Ephrata honors longtime resident and business owner
Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim presents the Spirit of Ephrata award to Mike Scellick. The award is given to recognize those in the Ephrata community who go above and beyond in community service.
REBECCA PETTINGILL/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Mike Scellick, the owner of the Ephrata Athletic Club and the inaugural Spirit of Ephrata Award recipient, said his parents and the community of Ephrata taught him the value of supporting others.
EPHRATA — The Ephrata City Council gave out the first ever Spirit of Ephrata Award at Wednesday night’s meeting to longtime resident and business owner Mike Scellick.
“We think that the recipient of the first-time award is a very appropriate recognition for what the criteria and expectations are,” said Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim.
During the award presentation, Reim read the letter that recommended Scellick. The letter spoke of Scellick’s generosity, especially towards homeless and transient individuals in the community. In many instances, Scellick gave those individuals new shoes.
Scellick attributed his tendency for service to the example his parents set and the generosity of the Ephrata community.
“Growing up, those are things you just kind of learn and these are things you want to do for yourself and your community,” said Scellick.
Scellick was raised in Ephrata and has owned the Ephrata Athletic Club in town for 45 years.
“I think Ephrata is the best town,” Scellick said.
He also noted how generous the community is and rallies around its own and is grateful to have grown up surrounded by it.
“We wanted an avenue to honor those that go above and beyond service to the community,” Reim said.
Reim said it has taken about a year to complete the process to create the award, a lot of that time was spent by a committee creating criteria for applicants and award winners.
Reim said the award will not have a deadline, but rather will be given out as necessary whether that be once a year or once every few months but is only by nomination.
He explained that while many in Ephrata exemplify the spirit of Ephrata, and other organizations in the community have their own recognition awards, this one is to simply recognize those who have gone above and beyond in service to their community.
“This is just a Community Service Recognition Program, which we think is important, honoring those who have already stepped up to the plate,” said Reim.
Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.
