PONCA CITY COMMUNITY LEADER RECEIVES OCI AWARD
March 26, 2009
PONCA CITY COMMUNITY LEADER RECEIVES AWARD
The Oklahoma Community Institute (OCI) presented Mary Anne Potter of Ponca City with the Award of Excellence for Community Leadership at OCI's 10th Annual Conversations on Community Renewal Conference Tuesday, March 24. Potter received this award for her efforts in supporting Ponca City and Oklahoma native military troops stationed overseas.
In 2006, Potter founded Operation Pioneer Spirit, a community-wide organization that has sent over 3,000 packages to Oklahoma troops serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. Due to the success of the program, citizens from communities across the United States have contacted Potter to voice an interest in starting their own Operation Pioneer Spirit programs.
Volunteers from Ponca City and north-central Oklahoma meet every month at the Pioneer Woman Museum to organize and pack boxes headed to the Middle-East. Each month, Potter organizes dozens of volunteers to visit area businesses and the Red Cross to collect items to be sent. Approximately 1,500 people have volunteered for this project. To date, Potter has written approximately 200 letters to area banks and community leaders asking for donations to Operation Pioneer Spirit, and has raised approximately $40,000.
One Oklahoma chaplain wrote, "You may think that a piece of hard candy, a package of peanut butter crackers, or DVD's are not much, but to our soldiers it represents Oklahoma. It came from the best country in the whole world: the United States of America! It came from the land we love and dream about. The land we are fighting for. The land we are willing to lay our lives on the line for: America!"
In 2007, Potter co-founded Operation School Supply. Students from Tulsa brought new school supplies to their home rooms to be mailed to the schoolchildren of Iraq and Afghanistan. Approximately 2,000 boxes were distributed by Oklahoma troops with assistance of the Iraqi troops. The majority of the Iraqi children never had brand new school supplies prior to this program.
Potter also began Operation Blankets of Warmth and enlisted area women to crochet lap and full-length blankets to send to soldiers stationed in the mountains in Afghanistan and near the Turkish border, or who are in military hospitals. Over 700 blankets have been sent to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.
A qualified nominee for the Award of Excellence for Community Leadership award is a living Oklahoman who, in a voluntary capacity, has mobilized people and/or organizations to address community issues, impacted positive change in his or her community, transformed an area of focus and thereby, contributed to the greater good of their community, and "stuck their neck out" on behalf of a community cause they are passionate about.
Potter was one of two recipients of this award; Dr. Rosemary Bellino, M.D. of Lawton also received recognition for her community leadership initiatives and volunteerism.
The Award of Excellence for Community Leadership is sponsored by the Oklahoma Community Institute. The Oklahoma Community Institute is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that has been helping build leaders and their Oklahoma communities since 1995. OCI specializes in community-wide strategic planning, the Citizens Academy leadership program and the annual Conversations on Community Renewal Conference
For more information about OCI's leadership awards, annual conference or other programs, please contact Amy Draper at adraper@ocionline.org or (405)208-8882.
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