Each year WWA staff collaborate on the Volunteer of the Year (VOY)award, given to the individual who has truly gone above and beyond the normal “call of duty” of a WWA volunteer. As happens occasionally, the 2017 VOY seemed apparent from the beginning of the conversation and it was instantly and unanimously agreed upon that Mike Alaimo, chairman of the Waukesha County chapter and lead Adopt A Wildlife Area volunteer, would be the 2017 Volunteer of the Year.
Mike Alaimo, left, accepts his 2017 Volunteer of the Year award from WWA Executive Director Don Kirby at the 2018 WWA Annual Meeting
Mike started his WWA volunteer career with our Baraboo River chapter and brought new life to their team with increasingly impressive banquet events before a job change relocation brought his family to the Waukesha County area. Eager to continue his chapter volunteerism, Mike quickly integrated into the Waukesha County chapter and began to make a difference with his leadership, strong personal example of excellence and absolutely tireless work ethic. Mike inspires good people to do great work and this year led the Waukesha County chapter to be the top earning chapter of WWA. Mike also regularly shows up to assist with or attend other WWA events across the state and is a staple and incredibly reliable volunteer helper for staff year round.
Mike Alaimo and Shaun Gibbons building nesting tubes at the Lake Mills AWA site in 2017.
As if his countless volunteer hours of chapter banquet and event work were not enough, in 2015 Mike single-handedly got WWA involved with the WDNR’s new Adopt-A-Wildlife Area (AWA) program and currently serves as the lead volunteer of the AWA program in WWA. Mike heads teams directly working on the Rome Pond, Lake Mills and Paradise Valley Wildlife Areas and has helped the Wausau chapter adopt the George W. Meade Wildlife Area and the Midland Wings/West Bend chapter adopt Jackson Marsh Wildlife Area. In the process, according to WWA ED Don Kirby, Mike is now known as “the guy who wrecked the grading curve for all others making action/duty reports, in both WWA and the entire Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources” with his incredibly detailed event and program reporting.
WWA is truly blessed to have each and every one of our volunteers, and most especially a volunteer leader like Mike Alaimo. Congratulations and a huge THANK YOU to Mike and his family for their dedication to WWA.