Tony Omernik, United Way RSVP of Marathon County Program Director, was recognized as the Volunteer Engagement Honoree at the annual Governor’s Service Recognition Event recently. The event, held at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, honors outstanding volunteers, national service participants and programs that have helped to address serious needs in their communities.

In accepting the award, Omernik credited the RSVP volunteers themselves as “the ones who have helped RSVP grow and become a successful program in service to the community.”

Locally, the RSVP program supports all 55+ adults in our community with programs that go beyond volunteering. Retirement well-being and healthy aging education programs, technology tutoring, blood pressure screening and hypertension education, community coffee hours, and the community connection calendar all support healthy, active living for older adults and are provided free of charge. In the six-plus years RSVP has been in operation, a total of 600 RSVP members have contributed over 214,000 hours of volunteer service.