If a family member or friend has spent a lot of time helping out and volunteering in Zelienople, they may be eligible for a special recognition from the borough.

The borough is soliciting nominations until July 15 for its annual Volunteer of the Year award, a program intended to honor locals who have given their time to projects in the borough to serve the community.

“What we do is we try to get people to recommend, apply and submit the application for a person or a group,” said borough Manager Don Pepe. “It’s designed to be able to bring to light those people who volunteer and spend their time and are never really recognized for what they do.”

Individuals must be nominated by another person to qualify and can be named through a form available on the borough’s website. The form asks nominators to detail the service for which the person is being nominated, along with any leadership positions and length of time served in local volunteer organizations.

“We collect the applications, they are reviewed and a person is selected from the people who have been submitted to us,” Pepe said. “When we first did it, we had it so it would be presented at the July 4 parade, but that ended up being difficult to do during a parade. What we’ve done over the years is we’ve done it at different times. We always try to do it every year to make sure somebody's recognized.”

This year’s winner will receive an engraved award with their name on it. Their name also would be engraved on a plaque in the borough council’s chamber.

“It can be anybody who volunteers their time in the borough to make it a better place to be — that's what we do,” Pepe said, adding that nominees do not need to be a part of organizations such as the Rotary or the Zelienople Area Business Association to qualify. “If anybody wishes to nominate, they just need to look at the website or call us.”

A recipient will be chosen in late summer or early fall. Nominations can be dropped off at the borough office or emailed.