Meet the Crew: Paddlefest 2024 volunteer award winners

This year's Ohio River Paddlefest raised $135,000 to support our programs!

It's staggering to think that a small nonprofit like Adventure Crew can pull off an event of Paddlefest’s scope. The only reason we can is thanks to the hard work of some 300 volunteers. Many come back year after year to give their time and talents. Not only do they work really, really hard, they do it with smiles and enthusiasm. We acknowledged a few of them with awards at this year's Paddlefest volunteer party.

Steppin’ Up Award: Rick Schoeny. Rick really stepped up to help lead the Green Team, which is tasked with reducing our environmental impact, this year. You may have seen him working the festival grounds both Friday and Saturday in his green cape and “trash hat.” His efforts to recruit volunteers helped us get to full volunteer staffing for Green Team for the first time ever, and his contagious energy and enthusiasm had many of them expressing interest in returning next year. He and our other Green Team volunteers helped us keep 1,110 gallons of waste out of the landfill! 

Extra Mile Award: Mike Lacinak. After helping with setup on Thursday, Mike spent Friday night overseeing boat unloading with the Hughes High School students. Pulling up to unload on Friday is many paddlers’ first impression of Paddlefest. Mike kept the lines moving, the boats organized and the vibes positive. He was also one of the last people at Schmidt Saturday morning, cheerfully helping with teardown.

From the Heart Award: Betsy Schulte. Betsy has been helping with registration for many years. She starts the week with the registration team at Jim & Jack’s on Wednesday. Then she bakes a massive amount of chocolate chip cookies -- 500 this year! -- to share with volunteers and the high school teams before rejoining the registration team on Friday and Saturday. Her kindness comes through in everything she does.

Lifetime achievement Award: Donna Luggen. Donna may be the longest serving Paddlefest volunteer on our team today! She wears so many hats throughout the event. This year, she started Friday as a setup helper before moving on to help get exhibitors set up at their booths. Then she walked the festival grounds to answer Expo attendees’ questions. Saturday morning, she helped direct paddlers on the ramp at Schmidt before joining the flotilla as a safety paddler. 

Thanks to all of you who volunteered! See you next year!