Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce to host annual award banquet June 1

The Camas-Washougal Chamber will host its annual award banquet on Wednesday, June 1, at the Camas Meadows  Golf Club, 4105 N.W. Camas Meadow Dr., Camas. 

The event is open to the public. Tickets cost $45 per person. 

The event will honor the Chamber’s 2022 Citizen of the Year and Businessperson of the Year, as well as scholarship winners and teachers  of the year from the Camas and Washougal school districts. 

The Chamber’s 2022 Businessperson of the Year is Marilyn Reed, owner of Lily Atelier. An active Chamber board member, Reed serves on the Chamber’s Camas Days Committee and is an active member of the Downtown Camas Association. 

“Marilyn supports and participates in many fundraising events for several local organizations including Ten Grands, Dinner in White, Jack Will and Rob Center, Assistance League, Camas Educational Foundation, Camas High School Deca Program and Pink Sista’s,” the Chamber noted in a news release. “(She also) supports the education of our young community members through bi-annual internship programs run by Cascadia Technology Academy.”

The Chamber’s 2022 Citizen of the Year is John Kaiser. 

A retired U.S. Army staff sergeant, Kaiser served in Kuwait, Mosul and Baghdad, where he was wounded in action. 

“After struggling with PTSD, fishing became a therapy (for Kaiser),” the Chamber noted in its news release. “After fishing with an Army buddy, John realized there are therapeutic benefits of being outside surrounded by nature and quietly fishing.”

Kaiser began to take fellow veterans fishing and soon became the Northwest Veteran Outreach Coordinator for Veteran Outdoors, a Texas-based organization dedicated to providing hunting, fishing and outdoor activities to wounded veterans.  

The Chamber also selected two students for its 2022 scholarships. 

Savannah Stephens is the Camas scholarship recipient. A senior attending Camas Connections Academy, Stephens plans to attend Brigham Young University in the fall, where she will major in history. Stephens is on the swimming, bowling, tennis and golf teams at Camas High School, is a member of the high school’s marching band and is the band secretary and flute-section leader. She also teaches piano lessons. 

The Washougal scholarship recipient is Mary Lendvoyi, a senior at Washougal High School who plans to attend either Washington State University in Pullman or the University of Idaho in the fall. A Running Start student since her sophomore year, Lendvoyi has a 4.0 grade point average and will graduate next month with an associate’s degree from Clark College. Lendvoyi, a member of the Washougal High swim team, works as a part-time swim instructor and lifeguard. She also is the secretary of her school’s National Honor Society, acts as the student government’s social media coordinator, is a volunteer at Pathways Pregnancy Clinic in Washougal, and participates in the choir at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.