Residents of East Lansing gathered together to honor four recipients of community awards at the city’s 24th Crystal Awards reception on Thursday night.
The event took place at Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road.
Awards were presented to Susan Woods, director of the East Lansing Film Festival, Robert Uecker, treasurer of the East Lansing Basketball Club, members of the Community Relations Coalition, or CRC, and local business Silver & Beyond, 280 M.A.C. Ave., by the East Lansing City Council.
Each recipient was presented with an engraved crystal bowl to commemorate their work within the community and local business network of East Lansing.
Susan Woods and Silver & Beyond owner Siham Baladi were unable to attend the event, but close friends were present to receive the awards for them.
The recipients were nominated by community members and selected from about 25 nominees, said Robert Ulrich, chairperson of the selection committee for the Crystal Awards.
Ulrich said the selection process was difficult because most of the nominees were deserving of the award.
“All of the people were very fitting,” he said. “You have a lot of great people to begin with, so it’s difficult to narrow it down to four.”
The awards were kept a surprise to the recipients until their announcement at the reception, Ulrich said. The event was a great way to show appreciation for the hard work the winners put into making East Lansing a pleasant place to live, he said.
“It’s always fun to see their faces when they find out they’ve won,” he said. “It’s just a terrific way for the city to give some credit to the people who give so much to the community.”
East Lansing Mayor Pro Tem Diane Goddeeris said continued involvement of residents within the city of East Lansing was important and said awarding those who do outstanding work in the community made sense.
“(The award reception) gives a chance for people to give honor to those who do good in the community,” Goddeeris said. “A lot of people benefit from the work they’ve done.”
Uecker, one of the award recipients, said he was pleased to receive the award and was humbled to be honored in such a manner by the community as a whole in his acceptance speech. He said many others also were involved with his program, and many community members would be deserving of the award as well.
“While I’m honored and thrilled to accept this award, it’s not all me,” Uecker said.
The event was even more important for residents this year as it gave an opportunity for community members to socialize and relax even through economic hardship, East Lansing resident and CRC member John Melcher said.
“If we don’t take moments like this, even in these times, we wouldn’t be the community that we are,” Melcher said.
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