South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Chamber announces 2010 award winners

The Crestwood-Sunset Hills Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors recently announced the winners of its 2010 chamber awards.

Board members selected Karen Kelly Dawson as Chamber Member/Business Person of the Year, Charles H. Hoessle as Citizen of the Year and Daryl Rosen-Huitt as Rookie of the Year. The chamber named Noles Properties the winner of the Community Improvement Award for Sunset Square in Sunset Hills and selected Service International as the recipient of the Outstanding Community Service Award.

The chamber also partnered with the Crestwood-Sunset Hills Kiwanis Club to name Michael J. Meyer the recipient of the Bernard J. “Jimmy” Fiddler Citizen Service Award, and with the Crestwood-Sunset Hills Rotary Club to select Amy Richards to receive the Paul Harris Award.

Winners will be honored at a reception on Tuesday, March 15, at the Orlando Gardens Banquet Center.

Dawson is a member of the Professional Insurance Association and the Independent Insurance Agents Association. She serves on the Agency Council for Safeco Insurance. In 2010 Bene’-Kelly Insurance raised $10,000 for His Kids Two through a charitable program established by Safeco Insurance. Dawson is extremely involved in her parish, Holy Infant of Ballwin, where she serves on the Holy Infant Business Network Committee. With two children in Holy Infant School, she has done many hours of volunteering in the school, with Girl Scouts troops and just about every activity of the parish.

Bene’-Kelly Insurance has been a member of the chamber since 1992. Dawson has been active in the chamber for the past eight years, serving as chair of the Community/Member Development Committee, Student of the Month Committee, Golf Committee and Finance Committee. She has served on the Chamber’s Board of Directors since 2006 and has been president-elect in 2008, president in 2009 and treasurer in 2011.

Dawson has recently received the Award of Excellence from Safeco Insurance for her superior underwriting skills. She was one of eight recipients chosen for this award from over 2,000 agents.

Dawson and her husband, Derek, live in Ballwin and have two daughters.

Hoessle served as the honorary chair and committee member for the Sunset Hills 50th Anniversary Celebration. His professional background spans more than 40 years and in 1963 joined the Saint Louis Zoo staff at the invitation of then Zoo Director Marlin Perkins. His expertise with animals soon earned him the position of curator of reptiles, curator of reptiles and education, general curator, and deputy director. In 1982 he was appointed the director of the Saint Louis Zoo and remained in that position until his retirement in 2002.

During his tenure, Hoessle established the zoo’s Education Department and oversaw many other changes and additions to the zoo: Big Cat Country; restoration of the historic primate, reptile and bird houses; Jungle of the Apes; Endangered Species Research Center and Veterinary Hospital; Emerson Children’s Zoo; Monsanto Insectarium; The Living World and River’s Edge.

Hoessle is a member of the St. Louis Ambassadors, Chair of the Boy Scouts Reptile Study Merit Badge Counselors, past state chair of United Nations Day, former member of the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts, past president of the St. Louis Area Museum Collaborative, member of the Advisory Board of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, member of the Harris-Stowe Stage College Board of Regents, member of the St. Louis Herpetological Society, and member of the St. Louis Rotary Club.

Hoessle was elected president of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association and recipient of its R. Marlin Perkins Award for Professional Excellence, one of the zoo world’s highest individual honors.

Hoessle and his wife, Marilyn, live in Sunset Hills and have four grown children. They enjoy their retirement and love to travel.

Rosen-Huitt has an extensive background in broadcast media, public relations, marketing for non-profit organizations and organizing special events. She is currently the director of sales and co-publisher at St. Louis Town Planner, which her family has owned and operated for more than 20 years.

She is a member of the Convention & Visitors Commission and the St. Louis Attractions Association. Rosen-Huitt’s extensive volunteer hours have been dedicated to many charities, including College Bound, Whittaker Foundation, Craft Alliance, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, St. Louis Humane Society, the Pujols Foundation and the Bob Costas Benefit for Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. She is also very involved in her community of University City and particularly at New City School where her son is a student.

Rosen-Huitt has been a member of the Crestwood-Sunset Hills Chamber of Commerce for less than two years. However, during that time she has jumped into several committees and has worked tirelessly in making whatever she works on a big success. She currently serves on the Ambassador Committee and on the Mardi Gras Gala Committee.

Rosen-Huitt recently has been recognized by Town Planner Corporate with the Largest Distribution Award. She and her husband, Robert, live in University City with their son, Shayfer.

Noles Properties, a development and management company, was established in 1990 by founder Steve Noles and continues to be family owned and operated. Noles Properties specializes in neighborhood commercial retail and single-tenant buildings and centers containing up to 350,000 square feet.

Most of their developments are located in West St. Louis County, St. Louis, St. Charles and southern Illinois. Noles obtained the run-down, vacant property in the 1500 block of South Kirkwood Road in Sunset Hills in 2008 and by January 2010 had opened the 7,000-plus square foot plaza with their first tenant, Five Guys Burgers & Fries. Some of the national tenants they serve include ColdStone Creamery, T-Mobile, Quizno’s, AT&T, FedEx Kinko’s, QuikTrip, Walgreens and Five Guys Burgers & Fries.

In addition to being property developers and managers, Steve and his wife Patty own the first and largest franchises of Imo’s Pizza. The Noles are very supportive of the community through donations to Children’s Hospital, American Red Cross, Forest Park Forever, Variety Club and more.

Noles Properties have won Beautification Awards for their developments in St. Peters, Maryland Heights and Chesterfield. In 1981, Steve Noles won the Pizza Maker of the Year award.

The Noles have three grown children. all of whom are part of the family business.

The chamber recognizes Service International with a special award for Outstanding Community Service in a time of great need.

Service International began in 1985 as a support agency for missionaries and other charitable organizations, but its focus took a critical turn in the summer of 1993, when its headquarters in Chesterfield was hit by the ravages of the Great Flood of ’93. A decision had to be made – let the flood destroy them, or pull it together and not only survive, but rebuild and grow. Founder Jeff Perry accepted the challenge after being appointed to the Mayor’s Task Force on disaster recovery and spearheaded the massive clean up and rebuild the Valley. Service International coordinated more than 8,000 volunteers and provided $350,000 in resources to help businesses and individuals who asked for help.

That was just the beginning. With the experience and expertise gained from that disaster, Service International now reaches out to devastated communities around the world with leadership training, volunteer coordination, materials, supplies and hands-on rebuilding.

As well as providing disaster relief services, Service International has partnered with other organizations in a variety of humanitarian projects: receiving donations of winter coats for the needy; serving nutritious summertime lunches to St. Louis school children; providing food supplies and support for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day meals for the homeless and providing logistical support for Give Kids A Smile, a project which donates free dental care to underprivileged children across the nation.

Service International has been “on the scene” at every national and international disaster – from New Orleans after the wrath of Katrina to Haiti after the devastation of the earthquake. Service International also played an integral part in the clean up after the New Year’s Eve tornado in Sunset Hills. Countless volunteers and thousands of hours of clean up were provided – all at no cost to the community or the victims.

Meyer retired in 2008 after 30 years at Anheuser-Busch as Director of Brewing Engineering. He holds membership in the American Society of Brewing Chemists and the Master Brewers Association of the Americas, where he served as president. Retirement has given Meyer more time to dedicate to Angels’ Arms where he is deeply involved with ongoing maintenance of all six of the organization’s homes and has developed long-range maintenance plans for each of them. Meyer is the “go-to” guy when anything goes wrong. His involvement with Angels’ Arms is not limited to maintenance. For the past seven years he has served as co-chair of their annual St. Pat’s Dinner/Dance, and has worked at many of their other events and activities.

In addition to Angels’ Arms, Meyer lends his knowledge and skills to the Daughters of St. Paul, located in Crestwood, where he volunteers at Pauline Books and Media and provides maintenance at both the bookstore and the adjoining convent. He volunteered many hours during the disaster cleanup after the New Year’s Eve tornado in Sunset Hills.

In 2010, Meyer received the Top Ten Finalist RAMS Community Quarterback Award. He has also received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Bishop DuBourg High School and the Professional Degree in Mechanical Engineering Award from the University of Missouri at Rolla.

Meyer and his wife, Mary, are longtime members of Assumption Catholic Church where he volunteers to assist with outdoor maintenance and is a member and cantor in the church choir. He is the past president of the Assumption St. Vincent De Paul Society and has worked as a softball coach and assistant volleyball and soccer coach for each of his three daughters’ teams.

Richards has dedicated her life to teaching and currently teaches at Lindbergh Schools. Her love of the French language led her to study abroad at the University of Grenoble in France, returning home to teach French and third grade. Richards is a member of St. Lucas United Church of Christ, Foreign Language Teachers of America, Character Education Partnership, Characterplus, Lindbergh Alumni Foundation, Saint Louis Zoo Association and Crestwood Sunset Hills Rotary Club, among others.

In the late 1980s, she assisted in developing a Character Education Program for the Lindbergh School District. In 1992, Richards became the district’s Leader in Character Education. Richards was instrumental as lead writer and helped Kennerly School receive the 2000 National School of Character Award and in 2006 she was the lead writer as Lindbergh School District was recognized as the first Missouri District of Character. Richards has presented numerous workshops and spoken at numerous conferences, training sessions and programs on Character Education at a district, community, state and national level.

Richards has received many recognitions and awards within the Lindbergh district, including Lindbergh Leader, Lindbergh Teacher of the Year, STAR Teacher Award, Emerson Electric Teacher of the Year, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in Teachers of America, Pi Delta Pi, the Kiwanis Jimmy Fidler Award and the Rotary’s Paul Harris Award.