BUCYRUS — The Bucyrus Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its 94th Annual Dinner and Awards Banquet at Trillium Event Center. The event was sponsored by FCBank.

FCBank was named the 2019 Business of the Year for their “commitment to the community and to the volunteerism of their employees has made a huge impact in 2019.”

FCBank was recognized for its participation in First Fridays, providing a giant snow globe, a bootcamp obstacle course, fire truck bounce houses, an inflatable hay maze, and more for families to enjoy. FCBnak has supported community events like Music at the Mural, Spooktacular, and the Crawford County Fair, and they are bringing back last year’s popular community ice skating rink for both nights of Winter Wonderfest.

During the school year, FCBank volunteers help the Bucyrus Backpack Program to prepare weekend meals for local students at risk for food insecurity, and are encouraged to be involved with local civic organizations, including the Red Cross, Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival, Crawford County Community Concert Association and Tiro-Auburn Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, as well as with Kiwanis and Rotary clubs.

Brittany Locker was named the 2019 Young Professional of the Year. She was recognized for her work with the Crawford County Council on Aging.

The chamber said the following of Locker at the banquet:

“In her role managing the Nutrition Program for the Crawford County Council on Aging, she designs menus and devises new entrees that appeal to seniors while meeting nutritional standards; delivers meals; oversees frozen food production in the COA’s new Nutrition building; and manages staff. Under her management in 2018, the Council on Aging program delivered 58,252 home meals and served 5,383 meals in Bucyrus and Galion.

She demonstrates her commitment to the seniors she serves with enthusiasm and diligence, and she carries that commitment into the community, serving on the Kiwanis board of directors.”

After winning the 2018 Volunteer of the Year award, Candy Yocum was named the 2019 Citizen of the Year. The chamber does not typically give the same person multiple awards in consecutive years, but the number of nominations Yocum received called for an exception.

Yocum was called “an eager volunteer” with the Kiwanis. She serves on the board of directors for Kiwanis and the Bucyrus Tourism & Visitors Bureau, “readily helping promote Bucyrus on all fronts, including leading tours of downtown for this year’s Bratwurst Festival Royalty.”

She was a first-time volunteer for the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival in 2019. She also volunteers regularly for the Crawford Park District, Quality of Life Action Team at the Crawford Partnership, the Growing Together garden venture that paired preschoolers and senior citizens and coordinated and hosted a National Night Out event for her neighborhood block in August. She does all of this while working full-time as the popular Activities Director for the Crawford County Council on Aging.

Larry West was named the 2019 Volunteer of the Year after spending the past decade leading a premiere tourist event in Crawford County, the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival.

According to the chamber, “His tireless and enthusiastic leadership has driven an ongoing increase in attendance, sponsorship, and participation for the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival that shows no sign of slowing down.”

West recently stepped down as director of the Bratwurst Festival but will continue supporting festival efforts in his new title of director emeritus.

He also is active in the community as an Upward basketball coach and is a regular volunteer at Bucyrus First Fridays.

Crawford County Public Health was named the 2019 Organization of the Year is dedicated to saving lives.

According to the chamber, Crawford County Public Health “works tirelessly to inform, to immunize, to inspect, to prevent, to prepare, and to educate – all in support of improving the health of our community.”

Crawford County Public Health has helped the community in many ways, including establishing the only mothers’ milk bank drop-off location in northern Ohio.

The mothers’ milk donations accepted at the Crawford County Milk Bank drop off site are pasteurized and distributed to hospitals by the OhioHealth Mothers’ Milk Bank, giving the best chance at survival to premature or critically ill infants whose mothers are unable to provide their own milk.

The 2019 Organization of the Year award was presented to Crawford County Public Health, and the team who brought the Mothers’ Milk Bank drop off to Bucyrus – Holly Kozinski, Kathy Bushey, and Deanna Grube.

Don Wilson was named the 2019 Posthumous Citizen of the Year.

According to the chamber, “This award honors a man who was dedicated to the community and lived life by his favorite Woody Hayes quote, ‘You can seldom pay back, so you should always try to pay forward.’”

He was a member of the Bucyrus Kiwanis Club, having served as a past President and participating fully in their endeavors, including volunteering in soup kitchens, bell ringing, the annual chicken barbecue and Kiwanis Peanut Day project.

In the last week of his life, he made a point of reviewing his checklist for the impending Peanut Day with fellow club members, to ensure everything was taken care of.

He also served on the boards for the Bucyrus Salvation Army and the Crawford County Council on Aging and was a member of American Legion Post 181 and Moose Lodge 669.