The United States Postal Service, Southwest Area, has initiated the Darla J Stafford Award to be presented annually to an employee who best meets the following criteria: Intelligence, Dedication, Fun-loving, Empathetic, Courageous, Compassionate, Integrity, Sense of Humor, Caring, Energetic, Insightful, Friendly, Helpful, Articulate, Supported business goals, Vision, Values, Loyalty, Modesty Motivator, Selfless, Good-Natured, Can-do attitude, Passionate and Creative.
The Pennville Volunteer Fire Department has chosen to use the over $12,000.00 in donations to Darla’s Memorial Fund to endow a trust that will pay for training needs each year that might have otherwise gone unfunded. The trust will be administrated by a local philanthropic organization, The Portland Foundation. Their website is www.portlandfoundation.org. For 2007, a portion of the donations were used to purchase cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training equipment. In the past, the PVFD rented the equipment. This purchase will ensure more frequent and effective CPR training for both department personnel and members of the community. Anyone who knew Darla will remember that she valued education – on both personal and professional levels. In her all too brief life; she was both a student and a teacher. She sought opportunities to learn new and better processes and, in turn, freely shared that knowledge. In this way, we truly believe Darla will continue sharing her gifts of learning, teaching and caring.
Why the Pennville VFD? Pennville is a tiny farm community about 10 miles from Darla’s hometown. Darla started with the Postal Service at Pennville as a part time clerk. A few years passed and her mother, Rebecca, became the Postmaster for Pennville. Then later her brother and his family moved to Pennville. Donnie now serves on the Pennville VFD as a volunteer firefighter and an