Ohio native honored for generosity of time and talent.
Congratulations to Lisa Priester, of Chardon, OH, for being named the 2022 Denise Noel Discovery Award winner. Since 2015 Lisa has been a full-time volunteer with the Chardon, Ohio Discovery Shop. As one of the main donation processors, Lisa welcomes an average of 35-40 donation drop offs per day and always creates a welcoming environment for donors, customers, and volunteers. She is sure to thank every donor for supporting ACS and always invites them to come in and shop the store before heading back home. Lisa also works closely with student community service volunteers, many who choose to continue volunteering after their hour requirements are fulfilled simply because they’ve had a fun experience at the shop.
Discovery Shops are powered by the strength of our volunteers and never has this been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like all Discovery Shops across the country, there was a significant drop in volunteerism throughout 2020 and 2021. As the busiest and largest store in Ohio, Lisa is always generous with her time -consistently volunteering the most hours each year to the Chardon Discovery Shop. During the worst of the pandemic, she would often come in on her off days and not only offer extra time, but moral support and encouragement during a challenging period. Because of a small and mighty group of volunteers, and especially Lisa, the Chardon Discovery Shop was able to weather the worst of the pandemic.
Award Background
After her own family was touched with cancer, Denise Noel founded the very first Discovery Shop in San Fernando CA, in 1965, which is now a 61-location chain of resale shops operated by the American Cancer Society. Denise was tenacious in her pursuit of excellence and her drive to create an upscale resale shop to support the mission of the American Cancer Society and her legacy of grace, giving, and service live on through our wonderful Discovery Shop volunteers. This award is presented annually to an individual or group in recognition of outstanding contributions to the Discovery Shop program.
