LIMA — Steve and Earlene Sellers have spent much of their retired lives volunteering at home and abroad, and their years of service have not gone unnoticed.
The Columbus Grove couple were chosen to represent the region at the National Jefferson Awards ceremony this summer in Washington, D.C. They were selected from a group of nine local Jefferson Award winners, all of whom were honored at a banquet Tuesday night at the City Club.
“It’s very humbling,” said Earlene Sellers. “Everyone here deserves this, and I wish all nine of us could go.”
The Sellers are involved in a wide range of volunteer work, including serving as court-appointed special advocates, taking meals to shut-ins, providing reusable sanitary pads to young girls in Haiti and Kenya, and traveling to various parts of the country to aid in times of disaster.
As special advocates, the Sellers work with Crime Victim Services to help families whose parents are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Though it can be difficult, Steve Sellers said a recent text message he received from a mother he’s been helping showed him it was all worth it.
“She said, ‘You’re an angel,’” Steve Sellers told the crowd as he became visibly emotional. “When you receive a text like that, it is just so meaningful.
“It was one of the greatest things I had happen to me.”
With their work in Haiti and Kenya, the Sellers are helping young girls earn an education and better their lives. Without the feminine hygiene products they deliver, every teenage girl would miss a week of school each month.
Tom Hendrixson, co-chairman of the 2016 Jefferson Award Committee, said the variety of community service projects the Sellers are involved in, coupled with the number of people they’ve helped locally and around the world, were the reasons why they were chosen.
“It’s always difficult to pick that last winner because there’s so many good people, but they have just changed so many lives and helped so many people,” Hendrixson said.
Hendrixson added that this year’s winners were a “phenomenal group” who represented the “cream of the crop” of the nearly 30 people who were nominated. Along with the Sellers, other winners included Janet Aller, Terry and Linda Blosser, Jim Bowsher, Erin Hardesty, Bob Erickson, Bob Laman, Ted Sigler and Deb Vobbe.
For Earlene Sellers, hearing about all the time and effort each Jefferson winner had spent volunteering shows the Lima area has great people who genuinely care about each other.
“We want to let people know what a fine community this is,” she said. “Yes, we have the crime and other problems, but as we know from tonight, there is so many people willing to help everyone have a better life.”
Each Jefferson Award winner received $350 for their program or organization, and the Sellers were awarded another $700 for being chosen as the area representative at the national level. The money was donated by Alberta Lee, a retired Allen County commissioner who is the sole sponsor of the cash awards given to winners each year.
Lee didn’t speak much at Tuesday’s banquet, but what she did say reflected the notion that volunteerism is never done.
“Don’t stop now, there’s still more to do,” she said.
The Sellers appear to have heard Lee’s message loud and clear. In November, the couple will head back to Kenya to continue their mission, working to make the world a better place for all its people.
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