Help us honor our PWSA | USA volunteers!
Do you know someone who deserves to be recognized for their service and dedication to PWSA | USA's mission and the PWS community? Volunteer Appreciation Award nominations are now being accepted through Sunday, April 30, 2023 for the following awards:
- 2023 Advocacy in Action Star - This award reflects advocacy work that has increased the public’s awareness of PWS. Each year PWSA | USA recognizes outstanding grassroots advocacy efforts. The award for Advocacy and Awareness is awarded to volunteer who sets an example for his or her peers by undertaking a significant amount of advocacy endeavors, at the state and/or federal level, on behalf of the PWSA | USA community. The goal of the award is to promote year-around advocacy and acknowledge the positive effects of a single advocate.
- Family Support Champion - This award reflects work that has provided some type of support to one family or a hundred families.
- Research Star - This award reflects work that has in some way progressed research efforts.
- 2023 Legislative Champion (Elected Official) - The PWS community is full of people who inspire us with a relentless passion to affect positive change. The PWSA | USA Legislative Champion Award should recognize a congressional leader who has made a legislative effort to support and bring awareness to the unmet needs of our PWS community.
- 2023 Volunteer of the Year - This award recognizes outstanding achievement in Family Support, Research, Education and Advocacy & Awareness. This individual has shown remarkable leadership, assertiveness, integrity, and a deep level of commitment to our mission, all of which have led directly to the success of all our programs at PWSA | USA. It is our sincerest hope that you will continue to be an example for our community…to inspire your fellow volunteers and continue to shape the lives of those battling PWS for years to come.
The award recipients will be announced during our 37th National Convention Family Conference. Click on the button below to download the Volunteer Appreciation Award Nomination Form. Please submit your completed form to volunteer@pwsausa.org. Thank you!
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Jennifer Bolander has been serving as a Special Education Specialist for PWSA (USA) since October of 2015. She is a graduate of John Carroll University and lives in Ohio with her husband Brad and daughters Kate (17), and Sophia (13) who was born with PWS.
Perry A. Zirkel has written more than 1,500 publications on various aspects of school law, with an emphasis on legal issues in special education. He writes a regular column for NAESP’s Principal magazine and NASP’s Communiqué newsletter, and he did so previously for Phi Delta Kappan and Teaching Exceptional Children.
Evan has worked with the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA) since 2007 primarily as a Crisis Intervention and Family Support Counselor. Evans works with parents and schools to foster strong collaborative relationships and appropriate educational environments for students with PWS.
Dr. Amy McTighe is the PWS Program Manager and Inpatient Teacher at the Center for Prader-Willi Syndrome at the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh. She graduated from Duquesne University receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education with a focus on elementary education, special education, and language arts.
Staci Zimmerman works for Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado as an Individualized Education Program (IEP) consultant. Staci collaborates with the PWS multi-disciplinary clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Denver supporting families and school districts around the United States with their child’s Individual Educational Plan.
Founded in 2001, SDLC is a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal rights of people with disabilities throughout the South. It partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Protection and Advocacy (P&A) programs, Legal Services Corporations (LSC) and disability organizations on major, systemic disability rights issues involving the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the federal Medicaid Act. Recently in November 2014, Jim retired.