Calling All Do-Gooders

The city is taking names—the names of volunteers and do-gooders.

Whether it’s an all-volunteer senior band entertaining at hospitals and schools, or someone who works to prepare the neighbors for an emergency, or a person who feeds the hungry at a homeless shelter, the wants to give volunteers such as these some recognition for their services.

“All you need to have a city is a group of buildings, but if you want to have a community, it takes much more than that—it takes people who care,” City Manager Dave Knapp said at the 2010 CREST award ceremony.

CREST—an acronym for Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken—is an annual award given to individuals or organizations whose work in some way positively impacts Cupertino. This year’s awards ceremony, scheduled for June 1, has a nomination deadline of 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Anyone who has an impact on Cupertino can be nominated, regardless of where he or she lives. People and organizations may not nominate themselves, and the city asks that if the nominee is in a paid position, that person must go above and beyond the normal call of duty.

Nominations should be for work and efforts accomplished during the 2010 calendar year.

Applications can be downloaded here or completed online here. Applications must be postmarked on or before March 11 and should be mailed or dropped off to the public information office at City Hall.