On Feb. 18, longtime Queen Anne resident Pat Barger got quite a surprise: She was named winner of the Fabiola Woods Inspirational Award, an honor bestowed annually upon outstanding community volunteers.
The award was announced at the annual meeting of the Associate Recreation Council (ARC), a volunteer organization affiliated with Seattle Parks and Recreation. The honor recognized Barger’s exceptional service and volunteer efforts within the Queen Anne community over the last 15 years.
Barger admits she truly had no idea she had been selected. “As the introducer read a long citation about the recipient, I was wondering who in the world it could be. When they called my name, I was overwhelmed,” she said.
The award receives its name from former ARC member Fabiola Woods. Woods was a revered activist who continuously went above and beyond to fight for her community. To keep her memory alive, ARC created this annual award after Woods’ death in 2002.
More than 200 people attended Monday’s meeting, which was held at REI’s banquet room. Queen Anne Community Center coordinator Gina Saxby said that Barger was selected from a field that included nominees from 26 community centers, two rowing and sailing centers and a small craft center.
“It was a total surprise. She was so shocked and beside herself,” Saxby said.
Getting involved
Barger has been a highly involved volunteer at the Queen Anne Community Center for more than 15 years. She first became involved there after regularly using the pool when she first moved to the area more than 25 years ago.
“It was the operator of the pool who first convinced me to join the advisory council,” said Barger, who is currently the council’s vice president.
Joining ARC was only the beginning of her volunteer efforts. More than two decades later, Barger is now the lead volunteer for Monday Meals, a program in which community members can pay $3 for a hot meal at the community center every Monday night.
“She cooks and gets everything prepped. She also recruits all the other volunteers,” Saxby said.
In addition to Monday Meals, Barger also runs the Community Kitchen program, in which people meet once a month to cook at the community center. Participants get to take home two individually packaged, freezer-ready servings of each of the six meals the group cooks that month.
Barger also hosts a group called Crafty Ladies, which meets once a week and creates various knitting, quilting and crocheted projects for charity.
“We have a giving party three times a year where representatives from four different charities come and receive the gifts to later distribute to community members,” Berger said.
Children’s Chapel, Warm in Winter and Baby Boutique are a few of the recipient organizations.
An avid supporter
Barger’s volunteer work does not stop inside the community center. Two years ago, the Seattle Parks and Recreation’s hours were cut due to budget constraints. This meant the Magnolia Community Center was reduced to only being open 20 hours a week, and the Queen Anne Community Center was reduced to 35 operating hours per week. However, last January, the Queen Anne Center received funding to once again increase its operating hours — this was in part due to Barger’s activism.
She organized a group of community members to go down to a Seattle City Council meeting. “They all wore red for solidarity and fought to keep the community center open,” Saxby said.
Barger arranged for people to write letters to members of the City Council, explaining the importance of not cutting the community center’s operating hours. They even had a Facebook page publicizing the cause.
The community center is now open from 1 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays.
Barger joked that she was the last person to know she was receiving the award after her friends figured it out halfway through the introductory speech.
“Even though I never met Fabiola, it was like she could walk on water. She was such a truly fantastic volunteer,” Barger said. “It just never occurred to be that I would be a Fabiola Wood [Award] recipient.”
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