Volunteer/Organization of the Year

Volunteer of the Year - Debbie Bennati

Debbie Bennati, a former educator with several decades of experience in the Westerville school system, is a shining example of leadership, creativity, cooperation and hard work.

From left: Dr. John Kellogg, Superintendent, Westerville City Schools; John Comerford, Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce; Janet Tressler-Davis, President/CEO Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce; Debbie Bennati; Erin Francoeur, Executive Director, Westerville Public Library; Monica Irelan, Westerville City Manager; Jason Bechtold, Westerville Assistant City Manager.

For more than 16 years, Debbie has been a small business owner in Uptown Westerville operating the store, A Gal Named Cinda Lou. She is the president of the Westerville Uptown Merchants Association where she stays connected in the continued success of the Uptown District.

For over 16 years, Debbie has owned and operated the store A Gal Named Cinda Lou in Uptown Westerville while also serving as the President of the Westerville Uptown Merchants Association. In this role, she has been instrumental in ensuring the continued success of the Uptown District by keeping business owners informed and organized. She coordinates business owners to promote visiting and shopping in Uptown. She is key in organizing events such as the Uptown Ice Sculpture Tour and the inaugural Ohio Valley Hometown Reunion. Additionally, Debbie spearheaded the implementation of an emergency text communication system for all Uptown merchants and organizing events to honor the life of Ron Keller, owner of Captivating Canines.

As her nominator noted, “Debbie has supported me with valuable advice and many kind words. I am new to this community and her helpful hand has not only supported my small business, but many others.”

Organization of the Year - The Westerville Lions Club

The Westerville Lions Club, Westerville’s oldest service organization, has served the community since 1928. Despite the challenge of an aging membership, the club has successfully recruited members of all ages, resulting in a 20% increase in membership in recent years.

Members of the Westerville Lions receiving their award.

One of the club’s national missions is to provide services to the vision impaired and the blind, in line with the national objective of preserving good vision. The Westerville Lions Club organizes the Rudolph Run 5K and Children’s Christmas Parade.

In the past two years, the club has initiated the Bags to Benches program, a recycling project that aims to divert plastic bags and film from the Franklin County Landfill and repurpose them into functional benches. Since May 2021, the communitywide volunteer effort has collected over 7,500 pounds of plastics and converted them into 15 benches placed in Uptown Westerville. This program has created awareness about the significant number of plastics in our daily lives and started crucial conversations on reducing plastic waste that can harm our health and the environment.

The Westerville Lions Club remains committed to creating and fostering a spirit of understanding among the community while promoting the principles of good citizenship.