Page 11 - 2021 Impact Report Utah Rotary

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DISTRICT “SERVICE ABOVE SELF” AWARDS

District 5420’s “Service Above Self” award recognizes a Rotarian – or Rotaractor – who has demonstrated exemplary
humanitarian service, in any form and at any level, with emphasis on personal volunteer efforts and active involvement in
helping others through Rotary.
Martha Velasco is a longtime Rotarian from a family of Rotarians, who serves humanity in the
workplace, in her spare time and in Rotary. A social worker for many years, she is also a charter
member of the Hispano-Latino Club of Salt Lake and served as club President. Because of work
responsibilities, she transferred her Rotary membership to the Midvalley Club where she serves on
the club level as Interact advisor. She has also served as a RYLA facilitator and for years has spent
the week leading up to New Year’s Day decorating the Rotary float for the Pasadena Rose Parade.
In her leisure time, she can be found as a Spanish-speaking interpreter for American Red Cross District Awards District 5420 Service Impact Report
Blood Donor Services or teaching CPR. She currently serves as District Rotaract chair, a position
from which she will step down in July.

Stephanie Velasco, this year’s 2nd District “Service Above Self” recipient was first introduced to
Rotary when she attended RYLA in 2010. When she returned home, this award-winning young
leader founded an Interact club and served as its president. For 9 years, she documented RYLA photographically and as a
young adult, founded a Rotaract club in her community which earned her the title of Rotaractor of the Year for 2013-14.
She also has the distinction of being the first in the district to have dual membership as both a Rotarian and a Rotaractor,
while currently serving as District Rotaract Representative. She is also the co-chair for the Rotaract Pan-American
conference and is a Positive Peace Activator in the US and Canada.
Stephanie is the daughter of DGN Jose and Martha Velasco.
UNSUNG HERO AWARD

This year’s recipient of the Unsung Hero Award was Devin Thorpe - given to an individual or a
group of individuals who do amazing “service above self” without any expectation of recognition or
reward.

Devin is, in multiple ways, the district’s “wizard behind the curtain.” This genuinely nice guy is
someone everyone knows … but not everyone knows how much he does behind the scenes. This
year he has arranged exceptional district-wide programs, coordinated countless Zoom calls for many
committee meetings … but, has never once said out loud, “Oh, Governor … that’s really a dumb
idea!” Even while he has been serving as President of the Utah eClub and was actively involved in
politics while running for public office in our COVID year, he has always been responsive to every
request, is professional in all of his interactions and has spent many days on the road helping District
5420’s Native American Committee meet the needs of many tribal communities.