Hatfield Township recognized multiple women in honor of Women’s History Month during last Wednesday’s board of commissioners meeting.
The 12 women named as “Outstanding Women of Hatfield” included:
Commissioner Deborah Zimmerman also had a surprise recognition at the end.
The event was an idea Zimmerman had since she was elected to the board as the only woman in 2019. It was pushed off until this year, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I've always believed strongly in recognizing and empowering women and Women's History Month was the perfect opportunity to do so,” Zimmerman said.
Upon selecting the recipients, Zimmerman ensured that there was a well-rounded representation of different careers, backgrounds, and ethnicities. The criteria also included community contributions. The board ended up with several categories, including law enforcement, military, business owners, educator, and community volunteer, among others.
“I feel highly privileged, but I feel I'm just a representation for all the other educators that are in the field, past and present,” Allen said. “It's just an honor to be thought about as an educator to be recognized, but there's so many of us who do so many things beyond the classroom and in the classroom.”
After creating the list of women to honor, Zimmerman reached out to them for in-person and phone call interviews. She then wrote up their descriptions based on the interviews to later be read at the event and worked with the newsletter editor to edit each article for inclusion in the township’s spring newsletter.
“[Zimmerman] came by and talked to me about living in the township. And I was a year old when I moved here and now I'm 87, so I've seen a lot of changes over the years, and I think it's a wonderful place to live,” Johnston said. “I have the Twin Woods Golf Course, and it's very active and serves the people the community, and they seem to like it, and I like running it.”
Zimmerman hopes to continue this event in the future as it proved to be a successful event, according to the honorees. Since Wednesday night, she’s heard back from several of the honorees, who were very appreciative of being recognized and said they enjoyed the event.
“It means a lot to me,” Lapps Wert said. “I think that to be among so many women that are so accomplished and have given so much to the community to just be considered for the position, it was humbling, and to actually be among them receiving this award, it was just a big honor.”
Being that it was the township’s first time hosting this event, many women were surprised to be recognized but also honored to be acknowledged.
“I think times have changed,” Sharma said. “Gone are the days when women were confined within the four walls of home, but now they are gaining more confidence with the different walks of life that they're achieving their goals. And now it's time to recognize them.”
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