Each year since 1984 the Mira Mesa Town Council has held an annual dinner to recognize special volunteers who make this community a better place. The Volunteer of the Year need not be a Mira Mesa Town Council member, but should be someone who has made a significant contribution to Mira Mesa through volunteer work, not just during the past year but over the years s/he has been involved with the community.
Prior Mira Mesa Volunteers of the Year are:
1984 Verne Goodwin
1985 John Worthington
1986 Bruce Brown
1987 Sandra Sparks
1988 Dawn Gutierrez
1989 Orlando Vernacchia
1990 Pam Stevens
1991 Brenda Bowman
1992 Jeff Stevens and Sharon McCollum
1993 Bob O’Hara
1994 Bruce Brown
1995 John Malo
1996 Eldon Jacobs
1997 Marvin Miles
1998 Larry Brady
1999 Debbie Vincent
2000 Keith Flitner
2001 Robin Stutsman
2002 Karen Burger
2003 Tim Allen
2004 Steve Stutsman
2005 Joe Frichtel
2006 Chuck Sweet
2007 Mike Davis
2008 Ted Brengel
2009 Sandy Smith
2010 John Sunde
2011 Judy Taylor
2012 Bari Vaz
2013 Maria Pankau
2014 Julius Hitchens
2015 Jim Hearn
2016 Sabrina Bazzo
2017 Tom Derr
2018 Jeanne Christensen
2019 Jennifer Kvalvik
In February 1995 MMTC members adopted standing rules for the “Volunteer of the Year” award specifying that MMTC policy would be to have MMTC members vote on Volunteer of the Year nominees submitted by members and the public – prior to that, the MMTC Board made the selection from submitted nominations, except for 1989, when a vote of the membership was held. In addition, the rules adopted in 1995 stated that MMTC policy would be to select only one Volunteer of the Year and to not select an honoree who has previously been Volunteer of the Year.