Every year, COMOTA selects a Volunteer of the Year- a person whose dedication to our mission and demonstrated commitment to doing the work shone through. Recipients are chosen by the Board Officers and are honored at our annual Members’ Meeting.
2023: Ray Brown
Ray started volunteering with COMOTA at the end of 2022 and has jumped in with both feet! He attended more volunteer events than any other community member, including both our hottest and coldest work events in 2023. Ray even leveled up his commitment to trails by completing sawyer training and learning from Rock Bridge Memorial State Park’s naturalist!
Past Honorees
2022 – Garner Sutterfield
Honeysuckle’s number one enemy in Boone County! If you ever wonder why some of the difficult switchbacks at Rhetts feel easier, it’s because Garner methodically removed the honeysuckle blocking your sight lines. Besides his vendetta against invasive plants, Garner is one of our most experienced sawyers and a regular at trail work events.
2021 – Katie Rapp
You don’t have to just dig to make great trails happen. Katie took on the role of fundraising for us in 2020 and quickly helped COMOTA connect with those opportunities. Her work was key to our first annual fundraiser and securing $250,000 from the Veterans United Foundation for the Rhett’s Run Trailhead Project.
2020 – Andrea Earlywine
Besides becoming more involved and attending more work events, Andrea began doing outreach to women and trail runners bringing them into our events as well. Her efforts helped COMOTA broaden its reach across all trail users.
2019 – Andy Schuette
Andy was our first volunteer of the year recipient and a no-brainer for the honor. Andy has been a silent stalwart for keeping momentum going for trail stewardship in Columbia long before COMOTA.