JoEllen Cottrell of the Winthrop Food Pantry has received the Norm Temple Community Service Award for 2015.

The Norm Temple Community Service Award recognizes and encourages exceptional community service in the Kennebec Valley. It was first presented, to Norm Temple, in 1994. Norm Temple was an exceptional community leader and volunteer with the United Way, Boy Scouts, and other local organizations. He was one of the founders of the United Way of Kennebec Valley, and was Vice President of Central Maine Power for many years.

The award is to recognize Norm’s community service, and also to recognize others who have followed in his footsteps and present exceptional volunteerism in our community. The United Way of Kennebec Valley Board of Directors named JoEllen Cottrell for the 2015 award.

JoEllen has shown exceptional community service for the United Way as well as the Winthrop Food Pantry and other local organizations.

JoEllen graduated from Thomas College in 1976 and has worked for law firms as a legal secretary in Waterville, Maine; South Bend, Indiana; Dallas, Texas; and Augusta, Maine. JoEllen and her husband, Paul, moved to Winthrop from Dallas, TX in 1985, relocating for a job opportunity for Paul.

Her first volunteer position was while a high school senior, when asked to volunteer on a search committee for the hiring of a new school principal. Many years later, she found herself in the schools again, on the board of the nursery school their kids attended, then into public schools as they grew older. JoEllen has been a hospice volunteer since 2004, and in February 2011, she began volunteering at the Winthrop Food Pantry - eventually becoming the executive director in September of 2011.

The United Way would like to thank JoEllen for her service and for the example she sets for others in our community.