Whitefish Chamber event will honor top community leaders
The Daily Inter Lake
Whitefish's top community leaders will be honored at the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce annual meeting on Friday.
The event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, 1380 Wisconsin Ave. After a social mixer of heavy appetizers and drinks, the program includes the chamber's annual report and an introduction to the new lodge.
World-renowned extreme skier Scot Schmidt is the guest speaker. He will talk about his experiences in the ski industry and will answer questions from the audience.
THIS YEAR'S Great Whitefish Award winner is Roland Newton. The award recognizes and honors one person's lifetime contributions to the community. Newton recently retired from a banking career that spanned 44 years, the last 35 in Whitefish.
Two generations of children have benefited from Newton's dedication to the Gary Norby Golf Foundation, as coach and umpire for the Babe Ruth league as well as Little League baseball. He's also the co-founder of the Whitefish Little Dribblers and served as a coach and referee for that program. The committees, boards and organizations on which he has served include Winter Carnival, Police Commission board, Whitefish Park Board, City Council, Stumptown Historical Society, North Valley Hospital board, Whitefish Lake Golf Course board, Booster Club, Rotary, Jaycees, Whitefish Community Foundation board and the Bulldog Open.
The Citizen of the Year award will be presented to Dr. Jay and Meg Erickson for their involvement in the Shepherd's Hand Clinic.
The couple helped found the free clinic a decade ago and are still involved with the ministry that operates out of Christ Lutheran Church. Meg Erickson is the director of caring ministry for Christ Lutheran Church. Jay Erickson is a family-practice physician at Glacier Medical Associates and has been involved with implementing North Valley Hospital's Planetree philosophy and patient-care methods. One of his passions is sports medicine and being the team physician for Whitefish High School.
David Means is Educator of the Year. As director of special services for the Whitefish school district, he is responsible for unifying the special-services program. He has established a districtwide weekly publication that informs all the special education and title programs of the latest laws and current issues affecting the programs. Means has worked toward cooperative relationships with other Flathead school programs to help provide services to all children in need.
Don Bestwick will receive the Youth Activities Volunteer of the Year award. He has been involved with Whitefish youth activities for the past 17 years, coaching everything from baseball to Nordic skiing. He became a certified umpire in 2004 and continues to schedule umpires for baseball games. Bestwick is the self-appointed groundskeeper for the Whitefish baseball fields.
Whitefish City Parks and Community Service Superintendent Chad Fincher earned the Government Worker of the Year award. Fincher has worked for the city for eight years and is one of two full-time employees in the parks and recreation department.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway earned the Business of the Year award. The corporation's employees have historically volunteered time and financial donations to youth sports, including basketball, baseball, football and soccer. Burlington Northern Santa Fe has been a partner with the city of Whitefish on several occasions, making land available for bike trails and facilities such as the O'Shaughnessy Center and public library.
The train depot and accompanying gardens were sold to Stumptown Historical Society for $1 each. The railroad also contributes greatly to the Whitefish economy, employing 235 people with an annual payroll of $11 million.