Fran Erickson & Melanie Heckel flank Caroyn Feuille after having announced her selection as the 2024 Edi Silverman Awardee.

The Edi Silverman Community Service Award is our Branch’s tribute to the many ways our members give back to their communities by helping others. As Bev Moncrief, President during the initial Edi Silverman Award to Edi herself, noted, the Award committee was looking for “a loyal member, with primary emphasis on her outstanding community contributions.” Edi Silverman herself, and the remarkable 20 recipients in the years following, have been exemplars of the community service recognized by this honor, women who believe deeply in serving others.

This year’s recipient is no exception. She is certainly a loyal member, having served in multiple offices over the past decade. Her responsibilities to the Branch began with Hospitality, but she soon took on roles that affected both our Branch and the wider community. She has been Program VP twice – a critical position for our members and for the community as our public monthly meetings serve to introduce AAUW’s values and priorities to the county. Women’s issues are human issues, and our Program VPs are the ones who find the important speakers and topics that will have vital community relevance. Our recipient chose programs such as Barriers & Bias: the Status of Women in Leadership;” “Staying Mentally Fit;” and “Pay Equity.”

From Programs, she moved to Public Policy Chair, helping Branch members become more effective advocates, educating us on relevant laws as they worked through Congress. Of special impact to the community, she initiated a Community Public Awareness Forum” in collaboration with Community Beyond Violence. The “Domestic & Sexual Violence: How it Touches Us All” forum brought together local experts representing law enforcement, behavioral health, forensic medicine, the legal system, and education in an important and illuminating discussion enhanced further by the voices of survivors sharing their traumatic experiences. Sadly, Covid changed and postponed this public, in-person program to a live streaming broadcast, but our recipient persevered with the help of fellow AAUW members to bring these voices, and this local information, to our community. She knew, and data showed, the stress of Covid lockdowns significantly increased the number of victims of domestic and sexual violence, making this program focused on educating the public even more critical.

As we can see, our nominee has created avenues for community service within her AAUW roles, but those are just the beginning. She has been active in the Nevada City Rotary for a number of years, serving a term as the Rotary Co-President from July 2022 through June 2023, almost a full-time job. Before that—and currently—she serves as Rotary International Services Chair. During her time with Rotary she has hosted people from Kazakhstan as part of their international exchange program. In addition, she visited Kazakhstan before the pandemic and gave a speech there on behalf of her Nevada County Rotary Branch. Putting the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self” further into action, she volunteers most years for an ongoing, annual Rotary project that travels to Mexico to work on educational and health care projects for youth living in and around Los Barilles, north of Los Cabos. She has gone almost every year, and the last 4 or 5 visits has been the main organizer. Additionally, she is the co-founder of the Nevada City Rotary Club’s Menstrual Hygiene Program’s Sewing Circle that sews menstrual hygiene kits for marginalized women in Chiapas, MX, providing essential resources for women most in need.

Our recipient finds other opportunities to volunteer, as well, particularly at her church, Emmanuel Episcopal. She prepares floral arrangements for services, acts as a reader at services, and, echoing the values evident in her other projects, participates in a program at Emmanuel to encourage inter-racial connection and diversity in our community. Her pastor, Father Seth Kellerman, says she “is a delight and a gift to our church and community.”

There’s more. She further serves the community by combining her love of art and her faith. Several years ago, she undertook a renovation to update the artwork in the parish hall at Emmanuel Episcopal, using her expertise in religious art in the process. Additionally, her interest in the art of iconography, which features highly stylized gold leaf paintings of Madonna and child, led her a few years ago to curate an art show in Nevada County for the public that showcased a fabulous collection of painted religious icons.

We hope by now you have recognized our recipient from her history of good deeds. It is our pleasure to announce this year’s winner of the Edi Silverman Community Service Award, Carolyn Feuille.

Current & Past Awardees

2024 Carolyn Feuille
2023 Robin Laverty-Reves
2022 Teri McConnell
2021 Deborah Cubberley
2020 Susie Monary-Wilson
2019 Stephanie Facchini
2018 Ann Shulse
2017 Francesca Erickson
2016 Melanie Heckel
2015 Martha Rees
2014 Bernadette Sylvester
2013 Stephanie Norton
2012 Shirley Zeff
2011 Sharon O’Hara
2010 Sue Miller
2009 Elaine Sierra
2008 Cheryl Morris
2007 Carolyn Standley
2006 Madelyn Helling
2005 Zaida Petievich
2004 Marion Becker
2003 Edi Silverman