Karen Sandrick Receives 2022 Greensfelder-Elam Award
Karen Sandrick received the 2022 Greensfelder-Elam Award at LWV Chicago’s Annual Meeting on June 11. Since 1981, this award has been presented to a member who has demonstrated extraordinary long-term dedication and effectiveness in League work.
In her acceptance remarks, Karen said that the award, while it acknowledges her contributions, also
“reflects the contributions of other League members who work with and alongside me and make me look good. … I would like to thank all of you who have helped me along the way and who continue to work with me on projects. It is indeed an honor to receive this award. It’s one I share with many.”
In presenting the award, Priscilla Mims, the 2021 award recipient, explained that the current selection process is for last year’s recipient to contact the available prior recipients for recommendations. Pris said she provided several names to past award winners, as well as asking for suggestions, and the overwhelming consensus was that Karen should receive this honor. Here are some of the reasons:
Shortly after joining the League in 2015, Karen became involved in writing for and editing the Chicago League newsletter. Currently, Karen continues to edit the weekly newsletter emailed to all members.
Karen also quickly became involved in helping produce League programs, such as Chicago in Focus.
She served as Vice President for Civic Engagement from 2018-20. In that role, she helped organize the monthly League Briefings and other programs. She also was one of the League’s representatives in the early days of the effort to create a “people’s commission” to redraw the ward map for Chicago after the 2020 census.
It was also Karen’s idea, and she helped spearhead, an LWV Chicago Annual Report for both members and the public. Such a document is not only a useful communication tool internally, but it is also helpful in securing grants for the League.
While not a League activity, Pris also told the members present that Karen is an author of The Peach Tree, a work of historical fiction that describes actual incidents that occurred in 1942 and 1943 in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and Germany.