Duplin honors volunteers
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on January 5, 2005 1:59 PM
KENANSVILLE -- The Duplin County commissioners congratulated five groups and individuals who received volunteer awards from the governor.
The board acknowledged the volunteers Monday in the County Administration Building on Seminary Road.
Delilah Gomes, chairman of the Community Building Task Force, announced the recipients, which included individuals, groups and businesses in the county that have made significant contributions through their volunteer service.
Recipients included the Duplin Home Care and Hospice Volunteers, the Duplin First Council and firefighter Tony Lyle Cavenaugh, who operates the "Jaws of Life," and volunteers at all of the Wallace-Rose Hill High School home games.
They also included Paul Gomes, Delilah's husband and a retired police officer who volunteers for the Duplin County Service to the Aged delivering meals to shut-ins. He tutors at Warsaw Middle School and is active with Duplin's Senior Olympics team.
The fifth award went to the Kenansville Playground Committee, which raised $110,000 to build the playground in 2004. Children designed it, and volunteers built it in a week.
County Manager Fred Eldridge and the board also congratulated Transportation Coordinator Steve Moore for receiving the Transportation Leadership Award from the Eastern Carolina Council.
Under Moore's leadership, the department was selected by the state as a pilot program for automated vehicle locators, which are mobile data computers. Moore, who received the award in New Bern on Dec. 9 at the Eastern Carolina Council Annual Banquet, has been Duplin's transportation coordinator for about three years.