Elaine Harris will receive the Bluffton Lions Club Citizen of the Year award for 2011 during a 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 20, dinner meeting at Maple Crest Senior Living Community, Bluffton.
Harris and her husband, Bob, own Twin Lakes Campground, 3506 Township Road 34, Bluffton. Harris is a vice-president of the Bluffton Lions Club, is on the board of the Bluffton Lions Foundation and chairs of the club's pancake breakfast and chicken barbecue.
In addition to her role in the Bluffton Lions, she is active in many other Bluffton organizations.
She served the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce in several capacities. These include six terms as secretary and two terms as president. Except for the time she was president, she has been on the Blaze of Lights committee as chairperson for five years and parade emcee for two years. She has been a member of the Festival of Wheels committee since joining the chamber.
Although it is disbanded, Harris was a charter member of the Bluffton Optimist Club. She is a member of the S.H.A.N.N.O.N. Service Club where she chairs the club's involvement at Vance Street Apartments and Mennonite Memorial Home.
She led a food drive during the Bluffton sesquicentennial, was a member of the town hall remodeling committee, and has served on the Bluffton-Beaverdam-Richland Township United Way board. She is a past leader in Brownies and Cub Scouts where she volunteered for nine years.
She is an officer in the Ohio Campground Owners Association and has served as trustee and secretary and as an Ohio delegate to the national association.
Criteria
Criteria for the Lions Citizen of the Year Award includes that the nominee: "... has selflessly given time, effort, and talent for the benefit and betterment of the greater Bluffton area"; and, "... leaves a legacy of achievements that have (or will) profoundly influence the quality of life in the greater Bluffton area and have (or will) enduring value beyond the nominee's lifetime.
