A longtime auto shop owner and a financial adviser are the 2014 Distinguished Service Awards honorees.

Denny Offstein, owner of Denny Offstein Auto Sales and Service in Butler, and Lyric Schnur, a first vice president and financial adviser at Hefren-Tillotson in Butler, are the recipients.

The awards are sponsored by the Rotary Club of Butler and the Butler Eagle, and are given annually to a senior recipient and a junior recipient for their community service.

Both will be honored at a May 6 dinner at the Butler Country Club in Penn Township.

Senior recipient

Offstein, who is the senior recipient, said the honor is humbling.

“It was totally unexpected,” Offstein, 67, of Butler said, noting the long list of well-known people who have been honored in the past. “I thank everyone who was involved.”

He said he found out about the award when he was contacted by a few past winners.

He said his goal in all of his work has been to help less fortunate residents and children in Butler and to improve public safety.

“To help save the kids; save the community,” Offstein said.

The biggest project he was involved with, he said, was the Island Bicycle Rodeo. Over 14 years, the rodeo gave away more than 1,000 bicycles to city youth. The rodeo ended in 2007 when the Island Playground was sold. However, Offstein has continued to give bikes away.

“The smile on the face of these kids when you give them a bike and ride away is priceless,” Offstein said.

Another major project he was involved in was the creation of the K9 unit for Butler police.

In 2012, Offstein donated $10,000 to Butler to help start the K9 unit. From 2012-13, he spearheaded a community fundraiser for the K9 unit, which raised $100,000.

Offstein, along with churches, was involved with Camp Creation, which was a summer camp that helped mentor kids and involved religion. He also helped organize a coat giveaway for a few years.

He said that all of the projects he worked on never had problems of any kind.

“Nobody ever said no to any of the projects I got involved in,” Offstein said. “I've tried my best.”

He received the key to the city for exemplary community service from three past mayors, Richard Schontz in 2001, Leonard Pintell in 2004 and Maggie Stock in 2013.

Offstein is a member of Congregation B'nai Abraham and a 32nd degree Mason with the Dallas Lodge 231 in Pittsburgh.

Junior recipient

Schnur, who is the junior recipient, said she was surprised to learn that she will receive this award.“I'm very honored,” Schnur, 42, of Renfrew said.She serves on the board of directors for the Butler County Distinguished Young Women scholarship program, is a member of Women United of Butler County, which is an affiliate of the United Way of Butler County, and is a board member of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce and the Irene Stacy Community Mental Health Center.She previously was a member of GFWC Jr. Woman's Club of Butler, where she was club president, and she also volunteered for the Star Gala fundraising efforts for Lifesteps.Schnur is a graduate of Dale Carnegie, which is a leadership-training program, and Leadership Butler County.Despite raising children and having a full-time job, she said being able to serve the community is important to her.“I very much want to give back to the community that I was raised in and the community that I'm raising my children in,” Schnur said.She said she is proud that she has been able to serve in a leadership capacity, in addition to just volunteering and participating.Schnur is married with two children.

The Distinguished Service Award is the premier community award given annually in Butler County.It was established in 1949 to honor outstanding volunteerism in the Butler community. In 1952 the award was split to honor two people annually: a junior, 45 years old or younger; and a senior, over the age of 45.The award is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Butler and the Butler Eagle.Nominations are sought from the public, and past winners vote on the nominees.Award winners and the year they were honored are:<b>SENIOR</b>1949: No award given1950: No award given1951: No award given1952: Elias Ritts1953: Carmen V. Marinaro1954: I. Max Jaffe1954: Ira E. Keck1955: Edward A. Roncone1956: Charles A. Snyder1957: A. Whitney Murphy1958: Harry S. Hagen1959 William Horowitz1960: Louis Karges1961: John Chiprean1962: Vernon L. Wise Sr.1963: Michael Chuhra1964: The Rev. Max E. Smith1965: Bernard J. Bryan1966: Hy Hurwitz1967: Mitchell G. Uram1968: Robert L. Kaufman1969: Calvin E. Bieseeker1970: T. Earl Boliver1971: William C. Graham1972: Dr. William Armstrong1973: Saul J. Bernstein1974: Lois S. Jaffe1975: Jean B. Purvis1976: Andrew Yaracs1977: Gail L. Rose1978: John Eisler1979: Charles Thompson1980: William J. Lutz1981: Hugh Stratton1982: Sophia Himchak1983: Guy Travaglio1984: Elinor Branning1985: Mary Phillips1986: G. Edward Howard1987: John W. Gumpper1988: Margo B. Pitts1989: Nancy Murrin1990: Reldon Cooper1991: John E. Kosar1992: Amy Beiler1993: Bill Bessor1994: Dale Pinkerton1995: Joseph Smith1996: Ida Findley1997: Robert Thompson1998: Anabel Brunermer1999: Charles W. Beighney2000: Pete Richdale2001: Millie Pinkerton2002: Wesley Hamilton2003: Abie Abraham2004: Wayne Myers2005: William “Digger” Young Jr.2006: Tullio “Doc” Viola2007: Bill Bittner2008: Kenneth Bennett2009: Sherry Kyne2010: Jocelyn Howard Sinopoli2011: David H. Tack Sr.2012: Lisa Konesni2013: Bruce Mazzoni<b>JUNIOR</b>1949: John N. Gazetos1950: Robert Bruce Faulk1951: Joseph Davidson1952: No award given1953: Rabbi Robert Syme1954: Arthur O. Black1955: James D. Lawson1956: Earle D. Whitney1957: John L. Wise Jr.1958: George T. Walters1959: David Lloyd1960: C.R. Crawford1961: Edward P. Vargo1962: Charles Fuellgraf Jr.1963: James A. Green1964: Leonard A. Green1965: William A. Lehnerd1966: C. Thomas Kelly1967: Larry M. Berg1968: Thomas Patterson1969: Hal Hamilton1970: James Jones1971: David L. Tressler1972: The Rev. John Ayoob1973: Don Donaldson1974: George Braun1975: Edward Wadding1976: Alberta (Schaffnit) Stoll1977: Sue Bennitt1978: Fred Bennitt1979: Jack Barkley1980: Ronald Brandon1981: Linda Bennitt-Hemmes1982: Dr. Carole Bitter1983: Patricia Patterson1984: Vince Tavolario1985: Vickie Hinterberger1986: Vickie White1987: Dennis Rickard1988: Cynthia Sweeney1989: Jud D. Stewart1990: Brad Magill1991 Anne A. Miller1992: No award given1993: Ron Vodenichar1994: Sharon Clouse1995: Rebecca Plymale1996: Michael Slupe1997: John Spryn1998: Tony Chiprean1999: Leslie A. Osche2000: Harold Jurysta Jr.2001: David Crater2002: Kristen A. Hofer2003: Michele Jurysta2004: Nancy Hunter Mycka2005: Lisa Guard2006: Jennifer Roxbury2007: Jennifer Sproat-Whitmoyer2008: Robert McCafferty2009: Dixie Lee Lipnichan2010: Nicole Bronder-Robinson2011: Tom Panei2012: Chris Ziegler2013: Jennifer Linn

<B>WHAT: </B>The 66th Distinguished Service Awards dinner hosted by the Rotary Club of Butler and the Butler Eagle<B>WHEN: </B>5:30 p.m. May 6<B>WHERE:</B> Butler Country Club, 310 Country Club Road, Penn Township<B>HONOREES: </B>Denny Offstein, senior winner, and Lyric Schnur, junior winner<B>COST: </B>$35 per person. Registration must be submitted before April 30. Checks may be made payable to the “Rotary Club of Butler, DSA Award,” and sent to P.O. Box 1081, Butler, PA 16003-1081.<B>DETAILS: </B>Cash bar at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:15 p.m. A vegetarian dinner is available, but must be requested at the time of reservation.