Arlington residents’ commitment to serving others took center stage at the 2025 Arlington Cares event last week.
More than 200 people attended the Tuesday gathering at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association headquarters in Ballston.
“Volunteers are part of the heart that make a community whole. They are crucial,” said Lisa Fikes, president/CEO of the Leadership Center of Arlington.
The Leadership Center partners with the county government to run Volunteer Arlington, which coordinates and promotes volunteerism in the community.
The awards ceremony, now in its ninth year, is an opportunity to recognize “amazing volunteers that are doing amazing work in this community,” said Tara Palacios of Arlington Economic Development. She recently began service chairing the Leadership Arlington board of directors.
Among those receiving accolades was Erika Yalowitz of RISE Mentoring, honored with the Volunteer Arlington Award for her service coordinating mentorship of at-risk youth through the juvenile-court program.
“Mentoring is about sparking dreams,” she said. “It is the gift that keeps on giving.”
Maddy Sleeter, meanwhile, received the Youth Service Award for service with the Friends of Mount Vernon Trail.
“I’m proud to be part of such a great group,” said Sleeter, praising “the feeling of camaraderie and accomplishment” that accompanies volunteering with like-minded people.
Honored with the Group Service Award was the hospice flower team of Capital Caring Health, which creates floral displays and delivers them to individuals in hospice care. Each year, about 375 flower arrangements are personally delivered by members.
VHC Health received the Distinguished Corporate Service Award. Nominated by PathForward, the health-care agency was saluted for a host of initiatives giving back to the community.
Melody Dickerson, a vice president and the chief nursing officer at the organization, said volunteerism is part of VHC Health’s culture.
“Every act of kindness can make a difference,” she said.
For her work founding Rock Recovery, an organization providing affordable eating-disorder therapy and support groups across the region, Dr. Carylynn Larson received the Lifetime of Service Award.
The award “belongs to hundreds of people” who worked collaboratively to nurture an organization “that will support healing for generations to come,” Larson said.
Two individuals were honored with the Distinguished County Service Award:
- Kellen MacBeth for founding Equality Arlington and service with the Arlington County Housing Commission and Arlington NAACP
- Benjamin Sessions, a cofounder of Clothesline for Arlington Kids, which provides clothing for local youth
Also honored at the ceremony were dozens of individuals who each contributed at least 100 volunteer hours to nonprofits across Arlington over the preceding year. Combined, their efforts had a value of nearly $1.3 million to the agencies they served.
