Click here to view a slideshow from the event.
Last Thursday, the Boy Scout's Yankee Clipper Council proved at their 2010 Distinguished Citizen Awards that Scouting isn't just a phase of youth but a lifetime experience.
Thomas Vartabedian, former reporter and photographer for The Haverhill Gazette, and Joan Hull, executive director of Home Health VNA were presented with the annual Distinguished Citizen awards for their lifetime of altruistic contributions to the Merrimack Valley.
The awards were given out during the 2010 Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner at DiBurro's Function Facilities at Ward Hill to a crowd of around 100 invited guests. Thirteen members in attendance were former Distinguished Citizen Award recipients as well.
The ceremony was significant as it was not only the 23rd year of the Distinguished Citizen Awards, but it was also taking place during the centennial anniversary year of the Boy Scouts of America.
Vartabedian and Hull both said, however, that it was the "unsung" individuals in their lives who were the true heroes of the evening.
Vartabedian used the evening to present a special unannounced award to former Eagle Scout Bennet Merker of Haverhill.
Merker was the first individual with disabilities in both the Lone Tree Council, the former name for the Yankee Clipper Council, and in America to receive the title of Eagle Scout. Bennet had been invited to the dinner that evening unaware of the honor. Bennet has been a grocery bagger with Market Basket for 42 years.
"He blazed a trail for Eagle Scouts with disabilities," said Vartabedian. "It's the best kept secret in the city of Haverhill."
Vartabedian said the honor of being a Distinguished Citizen belonged with all other Eagle Scouts as well.
"Some of my best stories were on Eagle Scouts," he said. "I went for the stories that made people feel good and seeing an Eagle Scout inducted is always a source of community pride."
Vartabedian was also accepting the award for his mother Jennie, Haverhill's last survivor of the Armenian Genocide. She lives at the Hannah Duston Nursing Home in Haverhill and is another regular source of inspiration for the weekly columns that Vartabedian continues to contribute to the newspaper.
Similarly, Hull said her efforts at the Home Health VNA would be impossible without the support of her staff.
"The Yankee Clipper is giving me the award, but they're the ones doing the work," she said.
Hull's friend and coworker, Rosanne DeStefano, was in attendance to present Hull's award.
"If she says she's going to do something, it gets done," said DeStefano.
DeStefano said her friendship with Hull grew out of their mutual values both in and outside the workplace.
Hull's award was due to her 13 years of medical service within the Merrimack Valley with the Home Health Foundation. She is also being honored for building the first Hospice House within the Merrimack Valley, in Haverhill. She employs more than 800 staff members and serves 70 cities altogether.
Vartabedian's award was presented to him due to his many community outreach efforts including his advocacy for Armenian Genocide education in public schools and his career-long coverage of youth news in the community.
Eagle Scouts weren't the only Boy Scouts in attendance that evening, as All Saints Parish's Cub Scout Pack 27 was there to perform the opening ceremony.
