UPPER TOWNSHIP – Amy Holmes was named Upper Township’s 2021 Citizen of the Year by the Rotary Club of Upper Township – Ocean City.
Rotarian Ralph Cooper made the presentation before Thanksgiving. Rotary International is the largest service organization in the world, counting approximately 1.4 million members and approximately 46,000 individual local clubs, including the U.T.-O.C. club which was chartered in 1926 and is one of the oldest continually operating Rotary Clubs in the world, according to Cooper.
“Rotary is a non-profit service organization whose goal is to make the world a better place to live and involves local service projects that benefit our community as well as international projects,” Cooper said. “Rotary’s motto is ‘Service above Self.’ Rotary members strive to provide a service to others, whether it be local or in some distant land.”
Holmes, he said, embodies that motto.
“I cannot think of another Upper Township citizen that personifies ‘Service Above Self’ any better than Amy,” Cooper said.
She is a third-grade teacher in Upper Township District and is celebrating 20 years of service this year as a public-school teacher. Rotary is recognizing her for her volunteer work.
She has been co-chair of the Ocean City High School After Prom Committee with Jennifer Bowman since 2014 and has helped extend the one-night event into multiple events throughout the school year to educate and empower the community, Cooper said. Those events include Hidden in Plain Sight, If They Had Known, and the hosting of the 8th Grade Raider Nation Dance. Most recently, she took the initiative to use the safe space at the Ocean City Tabernacle to bring teenagers together once a month for a time to hang out in a drug- and alcohol-free environment.
She has been a volunteer with the with Upper Township & Ocean City Municipal Alliance Committee (MAC) for over seven years. Holmes was selected for the MAC Volunteer of the Year Award for 2021 as well. She also was the Cape May County 2021 Volunteer of the Year with the New Jersey Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.
Cooper said because of Holmes’ selection for this Rotary award, 200 more children will be immunized against Polio as Rotary International seeks to eradicate polio from the face of the Earth.
