Jan King (left) and Cathy Habib

By Julie Benson

Special to the Reporter

The city of Bellevue recently announced this year’s Community Volunteers of the Year: Cathy Habib and Jan King. Both women have spent many hours serving the Bellevue community, providing vital leadership and support to create change.

The award is designed to recognize people who have not only made a significant contribution to the community, but also have gone above and beyond the call of duty, demonstrating leadership, innovation, creativity, collaboration and partnering. Bellevue presents the award each year in conjunction with National Volunteer Week, this year April 21-27.

Nominated by the Bellevue Schools Foundation, Habib has a long history of volunteerism within the community. She has made contributions in the area of public education, impacting thousands of Bellevue children and families. As a foundation board member and grantmaking chair, Habib pushed the organization to increase its strategic investments and increase funding for programs across elementary, middle and high schools. She is an active volunteer in the schools as well, serving as a volunteer mentor for many years and in various leadership positions with Parent Teacher Student Associations (PTSAs).

“Cathy is smart, analytical, thoughtful, organized, energetic and generous – everything nonprofits in our community need and more,” said Bellevue Schools Foundation Executive Director Roxanne Kröon Shepherd. “She leads by example, drawing others into active and enthusiastic volunteerism – her passion is contagious!”

Habib is also involved with a number of other organizations including Eastside Pathways, where she has been an integral team member from the beginning and is now leading the Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative. The effort now has the support of 15 organizations, with a plan to decrease by half the number of kids arriving at kindergarten unprepared by 2016.

Nominated by Bellevue Presbyterian Church, King has spend the last seven years working behind the scenes to coordinate Service Day, an August event that brings over 1,000 volunteers into Bellevue elementary schools to help decorate and organize classrooms, renew and refresh landscaping, and do general cleaning to get the schools ready for students.

King’s work recruiting and training volunteer leaders, meeting with principals to assess needs, and coordinating other critical details makes the effort possible.

King also works with The Sophia Way to assist homeless women in the community. She helped furnish and decorate both the Holly House for women transitioning out of homelessness and the new overnight shelter housed at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church.

“Jan has moved beyond the walls of Bellevue Presbyterian Church to make an amazing difference in the community,” said Elizabeth Hayford, Director of Missions Administration for the church. “She doesn’t work for the honor or recognition, but because she loves others.”