Newtown Interfaith Council welcomed Maureen Crick Owen and Bronson Hawley to speak about the Mary Hawley Public Service Award during its Tuesday, January 14 meeting at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Crick Owen and Bronson, who are both selection committee members for the award, encouraged the NIC to spread the word about it to their congregations and participate in the award process by nominating someone.

The Mary Hawley Public Service Award was announced in September 2023, and aims to promote volunteerism by recognizing an individual for their continuous commitment to Newtown and its community.

As Bronson told NIC members during the meeting, the award is named after Newtown benefactress Mary Hawley, who is responsible for many iconic landmarks and treasured infrastructure in town, from Edmond Town Hall and Hawley Elementary School to the C.H. Booth Library and the Memorial Bridge right by Hawley Pond.

For Bronson, who is a distant relative of Mary, he said that it is great that the award will bring her name to the forefront every year for people to remember all that she’s done for Newtown.

“[Mary] was a single woman for the most part, and she had no brothers, no sisters, no children. So she might have been alone, but she loved this town,” Bronson said. “She gave everything that she had to the town, and I think that should be remembered every year. And now, it will be.”

Most importantly, Bronson added, the Mary Hawley Public Service Award honors volunteerism, which he said is “the backbone of any town, and Newtown is certainly no exception.”

Gordon Williams was chosen as the inaugural recipient of the award last June, and was later honored in a celebration ceremony hosted by the award committee in August.

Recipients of the award will get their name added to a plaque in The Mary Hawley Room in the town hall, as well as a $1,000 donation in their name, courtesy of Newtown Savings Bank, to a local nonprofit of their choice.

Nominations for this year’s Mary Hawley Public Service award will be open from Monday, March 3 to Friday, May 2. Afterwards, Crick Owen said that the Mary Hawley Service Award Committee will have a review process of around 60 days. By June, she said that the committee will have their recommended recipient, meet as a group, and then “move from there.”

Bronson told NIC members that they have “two great reasons” to have this award: to honor Mary and to honor volunteerism.

“So we think it’s a win-win for everybody, and we encourage you to support us by nominating somebody that you may know or spread the word, which is what [Crick Owen] and I are trying to do right now,” Bronson said.

Their visit to the NIC is only one of the most recent stops in what Crick Owen called their “speaking engagement tour” across local boards and commissions. The goal, she said, is to spread awareness about the award and get nominees from a broad spectrum of different organizations.

Trinity Church Reverend Andrea Castner Wyatt and Newtown Congregational Church Lead Pastor Matt Crebbin, who are both NIC members, expressed support for the award and interest in sharing it with their respective congregations.

Castner Wyatt said that their work inherently depends on volunteers, “so on that level, I appreciate lifting up the spirit of community service in town.”

Newtown Congregational Church Lead Pastor Matt Crebbin agreed and added that the award is not just a great way to highlight public service, but to bring the community together.

“Those bonds that bring people together, that strengthen our community, are created partially through volunteerism,” Crebbin said.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.