New River Valley Leading Lights recently honored 39 community volunteers at a special ceremony at the German Club at Virginia Tech.
The New River Valley Leading Lights organization’s mission is to acknowledge and honor volunteers across the New River Valley who are making community changing impacts through volunteerism, culminating in an annual celebratory banquet. Dick Arnold, co-founder of New River Valley Leading Lights, served as this year’s guest speaker.
High school nominees included Tess Larsen, Blacksburg High School; and Athithi Prakash Suganya, Blacksburg High School.
College nominees included Christina Casey, Virginia Tech; Jacob Cole, Virginia Tech; Makayla Davis, Radford University; Clara Meyer, New River Community College; Ciara Moore, Virginia Tech; Ryan Rupert, Virginia Tech; Grace Vaughan Sacks, Virginia Tech; and Elisabeth Wasserman, Virginia Tech.
Nominees from Floyd County included Danny Chaffin, Nancy Manley, Virginia Neukirch, Kim O’Donnell, Tara Orlando, Anand Raghunathan, Amie Slate, and Betty and Dave Werner. Nominees from Giles County included Darrell “Deejay” Akers, Faye Cofer, and Charlie Henderson. Nominees from Montgomery County included Lois Craig, Reginald Crockett, Kevin Culhane, Judy Diggs, Peggy Preston Fanney, Christine Gibson, Sandy Hagman, Gunin Kiran, Dr. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs, Betty Lee Robertson, Grace Wagnon, Laura Wedin, and Spencer Winfrey. The nominee from Pulaski County was Mandy Farris. The Radford City nominee was Elena Abalde-Sanchez. Bonnie Graham of Pulaski County and Debbie Sherman-Lee of Montgomery County were nominated in the Lifetime Achievement category.
From the 39 nominees, 11 were chosen as Distinguished Recipients. The 2025 Leading Lights Distinguished Recipients honored included Tess Larsen (High School Award – Robert “Bob” Job III Memorial Award); Athithi Prakash Suganya (High School Award), Makala Davis (College Award); The Big Event, which included Christina Casey, Jacob Cole, Ciara Moore, Ryan Rupert, Grace Vaughan Sacks, and Elisabeth Wasserman (College Award); Kim O’Donnell (Floyd Community Award); Faye Cofer (Giles County Community Award); Judy Diggs (Montgomery Community Award); Gunin Kiran (Montgomery Community Award – Jim and Lenna Moore Memorial Award); Mandy Farris (Pulaski County Community Award); and Elena Abalde-Sanchez (Radford Community Award). Bonnie Graham of Pulaski County was named as the German Club Alumni Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.
The community Distinguished Recipients receive $500 to direct to a non-profit of their choice, and the Lifetime Achievement recipient receives $1,000 to direct. The nominees’ volunteer efforts include work with food pantries, the Big Event at Virginia Tech, early childhood and youth programs, community groups and organizations, veterans’ groups, schools, history groups and many more.
NRV Leading Lights was established in 2007, prompted by the outpouring of voluntary service after the April 16 events at Virginia Tech. The first Leading Lights Recognition Event was held in April 2009. These annual events highlight the extraordinary compassion of ordinary citizens who are united in service to others. To learn more about NRV Leading lights, visit www.leadinglightsnrv.org. NRV Leading Lights will be seeking volunteer nominations at a later date for the 2026 awards.
