The National Council Volunteer Recognition Committee is pleased to announce that the 2019 AFS-USA Peggy and Art Howe Award goes to the Baron family from the Columbia Pacific Area Team! In a spectacular field of nominations, the Baron family rose to the top in the anonymous judging process.
Families are at the heart of AFS. With the Howe Award, we honor the Baron family while remembering Peggy and Art Howe, an exceptional couple who advanced the mission and goals of AFS as a family and promoted diversity and inclusion.
Paul and Trisha Baron and their children, Mykie, Hanna, and Elise, have worked together as a family to promote all things AFS and strengthen the Three Rivers Chapter in ColPac. Paul and Trisha both hold multiple volunteer leadership positions, including area team Co-Chair and Support Coordinator and Chapter Chair and Hosting Coordinator. Mykie is the team’s SP Cluster Coordinator and Communication Coordinator. Hanna and Elise help with events in the chapter and school presentations supporting SP students. They are experienced host sisters now as the family is hosting their seventh student!
The family’s nominator said, “They bring fun, joy, and great ideas to all they do in committees. Paul is very supportive of his wife and daughters in all they do, including AFS volunteering. He is the cheerleader and the rock of the family. Trisha is a great ideas person and is very organized. She has helped the entire area team come up with systems to provide better communications, training, and events to our stakeholders. Mykie is an excellent Communications Coordinator and SP Cluster Coordinator. She is a strong writer and always includes all leaders in her ideas and decisions regarding communications out to our stakeholders. This is a very collaborative family. The family communicates so well with each other and seem to have fun in all they do, whether work or play.”
As the nomination said, “This is an amazing family. We have watched them work together as a family to accomplish great things for AFS.” The Baron family’s nomination will also be submitted to AFS-International as the AFS-USA candidate for the International Howe Award. Congratulations, Baron family!
