THE AMY WINTER AWARD
When nominations were taken from the HSF Board for the 2009 recipients of the Amy Winter Courage Award, it was an obvious, unanimous, slam dunk. The Klein family has always been and continues to be enthusiastic supporters of the Plainwell Community and over the past several years, they have displayed amazing courage and strength while dealing with a myriad of health challenges. The positive spirit, never give up, attitude they have provided us, along with remarkable grace under pressure exemplifies the nature of this award and its name sake.
Our 2009 winners are:
Dan Klein
Deb Klein
Louis Klein
Claudia Klein
2008 was the first year for this award and given in the honor of Amy Winter who we lost last year. Amy was such an amazing profile in courage as she worked so hard for the foundation while dealing with her own personal challenge of Cancer. Even when Amy wasn’t feeling her best, her conviction and spirit never wavered. We presented two awards this year.
Dennis “Denny” Lee.
Denny has been the bass player in the Harry Stout All-Star Band since its inception in 2004. He is also one of the partners of our presenting sponsor, The Apogee Companies in south Florida. He and partner Jeff Staley have provided the foundation with its most impactful financial contribution and have been strong supporters of our causes. Denny was diagnosed with Stage IV liver disease last year and in the midst of the fight of his life. He has been on chemotherapy for the past 10 months and has another 8-10 to go. The good news is that it’s working so we are keeping Denny in our thoughts and prayers and hope to have him back on the stage soon.
Andy Winter.
Amy’s husband and four year board member of the foundation has somehow managed to keep pushing forward even while dealing with such a difficult loss. He inspires us all and our love for Andy and his family comes from a very deep place. It was a bittersweet moment to present the award to Andy and his daughters, Amanda and Allison.