Tricia Masenthin/The Lawrence Times.

The United Way awarded its 2020 Wallace Galluzzi Volunteer of the Year Award on January 11th, 2022, to Marion Belcher of the Elizabeth B. Ballard Center and Taryn Wells, freshman at Lawrence High School. The Galluzzi Award is named in honor of Wallace Galluzzi, who was an active community leader serving several terms on the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the United Way Board of Directors and provided leadership in several other local organizations, including the President of Haskell University.

Marion has overseen Ballard’s bi-monthly Harvester mobile food distribution at the Douglas County Fairgrounds for decades. Marion coordinates volunteers and tracks the
numbers of community members served. To ensure the health and safety of volunteers, staff, and clients, Marion completely revamped the process of the mobile food pantry during the beginning of the pandemic, which is now Ballard’s standardized procedure.

To read more about Marion’s story and service, see this article by the Lawrence Times!