On June 19 the Unity Area Rotary Club will award Sara Trunzo ‘08, Unity College Food and Farms Project Coordinator, with the honor of Volunteer of the Year. The event will take place at Crosstrax Restaurant in Unity, Maine, located at 215 Depot Street, beginning at 4:30 p.m. with a networking social. The program and award ceremony will take place from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“Sara has somehow managed to bring together all of the various food related interest groups in the area to the benefit of all those groups and people they serve,” noted Don Newell, 2010-12 President of the Unity Area Rotary Club.

Trunzo demonstrates a passion for improving community access to fresh, healthy food for all people. A 2008 alum of Unity College, Sara served for two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer focusing on food security in Unity and the region. She’s active in area agencies and on multiple advisory boards that work to address issues of hunger, food access, sustainable agriculture, and community development. Trunzo has been instrumental in the development of the hunger-relief agriculture project, Veggies for All, and works closely with Unity’s Volunteer Regional Food Pantry.

In 2011 the community-based hunger relief program Veggies for All was honored by Unity College with a commencement citation. Trunzo’s award goes beyond Veggies for All and the Community Meals Program in Unity, it relates to how an entire community has rallied to address the issue of food insecurity and how one young woman’s talent, dedication, and insights helped to spark consistent improvement of those efforts.

A project of Unity Barn Raisers and housed at Unity College, the Veggies for All program annually grows about 15,000 pounds of cabbage, potatoes, winter squash, dry beans, carrots and more. Through the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry, the harvest reaches over 1,500 low-income neighbors, many of whom are children or elderly.

Unity Area Rotary Club members are busy people who believe the true value in life is giving back to their community–both locally and globally. Rotary International, and the thousands of Clubs around the world, allow them to do this. Rotary membership provides opportunities for service, leadership, and fellowship.

The Unity Area Rotary Club has been supporting the community and projects around the world since 1990. In recognizing Trunzo, Unity Area Rotary Club recognizes the strength of collaboration for a thriving community.