Community Champions

Every July, the Churchill Community Coalition awards Community Champions for their contributions to Churchill County. Each awardee is nominated by a Coalition Member and are voted on by all the members. 

This year's Churchill Community Champions are:
Stephanie Hanks - Organizer of the Community Christmas Eve Dinner
Held this past December, the dinner was held at Epworth United Methodist Church.  Stefanie orchestrated our community to come together to provide a beautiful meal for homeless and people in need.  She is looking forward to making this dinner an annual event.

Roger Diedrichsen - Owner of Pizza Barn
​Developed "Read For Pizza Sake" to motivate young students to want to read outside of the class room.  Each teacher can individually create a reading program for their class and students.  Once they have met their goal he provides a free mini pizza certificate for the student. By the end of the 2015 school year, Pizza Barn has given out 71, 124 coupons.

Sheriff Ben Trotter - Churchill County Sheriff
Sheriff Trotter has gone above and beyond to make our community safe, support and implement services to individuals and families to reduce mental illness in the jails. He spends time at our schools helping students and had created "Lunch With the Law" where people from the Sheriff’s office go and eat lunch and hang out with the kids at the elementary schools and middle school. He also attends RX Drug Roundup, supports substance abuse prevention efforts and provides support at most community events to make Fallon a SAFE place to live.

Shannon Ernst - Director at Churchill County Social Services
She has worked very hard over the years to bring services into our community, streamlining existing services and collaborates with other organizations to create new services and strengthens others that bring a positive change to Churchill County.  She oversees the daily functions of County Social Services, grant funds, Public Guardians, and unfunded contracts that effect poverty and health issues of the community including Community Resource meetings, homeless support , Community Day, MOST, and many more programs.

Alison Toigo - Pharmacy Senior Manager at Banner Churchill Hospital
Ali has been instrumental in raising community members’ awareness on the dangers of prescription drug misuse & abuse, and has actively taken part in its prevention.

When Ali heard that our local drug drop box closed due to the loss of EPA approved disposal means, she quickly took the initiative and secured a safe EPA approved method for further disposal. The drop box greatly reduces availability of Rx drugs, subject to abuse, and helps to keep our grounds and waters safe from their pollutants. When asked to take part in the Coalition’s community awareness campaign on Rx drugs and poison prevention, Ali gladly gave her time energy, and help in our efforts.

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