Three community champions were honored for their service in the city with the Helping Hands of Holladay Award. The annual recognition highlights the volunteers and contributors making a difference in Holladay.

Michelle Call, Trudy Jorgensen-Price and Dennis Roach received the award in September, during a city council meeting. The Helping Hands of Holladay Award was started by Holladay Mayor Rob Dahle in 2018 as a way to recognize people in the community doing work behind the scenes.

“I get to come in contact with all of these people and these organizations that are out there working under the radar on a daily basis, just doing things that make our community better and they don’t want any recognition,” Dahle said. “There’s a lot of good people out there doing really good stuff every day.”

Call serves as the Bonneville Jr. High PTA president and was nominated for her countless hours of volunteer service working to connect the school and community. 

Jorgensen-Price, branch manager of the Holladay Library, was nominated for the award for her dedication to promoting the library’s resources and activities and for being a partner with the 

Happy Healthy Holladay Coalition. 

“Trudy is just doing her job but she goes above and beyond,” Dahle said. “She comes to at least one council meeting a month to educate everybody about what the library is doing and makes everybody aware of how many things go on at the library.”

Roach is a longtime member of the Holladay Tree Committee and currently serves on the planning commission. He was recognized for improving the community through his efforts to make Holladay a more beautiful place to live. 

“First of all, I don’t deserve this,” Roach said. “I worked alongside a multitude of great Holladay citizens who have the same passion for our community. I think the recognition should go to the group overall. The tree committee is a wonderful group…It’s honestly been a true honor to work with them and work with the city.”

The Helping Hands of Holladay Award is given to people whose contributions either take place in the city or benefit Holladay residents. There is no age limit for the nominees and nominators can submit applications each award cycle. 

Dahle credits city volunteers with building connections, setting good examples and getting the community involved in programs that bring people together. With organizations like the city’s arts council, the Happy Healthy Holladay coalition, the historical commission, the tree committee and a new business advisory board, he sees people in different capacities working toward a common goal. 

“We’ve got a small city, but people are pretty passionate about living here and wanting to find a way to use their time and talent or passions to give back and contribute, whether it be on city councils or in volunteer organizations or on planning commissions or food banks and food pantries and community councils,” Dahle said. “If people quit watching the news and social media so much and took time to think about all the things that are going on now and see what’s going on in their community, it would make them feel better. There are lots of reasons to be optimistic.” λ