On June 6, the Northside Leadership Conference held its annual awards dinner and honored Northsiders young and old for their contributions to making the Northside a healthier community.
The 2013 dinner marked the 30th award dinner held by the NLSC, and several Northsiders in attendance, like City Council President Darlene Harris, remembered holding the dinner to raise money to cover an overdue phone bill and getting to the venue early to blow up balloons three decades ago.
“Look how far this has come,” said NSLC Executive Director Mark Fatla. “This is the largest community gathering in South West Pennsylvania.”
Fatla also noted that the NLSC has given out $170,000 in scholarship money to local students through the dinner over the past 30 years, and many of them come back to the Northside and improve the community.
This year, the NSLC awarded 19 Northside high school students with $1,000 scholarships sponsored by local businesses such as AGH, ALCO Parking, CDM Smith, Equitable Gas, Rivers Casino, Pittsburgh Mercy, Goodrich and Geist and many major banks in the area.
Awards for outstanding neighbors were also presented at the dinner as well as lifetime achievement awards.
The evening was hosted by lifelong Northsider Johnny Angel who called the Northside “greatest part of Pittsburgh.”
The dinner was catered by Bistro-To-Go, but Angel promised that next year the menu would include “Northside surf and turf,” which will consist of carp and kielbasa.
Scholarship Winners
Thomas Soergel
Colleen Berry
Aaron Reay
Michael Fegula
Brandon Washington
Emily Van Horn
Sean Horgan
Kaylin Herzer
Hyrum Peterson
Michael Vaughn II
Britt Nee Watkins
Michaela Mudd
Shannon Masterson
Lauren Wolosik
Emma Brown Baker
Casey Leseman
Matthew Skinger
Kara Cinker
Kala Cinker
Neighborhood & Business Awardees
Allegheny Hospital Auxiliary
Allegheny West-Linda Iannotta
Brighton Heights- Tom Friday
Brightwood- Michael Lockett
Charles Street Valley- Deborah Lynn White
Spring Garden-East Deutschtown- Laura Stalter
Historic Deutschtown- Cody Walters
Fineview- Bernice Curry Brady
Manchester- Virginia Barnes
Observatory Hill- Donnie Friel
Spring Hill- Joan Russell
Summer Hill- Carolyn Olasewere
Troy Hill- Ann Miller-Smith
Life time achievement awards
Patricia Buck
Ed & Mary Graf
Mary Jane Barbush
Moses Carper
Service Provider Awardee
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Woods Run Branch