Jo Ann Arnold is this year’s winner of the Helen B. Clark Award for community service in Skagway. The award recognizes residents who have served to their community through outstanding volunteer work.
Arnold is a Skagway resident of 38 years. She works at the Elks Lodge. On New Year’s day at an open house get together she got a big surprise.
“I thought I was going to sit and have coffee with this lady and I ended up getting an award. I was shocked, I was. I was like crying,” Arnold said.
Nominations for the Helen B. Clark award are accepted from the public every fall. A committee of past winners reviews nominations from the past five years and selects a winner.
Dustin Stone works at the Elks Lodge with Arnold. He wrote a nomination letter to the award committee, explaining why she deserved to be recognized.
“She literally just doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word ‘no’ when it comes to volunteer work,” Stone said. “In the roughly 5 years that I’ve been working with her, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her take a complete day off. If she’s not here volunteering she’s always out helping somebody in town. You know, checking on the welfare of local senior citizens. She’s an amazing human being and she definitely deserves some recognition for the work she does in the community. She never asks for any and that’s just absolutely amazing.”
Arnold particularly enjoys working on fundraisers for specific members of the community. She said that lending a hand is an important part of life in Skagway.
“The community of Skagway, I’m sure there are other little towns that are like this, but I’ve never found one. This is my first town I’ve lived in—been here since 1981—that people love to live here because they know if anything ever happens that this town’s going to back them up one hundred percent.”
Arnold was quick to point out that she isn’t the only one giving back to the community. She has been supported during difficult times.
“Well, my husband was out of town getting his cancer treatments. The whole town got together and sent me at least once a month over there to be with him because he was staying with his sister. And then when he got home there was like meals on wheels. Everybody was bringing us different food every night to the point where we were having to put food out on the front porch because I had no more room left in my fridge.”
The Helen B. Clark Award is sponsored by the Skagway Book Co. and The Skagway News.
As a prize for her volunteer work, the newspaper made Arnold a special plaque out of antique letter blocks from the original Skagway News printing press.
