Honored Volunteers – April 2022

Congratulations to recipients of the Lt. Governor’s Volunteer Recognition Certificate in April of 2022. The contributions made by these volunteers make lasting impacts on communities across our state.


Cody Eagan, Nominated by Glendale Neighborhood Council

Cody served as the Treasurer of the Glendale neighborhood council for a year and a half. Before moving to Ogden he volunteered his time to help resolve tax issues with the IRS that have since been resolved. Cody was instrumental in getting the community council’s business processes and policies into place and made a great difference in helping the organization get back on it’s feet. Cody will be dearly missed by our neighborhood but we are grateful for his time and service.


De’al Excha, Nominated by Utah Charities

De’al reaches out to the masses and helps find solutions.


Jet Goodson, Nominated by Humane Society of Utah

Jet is an amazing volunteer and has been here for 4 years. He has trained with our behavior team to be able to walk the more difficult dogs that need a little extra care. He takes dogs out on field trips to the park every Saturday to get them out of the shelter for the afternoon. He is always on time and never misses a shift. That kind of dedication is inspirational.


Sierra Hastings, Nominated by Sageland Collaborative

Sierra Hastings is an amazing volunteer dedicated to restoring critical wildlife habitat in Utah. Sageland Collaborative works to restore degraded streams to help improve riparian habitat for fish, pollinators, large game, macroinvertebrates, and more. This work also helps retain water in streams and the ground and improve water quality. Sierra has gone above and beyond by volunteering for nearly all of our labor-intensive stream restoration activities over the past year. She has worked on streams in Salt Lake, Summit, and Weber Counties and has also donated her services as a professional photographer to help us document the work. Her positive attitude and dedication are worthy of recognition.


Dana Hobb, Nominated by Utah State Development Center

If anyone has served the State of Utah absolutely and with total heart, it is Dana. She has given countless hours to this great state with a very vulnerable population, the special needs. She has taken the time to train countless staff who have gone on to be state employees and caregivers. She works long hours, going above and beyond and is an advocate for those in need of care and compassion. She is so deserving of a salute and makes a difference to the State of Utah. The thing about Dana is she cares, truly cares about those she serves. She is so deserving of this recognition.


Hayden Johns, Nominated by United Way of Cache Valley

This volunteer helps with capacity building with UWCV for 3 months now with volunteer coordination and support.


Kailey Lloyd, Nominated by United Way of Cache Valley

This volunteer helps with capacity building with UWCV for 4 months now with marketing material like a trifold and newsletter along with events.


Olivia Nobili, Nominated by United Way of Cache Valley

This volunteer helps with capacity building with UWCV for 1 year now with website and social media management, along with event and board activities.


Barbara Rattle, Nominated by Humane Society of Utah

After 9 years and almost 3,000 hours, Barbara is still a dedicated volunteer that comes three times a week. She has been volunteering with the cats in Kitty City all this time and continues to love it. She has taken on a new role this year and training all the new volunteers that would like to work with the cats. She has trained over 400 new volunteers! She is amazing and loves to take on new tasks and takes it upon herself to help us when needed.


Clayton Shaw, Nominated by United Way of Cache Valley

This volunteer helps with capacity building with UWCV for 2 months now with fundraising efforts.


Isaiah Shipp, Nominated by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah

Rohit Sinha, Nominated by Innovation Port

Rohit is the World’s Most Techy Kid (World Record). He is the founder of Innovation Port and Nexture Summit, two National and International level tech communities (respectively) with the aim to provide a platform to the students to learn, know their standing, showcase their skills and develop technical knowledge. In the first month of the formation of these communities, more than 1000 students and developers had got benefited.


Laura Spruell, Nominated by Humane Society of Utah

Laura has been volunteering with us for 15 1/2 years with a whopping 6,700 hours! She is a dedicated volunteer for our cats in Kitty City. Laura is our longest term volunteer and she continues to come week after week. She helps us with the more difficult or shy cats to make sure they are more comfortable while they are here. She is willing to assist with any task given and with a good attitude.


Heather Stonely, Nominated by Iron County Care and Share

Heather joined us in April 2021 and has volunteered consistently in our community pantry each week since. Heather stuck with us when the pandemic turned our operations upside down and returned after we had to close twice to face widespread outbreaks of Covid-19. Heather is hard working, kind, always positive, and beyond understanding of our sometimes untraditional ways.


Rebecca Stover, Nominated by Sundance Institute

Rebecca (Becky) has been involved with the Sundance Film Festival since it was called the Utah/US Film Festival. Born and raised in Utah, Becky comes from a family of avid film lovers who owned three movie theaters in the Salt Lake City area. Her family developed an early relationship with the Institute, lending equipment from their theaters to the Festival before it moved to Park City. Becky officially began her own story with Sundance as an attendee in 1977, before embarking on her volunteer journey a few years later.

The 2021 Festival marked Becky’s fortieth season of being a part of our volunteer family. She is known as the heart and soul of the venues she has served. Whether she is stationed at Holiday Village 4 Cinemas, Prospector Square Theatre, The MARC Theater, Eccles Center Theater, or Temple Theatre, she enthusiastically greets film lovers and Festivalgoers alike. In addition to volunteering for the Institute, Becky has served as a volunteer for the Utah Aids Foundation and St. Mark’s Hospital. She takes great pride in supporting her community.
Becky’s advice to anyone coming to the Festival is to start talking to everyone around you in line, because you never know how many friendships you will make through that simple gesture of kindness and hospitality. Becky has brought her passion for others into her volunteer and work opportunities at the University of Utah Hospital and USAA Bank, as well as into her role as an incredible aunt to more than 100 nieces and nephews. No matter how many curveballs and challenges life has thrown her way, Becky shows admirable resiliency and continues looking forward to supporting the Sundance Film Festival every year.


Debbie Treasure, Nominated by United Way of Cache Valley

This volunteer helps with capacity building with UWCV for 10 years now in the back office, events, board, and fundraising support.


Spencer Walker, Nominated by United Way of Cache Valley

This volunteer helps with capacity building with UWCV for 3 months now with volunteer coordination and support.


James West, Nominated by Panorama Elementary

James has given of his time and talents for 9 years helping struggling readers in Washington County. He has attended school 4 days a week 2.5 hrs a day. He cares about his students and goes above and beyond to ensure their success. James is very reliable and already is working on his plans to continue his service in the school district next year.


Mary Wilson, Nominated by Humane Society of Utah

Mary is a gem! She has been volunteering with us for 10 years with our cats in Kitty City. She greets every customer with a smile and is so helpful. She loves to groom them, sit with them and take loving care of them. She has reached a huge milestone with 6,000 hours! She is a wonderful volunteer who we all adore and so do the cats.


Mercedes Zel’Pappas, Nominated by Utah Charities

They are the captain of a well run ship.


Raul Zelaya, Nominated by Utah Charities

He is our fixer of everything that can break he’s our back bone.


Sebastian Zelaya, Nominated by Utah Charities

Roman Zelaya, Nominated by Utah Charities