MORRIS COUNTY — The Morris County Advisory Committee on Women is now accepting nominations for its 6th Annual “Seeds of Change” Volunteer Award, which will be presented March 2025 to a nominee who has volunteered to improve the community and who has been a leader and inspiration to other women in the county.
Nominations may be submitted through Jan. 6, 2025. The Morris County Advisory Committee on Women is asking that all nominations be submitted online.
The “Seeds of Change” Volunteer Award was inspired by the late State Sen. Leanna Brown, who passed in 2016. This honor is intended to highlight and celebrate women who build up other women, and that includes those who volunteer at the grassroots levels in the community.
Ms. Brown served on the Chatham Borough Council from 1969 to 1972. She was the first woman elected to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders (now the Board of County Commissioners), becoming the Director in 1976. In 1978, she was named president of the New Jersey Association of Counties.
In 1983, Ms. Brown was also the first Republican woman elected to the New Jersey Senate. She was a champion of women’s causes and a mentor to many women who sought to join the political and electoral process. Ms. Brown also was the driving force behind the county’s creation of the Morris County Advisory Committee on Women.
The “Seed of Change” Volunteer Award was first issued in April 2018 and has been bestowed every year except 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior winners include:
2018 – Lila Bernstein of Mendham Township
2019 – Phyllis Chanda of Flanders
2022 – Mary Ledyard of Rockaway Borough
2023 – Alice Cutler of Morristown
2024 – Debby Seme of Martinsville
It is preferred, but not required, that the nominee be linked with volunteering for a cause of current interest to the Advisory Committee on Women. Current areas of interest include housing and homelessness, human trafficking, incarcerated women, women in the military, female veterans, and other areas that impact women.
For additional information, please contact Sydney Ugalde at sydney@thebiscaynegroup.com no later than January 6, 2025. The individual selected to receive the honor will be contacted after the deadline and invited to attend the Seeds of Change Award Ceremony at a March 2025 meeting of the Morris County Board of County Commissioners.
