Mount Vernon honors city residents as Volunteers of the Year

MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon will honor three city residents as its 2021 Volunteers of the Year at the last First Friday event of the year on Sept. 3.

LJ Harry, Michael Percy and Trina Trainor are being honored for donating their time, experience and expertise to the arts, parks and local government.

“LJ, Michael and Trina represent the best of Mount Vernon, and there are many more like them,” Mayor Matt Starr said.

Trainor has volunteered with the Mount Vernon Music & Arts Festival since 2019. She now serves as its co-director and board secretary.

“It is so rewarding to have the opportunity to work together with so many passionate individuals who keep music and arts alive in Mount Vernon. When the curtain is drawn, the lights go on, the event comes alive – it’s magic. Get involved and be part of the magic,” she said.

Harry has been a police chaplain since the beginning of the Mount Vernon Association of Police Chaplains in 2018.

“When I was a teenager, I saw a news piece naming Mount Vernon as Ohio’s best town. No matter if the networks ever place that ribbon around our neck again, each of us can volunteer to make our city what we want it to be for our families,” he said.

Percy serves as chair of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals and as president of the Foundation Park Conservancy.

“I volunteer in the community because I feel we all have an obligation to give back in some way, to have a positive impact on a place that we all love and call our home, he said.

The trio will be honored at 6 p.m. today in a ceremony on the stage near the South Main Plaza’s Dog Fountain.