VICOMIM Members Receive Awards

The Mental Health Association in Fredericksburg presented their Community Awards on Jan. 17, 2006.  VICOMIM members, Velma Walker and Margaret Ann Holt, received awards recognizing their commitment and work.  

Velma Walker

RESPECT Award: This award recognizes an individual or organization whose personal testimony promotes recovery with dignity, free of stigma and prejudice, for persons with mental health needs. This individual organized the first Candlelight Vigil held on the steps of Market Square during May is Mental Health month in 2005 to raise awareness of challenges faced by persons with mental illnesses. She opens her home each week to her peers where she facilitates a support group that promotes recovery and self-empowerment.  We are honored to recognize Velma Walker for her courage to share her story with our community.  

Interfaith Community Award: This award recognizes clergy or laity who contribute in the field of mental health.  The recipient this year is well known in the faith community, having founded and nurtured the Virginia Interfaith Committee on Mental Illness (VICOMIM) since 1995. In 2005 she planned the first interfaith National Day of Prayer Service for mental illness recovery and understanding in observance of Mental Illness Awareness Week during the first week in October.  This event was held at St. Matthias United Methodist Church in Stafford County and included presenters from many faith communities as well as individuals and family members who live with mental illness. We are pleased to present the Interfaith Community award to Margaret Ann Holt on behalf of the Prayer Service.    

2005 Pitzer Award Given to Margaret Ann Holt  

Margaret Ann Holt

Martha Stokes presented Margaret Ann Holt with the 2005 Pitzer Award from the Southeastern United Methodist Agency on Rehabilitation (SEMAR), Jan. 22, 2006.  The award was presented during the 8:45 a.m. worship service at St. Matthias UMC in Stafford County. The ROBERT M. PITZER AWARD was established by the SEMAR Board of Trustees to be given within the Southeastern Jurisdiction to those who have provided exemplary leadership in furthering the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in our communities, our churches and our world. The purpose of the Pitzer Award is to recognize outstanding leadership, dedication and commitment to persons with disabilities across the southeastern United States, and to nominate deserving professionals, volunteers, churches, organizations and corporations that serve as models of excellence for inclusion of persons with disabilities. 

In the letter of nomination for Mrs. Holt, Martha Stokes, Director of Lay Life and Work, Disabilities, and Older Adult Ministries, wrote:  “Mrs. Holt is a tireless advocate for persons with mental illness, their families, friends, and caregivers…. Margaret Ann Holt is THE visionary, passionate leader of our Conference mental illness ministries and of interfaith ministries statewide.  She has provided the stamina and excitement for the growth of this ministry and for its reach across Virginia and into other areas of our church….This award would be a great recognition of her outstanding leadership, dedication, and commitment to persons with disabilities across the Virginia Conference, southeastern jurisdiction, and throughout our church.”