News : CDRC in the News
Tompkins Trust Annual Award of ExcellenceMay 23rd, 2011
TOMPKINS TRUST COMPANY ANNUAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
We want to congratulate all of our mediators for winning the Tompkins Trust Company annual AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE, presented by the Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County on May 23rd, 2011. This honor is given annually in recognition of outstanding volunteerism on the part of community members who give of their time in the service of others. We have prominently displayed the award in CDRC’s Tompkins County mediation office on 120 Martin Luther King, Jr. Street in Ithaca. A check for $1,500 was presented to CDRC to honor the work of our volunteer mediators. Excerpts of the nomination authored by Executive Director Jeff Lydon follow:
The volunteer mediators of the Community Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC) define the organization. Collectively, they comprise the backbone of CDRC and make it possible for the organization to carry out its vital mission: cultivating constructive responses to conflict.
CDRC’s volunteer mediators enable the agency to offer interpersonal mediation services at no cost, so that those most vulnerable to the often devastating consequences of protracted conflict can always have access to professional alternative dispute resolution services of the highest order. The volunteers’ impact is as broad as it is deep. Mediating hundreds of cases for multiple parties every year in Tompkins County, volunteer mediators have cumulatively served a number of people equivalent to one-third of the county’s non-student population since CDRC’s inception in 1983.
CDRC volunteer mediators are the peacemakers of our community. The strict code of confidentiality mediators work by requires absolute discretion, so they remain unsung heroes.
Whether
a case involves family, neighbors, or co-workers, one can imagine the pressure
of shouldering the responsibility for helping disputing parties achieve
resolution with relations so cold and stakes so high. Yet that is what
CDRC volunteer mediators do every day, and they do it only for the sake of their
civic and communal affections…
Once again, all of us at CDRC wish to extend our gratitude for your dedication and our congratulations for this collective recognition of your wonderful service.
