VOL U N T E E R I N G
Meet Our Volunteer Hall of Fame Inductees Each year, local volunteers are nominated to receive national recognition for their outstanding service to the National MS Society. Congratulations to the following South Central volunteers inducted into the Society’s Volunteer Hall of Fame for 2012. Advocacy Champion: Patti Barker Since daughter Channing’s MS diagnosis at the age of 16 in 2006, Patti has been a driving force of the Society’s South Central MS movement. Patti chairs the Oklahoma Government Relations Committee; she also serves on the Oklahoma Leadership Council and the South Central Board of Trustees. As she has told legislators, “With your support, one day MS will equal ‘Mystery Solved.’ ” Funding the Mission Champion: Gerald Merfish Gerald Merfish, owner of Merfish Pipe & Supply, has been active with the Society since 2000 and is the fifth-highest-cumulative fundraiser for South Central Bike MS events. For nine years, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees, where he has served as Board Secretary and Chairman of the Finance Committee. He is credited with forming a budget panel to review allocation of funds for programs and services.
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MSConnection • WINTER 2013
Health Professionals Champion: Dr. Amy Gutierrez Dr. Amy Gutierrez became involved with the Society nine years ago and remains actively engaged in numerous areas of the MS mission. She has served on the South Central Board of Trustees and Leadership Council since 2008, and the Clinical Advisory Committee since 2004. She speaks at numerous programs – such as Annual Meetings, North American Education Programs and Golden Circle Events – and supports the Society’s advocacy efforts. Additionally, Dr. Gutierrez rides in the annual Bike MS: Louisiana and participates in Walk MS: New Orleans. Programs and Services Champion: Jinjer LeVan In 2009, Jinjer LeVan was awarded the Kanaly Trust Foundation MS Entrepreneur Grant to develop an MS Symptom Experience Kit, helping educate the public about living with multiple sclerosis. She is an MS Ambassador, guest speaker at Self-Help Groups, state advocate, MS Awareness Week Public Speaker, and a Walk MS Team Captain and committee member. Jinjer is one of approximately 10 people in the United States with both MS and Leiber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy.