BOULDER SISTER CITIES VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR

Boulder Sister City Alliance has named Cindy Trautwein and Tamara Czyzyk as the first recipients of the Alliance’s Volunteer of the Year Award.

Cindy Trautwein is a member of the Boulder Mante Sister Cities. She was a prime mover in the events of the dedication of the Sister City Plaza that now graces the Broadway entrance of the Municipal Building and the celebration of Boulder's Sister Cities last May. Additionally, she has served with the annual medical campaign to Mante, and has organized a Boulder youth tour of Mante, a student exchange program for two students coming to Boulder-area high schools and a shipment of computers, educational materials, musical instruments and a generator to that community.

Tamara Czyzyk (pictured) volunteered with Boulder Jalapa Friendship City Projects in northern Nicaragua for two years. She facilitated community organizing in rural communities in the Jalapa Valley that led to the establishment of several sustainable programs: (1) family patio organic gardens in a pilot community, (2) campesino-to-campesino training of the participating families in the original community and in two subsequent communities, (3) alternative energy projects of high efficiency/low-carbon-footprint wood stoves and methane producing biodigestors, and (4) a women's health cooperative. Having been initiated by the communities themselves and organized with full community participation, these programs address the highest priority needs of the local community.

Proclamations honoring these recipients have been signed by Boulder Mayor Shaun McGrath. Ms. Czyzyk’s proclamation will be read at the May 20th City Council meeting. Ms. Trautwein’s will be read at a later date.