Beacon Awards
To help commemorate our 50th anniversary, we have started a new tradition to honor individuals who have shaped the direction of our agency. The CCFI Beacon Award recognizes those who’ve made a difference, in ways both large and small, and who truly carry out our mission to heal children, empower youth and strengthen families.
In 2024, we established the inaugural Lighthouse Award to honor outstanding community partners who go above and beyond for our mission.
2024 Beacon Award & Lighthouse Award Recipients
This year, we were thrilled to honor longtime volunteer Jennifer Denison with our 2024 Beacon Award. Throughout the past 15 years, Jennifer has dedicated countless hours to our Holiday Wishes program, ensuring it runs smoothly. Through her steadfast commitment, she’s helped thousands of local children have a fulfilling and meaningful holiday season. To learn more about her work as a volunteer through our Holiday Wishes program, watch the video below.
This year, we also added a new award - the Lighthouse Award - to help honor a community partner who has made outstanding contributions to our mission. Our inaugural Lighthouse Award winner is Sun Construction Services. If you’ve been to our agency you've seen the beautiful impact of their craftsmanship. Quick to go the extra mile, Sarah, Jeremy and the rest of the Sun Construction team have ensured that we have a welcoming and beautiful space to help children feel safe, nurtured and loved.
2023 Beacon Award Recipients
In 2023, we honored two individuals with our agency’s top award: Cindy Merrick and Lee Bond.
Cindy Merrick is a passionate individual who has been involved with our organization for decades. She played an integral role in our Champions for Children campaign, served on our Board of Directors and has been a hands-on volunteer. Cindy has made an invaluable mark on the Norman community as well as right here at CCFI.
Lee Bond has been a steadfast volunteer for more than 5 years, serving as our “resident handyman.” Lee’s helpful nature and can-do attitude is welcomed by all, and he can truly do it all! Driven by his passion for service and a love for our mission, Lee has volunteered close to 1,200 hours over his tenure and keeps our ever-growing agency functioning and beautiful.
2022 Beacon Award Recipient
At Hands & Hearts, we proudly honored Kate Stanton as the 2022 Beacon Award recipient. Over 12 years ago, Kate Stanton began her journey as a champion for CCFI. During her special two-year term as Board President, Kate led CCFI’s major capital campaign and oversaw the establishment of Boys & Girls Club of Norman. A few years after rolling off the board, CCFI somehow drew her back to Co-Chair the 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Kate is generous with her time, her resources, her talents and her passion. She is a fierce advocate for CCFI and for our community. She is a leader who invites others to come alongside her and join the cause. Congratulations, Kate!
Kate is pictured with Melissa Simpson Klink, CEO (left) and Vicky Bumgarner, 2021-2022 Board President (right).
2021 Beacon Award Recipient
Fran Roberson was selected as the 2021 Beacon Award recipient. Fran served as CCFI’s first Clinical Director and dedicated nearly three decades to helping grow our mission. She helped lay the framework for our counseling program and was instrumental in shining a light on child abuse and trauma informed service in our community.
2019 Beacon Award Recipients
CCFI is pleased to announce the very first group of Beacon Award recipients: Lynn Wendelbo, Robert “Bob” Staples, Jenny Brannon and Anne & Alan Brinkley. These individuals were honored at the 2019 Hands & Hearts fundraising luncheon, where they were each presented a beautiful custom piece of glass work created by Art Fusion Studio. To learn more about each Beacon Award winner, please view their profiles below.
LYNN is a retired play therapist who joined CCFI as a volunteer in the late 1980s. After falling in love with the agency’s mission, Lynn became a full-time employee who was instrumental in bringing play therapy practices to the counseling program. After her retirement, Lynn offered her professional services as a volunteer for many years and still remains an advocate for children and families.
BOB was an active community member who’s supported CCFI for more than a decade. Whether rain or shine, Bob volunteered weekly to manage CCFI’s recycling needs, all with a smile on his face. He was passionate about lending a helping hand and truly had a servant’s heart.
JENNY dedicates 10+ hours each week serving as the Boys & Girls Club of Norman Kids Café manager. Every day, she preps meals for at least 80 Club members, all while offering a shoulder to lean on. The Kids Café would not be able to run as smoothly as it does without her help and her assistance is both greatly needed and appreciated.
ANNE & ALAN are long-time agency advocates who have provided support in a multitude of ways. They have played a vital role in bringing new and innovative treatments to CCFI, with the most recent one being Trauma Drama. Their generosity, vision and selfless dedication has helped catapult the nonprofit to where it is today, and is what ultimately continues pushing the agency into bigger and better things.