Friday, December 4, 2009
Dingwall Wins Coveted Jefferson Award
PRINCESS ANNE, MD – WBOC TV’s Steve Hammond recently presented a coveted Jefferson Award to Brenda Dingwall for her many contributions to the community, with her work as director of two camps, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s “Reach for the Stars” summer camp and “Camp Agape,” among them.
“The fundraising efforts for both camps is primarily handled by Brenda Dingwall,” said Warren, who nominated Dingwall for the award. “Her genuine concern and love for all of these children have made an immeasurable impact on her community, her family and her friends.”
The Jefferson Award, a Nobel Prize for public service, honors ordinary people who do extraordinary things for their communities. Sixteen local citizens will be awarded the 2010 Jefferson Award, which was created in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft Jr. and Sam Beard. A local finalist will be selected in March to attend a June banquet in Washington D.C. that’s held annually in honor of Jefferson Award finalist across the nation. On the national level, five from the pool of local finalists will be chosen by the Board of Selectors to receive the “Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Outstanding Community Service Benefiting Local Communities.” Four national winners will be awarded as well. Past winners of the national award include Cesar Chavez, Jimmy Carter, Walter Chronkite, General Colin Powell, Arthur Ashe, Paul Newman, Oprah Winfrey and Peyton Manning.
Dingwall is equal opportunities director at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center in Wallops Island, Va., where her job lends itself to her altruistic nature and to her expressed desire to see every human being treated with dignity. At UMES, the annual “Reach for the Stars” summer camp is sponsored by the Space Flight Center and Worcester County. While the camp serves traditional students, one-third of the camp’s residents are students with disabilities, and one-third are students who are economically and socially at risk.
“Camp Agape” is situated at Camp Mardela in Denton, Md. The residential camp is reserved for young people of parents who are incarcerated. Dingwall’s work as camp director has whittled away at the 80% statistic representing the young people who follow their parents to prison.
Dingwall recently earned a Master of Science degree in rehabilitation counseling at UMES. She resides in Snow Hill with her husband David Dingwall, pastor of St. Paul’s-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Ocean City, and her three sons, Alex, Nick and Ian.
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Suzanne Waters Street, director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355, sstreet@umes.edu.
