Angel Gnau Named 2015 Tigard Shining Stars “From the Heart” Volunteer of the Year

Angel Gnau has been selected as the 2015 Tigard Shining Stars “From the Heart” Volunteer of the Year, named in honor of Jim Hartman.  Jim Hartman set the standard for this award by his example of giving from the heart to his community, and the “From the Heart” award honors a person who has dedicated their time and energy to a specific cause in the Tigard community.  This person gives willingly, energetically and consistently; they might be well known or might be a “quiet” volunteer, unrecognized until now, but always gives “from the heart”!  This person may have worked on the same project for many years.Angel has been volunteering 2 days week since 2010 for Breast Friends, a local Tigard non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life for female cancer patients.  Since 2012, Angel has been their Ovarian Cancer Liaison.  In this role Angel works tirelessly with women diagnosed with ovarian cancer to make sure they get the kind of emotional support they need to endure a cancer diagnosis and treatment.  Angel is a survivor herself, dealing with several recurrences since she began volunteering at Breast Friends, but that hasn’t done a lot to slow her down.
She continues to educate herself on the latest developments and news about ovarian cancer and shares the information willingly with Breast Friends and everyone she talks to.  She is an active member of inspsire.com, an online community of supporters who are there for each other.  To show how dedicated she is, she met with Breast Friends staff a couple of weeks after yet another major surgery to make sure they had not forgotten that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month even though the media would be clogged with breast cancer messages.
Because of her commitment to fellow ovarian cancer survivors, Breast Friends honored her with their first “Angel Award” named in her honor in 2013.  Those nominating her for the “From the Heart” award stated, “We feel Angel epitomizes the heart of volunteerism”.
Please join us in congratulating Angel on this well-deserved award.  Her award will be formally presented with other Tigard volunteer and business awards at Tigard’s 2015 Shining Stars Community Awards Celebration, sponsored by Platinum Title Sponsor Washington Federal and held on Friday, April 24th from 5:30-9 p.m. at Embassy Suites – Washington Square, event location host. With a theme of “Tigard’s Oscars”, this Oscar’s themed dinner event includes dinner, silent auction, dessert dash, awards, and more. Tickets are only $35/person.  So dress your best and come join us to celebrate Tigard!
For further details about Shining Stars, please contact the Tigard Area Chamber of Commerce at 503-639-1656 or at debi@tigardchamber.org  or go to our webpage at www.tigardchamber.org 
Breast Friends 
Helping Women Survive the Trauma of Cancer, One Friend at a Time
Breast Friends is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for female cancer patients. Our organization teaches friends and family specific ways to offer support, helps them understand what their loved one is going through, and suggests resources for the woman and for those who care about her. A number of programs developed by Breast Friends have proven valuable in assisting and reassuring the patient, her friends and family. Our programs are designed to aid in making sure proper support is given and received. Every woman in America will be touched by breast or other women’s cancers in her lifetime. One in eight women will be diagnosed, and the other seven will know her. Our goal is to reach the seven in order to help the one. www.breastfriends.org