41 Volunteers From Across America Named 2012 Cabot® Community Celebrities
Cabot Celebrates the Achievements and Contributions of Altruistic Individuals with its Third Community Celebrity Awards Cruise
CABOT, Vt., Sept. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 14th, 41 volunteers, selected for their exceptional community service, will set sail for Alaska aboard an all-expense-paid Cabot Celebrity Cruise. Representing small towns and big cities across the country, each "Community Celebrity" and a guest will spend seven nights aboard the Celebrity INFINITY cruise ship, as it departs Seattle on its way to the Alaskan coast. This trip will be the third hosted by Cabot Creamery Cooperative - best known as the "Makers of the World's Best Cheddar " - and its partners to honor community service.
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"This year's group of Celebrities come to us from 23 different states, from Vermont to Louisiana to Colorado," says Cabot Senior VP of Marketing Roberta MacDonald. "They were chosen because they make a difference in their communities. They contribute their time, energy and skills to helping others. To us, that is important, and since 2009, Cabot has been honoring their achievements and contributions with the Community Celebrity Awards."
In 2009, the program's inaugural year, 27 "Cabot Community Celebrities" toured the Caribbean for six days, visiting Ocho Rios, Jamaica and George Town, Grand Cayman. In 2011, another group of 39 were celebrated during a six-day Caribbean cruise with stops in Roatan, Honduras, and Cozumel. This year, Cabot will take the trip to the next level, with an eight-day cruise to Alaska.
Departing on September 14th from Seattle, the Community Celebrity honorees will join Cabot staff as they make their way to a number of ports along Alaska's picturesque coastline - including Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagway, and Alaska Inside Passage – as well as Victoria, British Colombia, before returning to port in Seattle on September 21st.
To help select this year's Celebrities, Cabot's partners – AARP Create the Good, Points of Light held national selection contests for their respective organizations, while Cabot and Celebrity Cruises turned to local radio stations in more than 20 markets across the United States to select Celebrities from around the nation. Additional Celebrities were recognized from Cabot programs including Reward Volunteers and the 2012 Community Tour, a six-week celebration of community, cooperatives and volunteers that ran the length of the East Coast from May 12 to July 7 this year.
One of the Reward Volunteers Celebrities is Paula Fives-Taylor, a former nun, science teacher, and professor at the University of Vermont Medical School. Originally from Brooklyn, but now residing in South Burlington, Vermont, Paula has been dedicating most of her energy and talent to the Vermont Visiting Nurse Association since retiring from UVM four years ago. She spends her time with hospice patients, staying with them and caring for them until the end, ensuring their comfort as much as she's able. "I always prefer to provide hospice care in a patient's home," says Paula. "It's much more comforting for the patients and their loved ones, and the whole process of hospice care eases things for everybody involved." Her friend, Erica Marks, who heads up the Hospice Volunteer Program in Vermont, will join her on the cruise.
Yorktown, Virginia's Carol Masser is one of the Celebrities chosen by AARP. Masser is a co-founder of Menchville House, a homeless shelter for women and children that serves the entire state. Carol, a registered nurse, founded the organization in 1998 with two other people, and in 2000, purchased a dilapidated 18 unit apartment complex that they fixed up with help from supporters. "We strive to provide much more than food and temporary shelter," notes Carol. "Our real goal is to provide hope, confidence, and opportunity." Over the past 11 years, Menchville House has helped more than 1,000 people. They currently house approximately 16 women and 30 children.
"Cabot is a cooperative, owned by 1,200 farm-families throughout New England and New York, and like all cooperatives, we believe strongly in giving back to the community," continues Roberta. "We created the Community Celebrity Awards in 2009 because we want more people to join us in recognizing and applauding the time and talent volunteers like Paula and Carol, and all of the other winners, give every day to make our communities a better place. Though the Community Celebrity Awards, and other Cabot programs like Reward Volunteers and the Community Tour, we want to inspire more people to get involved locally. Hopefully, we can help eventually elevate the concept of 'celebrity' to include the recognition of selfless volunteerism."
For More Information on the Cabot Community Celebrity Cruise Awards, visit: www.cabotcheese.coop/celebritycruise
ABOUT CABOT CREAMERY COOPERATIVE
Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919, and we make a full line of cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, and butter. Best known as makers of "The World's Best Cheddar," Cabot is owned by 1200 dairy farm families located throughout New England and upstate New York. For additional information on Cabot Creamery, visit: www.cabotcheese.coop
Contact: Bob Schiers
(888) 214.9444 or [email protected]
SOURCE Cabot Creamery Cooperative
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