice hockey clubs in Maryland
2012/03 Little Falls Watershed Alliance, water quality activitists
2012/02 Judith Higgins and Eleanor Duckett, land use planning and zoning activists
2012/01 Janis Zink Sartucci, education activist
2011/11 Neighborhood Montgomery, countywide zoning and land use education and activism group
2011/10 Marvin Weinman, budget and fiscal issues activist
2011/09 Washington Revels
2011/06 Save Our Parks/Preserve Our Community Coalition, Rosemary Hills-Lyttonsville neighborhood group
2011/05 George Lane, public safety advocate
2011/04 Gordon Clark, community gardens activist
2011/03 Mike Heyser, for volunteer education & training activities on farming and local food production
2010/11 Members of the Young Activist Club at Piney Branch Elementary School, and Sponsors Nadine Bloch and Brenda Platt
2010/05 Donna Baron, community activist
2010/04 Karen Roper, community activist
2009/04 Plyers Mill Crossing HOA, Plyers Mill Estates, and McKenny Hills Carroll Knolls Civic Association
2009/01 Sandy Spring-Ashton Rural Preservation Consortium
2008/09 Dick Kauffunger, community activist
2008/06 Faye Nabavian, Pat Price, and Al Geske, community activists
2008/01 Diane Cameron, environmental activist
2007/12 Harriet Lurensky Kuhn and Sue Ghosh Stricklett, community activists
2007/05 Eileen Finnegan, community activist
2007/04 Bernie Fisken, community activist
2006/12 Bette Petrides, environmental and community activist
2006/10 Steve Kanstoroom, community activist
2005/10 Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee
2005/09 Carol Green and Barbara Siegel, community activists
2005/04 Save Seven Locks School Coalition
2004/10 Laura Van Tosh, mental health advocate
2004/09 Bill Henry, Kay Cummins and VASAP Volunteers
2004/05 Ira Shesser, community activist
2004/04 Nancy Wendt, community activist
2004/03 Andrew White, volunteer fireman
2004/02 Dan Tuten, community activist
2004/01 Law Firm of Knopf & Brown
2003/11 Leah Haywood, Edward Murtagh, and Kathleen Michels for their work in the renovation of Northwood High School
2003/10 Evelyn Burton for her many years of advocacy for persons with mental illness
2003/05 Rosey Poole, civic activist
2003/03 Jim Humphrey (founder of the Rally for Montgomery) and Sarah Gilligan (Maplewood Citizens Association) for their exemplary civic work
2003/02 Dr. Thomas Jeremiah Baltimore, Sr., founder and senior minister of the People’s Community Baptist Church, for his service to people and communities
2003/01 Lois Sherman, founding member of the Montgomery Inter-County Connector Coalition (MICC)
2002/10 Marvin Weinman, for volunteering to help the county in many ways and over many years
2002/09 James M. Fary, environmental activist
2002/05 Randy Bosin, a dedicated and tireless volunteer advocate for Montgomery County’s seriously mentally ill citizens
2002/04 David Brown, for this efforts to stop the Conference Center
2001/12 Montgomery County Fire Administrator Gordon Aoyogi, Chief Roger Strock, and Chief David Dwyer, in recognition of the day-to-day services of the men and women, both career and volunteer, of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services
2001/04 W. Gregory Wims, founder of the Victims Rights Foundation, Inc., community activist
2001/03 Samira Hussein, for her efforts to advance interfaith and interethnic understanding in Montgomery County
2001/02 Volunteer Victim Assistants (working in the Abused Persons Program under the direction of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services) for their dedication, generosity, and most effective work
2000/12 Frank Vrataric, community activist
2000/11 Barney Evans, an advocate for transportation, schools, seniors, and the environment
2000/10 Tony Caffrey, for suimg the County over its failure to make public the scoring guidelines by which a multimillion management contract was to be awarded
2000/09 Whistleblowers at Potomac Elementary School who brought the MSPAP cheating scandal to light
1999/11 Marcie Stickle, for her tireless work for historic preservation across Montgomery County