Nominations for the 2026 Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame are NOW CLOSED.
2025 Volunteer Hall of Fame Inductees with Governor Kim Reynolds
The Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame is the most prestigious state-level honor volunteers can receive; the people selected have freely given their precious time and talent in countless ways to benefit others and have forever changed their community, the state, the nation, or the world.
Inductees are recognized during a special ceremony held in the State Capitol Building and their names are engraved on the Volunteer Hall of Fame plaque on permanent display in the State Historical Museum. Since the award’s inception in 1989, nearly 200 Iowans have been honored.
Nominations may be submitted by anyone familiar with the nominee's volunteer commitment and impact. Nominees must live or operate in Iowa: individuals, national service members, families, groups, organizations, nonprofits, businesses, or corporations may be nominated.
2026 Volunteer Hall of Fame Inductees
Bruce Bernard, Urbandale
Bruce Bernard demonstrates the spirit of volunteerism through more than 25 years of dedicated service that has strengthened the Urbandale community and Greater Des Moines. A leader who listens first and acts with empathy, Bruce has consistently focused on long‑term solutions, organizational sustainability, and building meaningful connections across several groups.
As a founding leader of the Urbandale Community Action Network (UCAN), Bruce helped shape the organization’s mission and structure, ensuring coordinated, accessible services for residents. His commitment to inclusive community spaces is reflected in his volunteer leadership and fundraising for the Urbandale Miracle League Field and the All‑Inclusive Playground—projects that now provide children of all abilities with safe, welcoming places to play and connect.
Bruce’s talent for bringing people together has made him a valued facilitator and advisor for numerous boards, committees, and planning efforts, including Urbandale Parks and Recreation, the Public Art Committee, Polk County Conservation advisory groups, and AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy). He creates space for authentic dialogue, lifts up a variety of perspectives, and helps groups find shared purpose. Through his church, he and his wife volunteer monthly to support individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and he has championed fairness and belonging efforts within his faith community.
Much of Bruce’s impact occurs behind the scenes—strengthening leadership, guiding strategic planning, and helping organizations operate more effectively. His service has touched parks, libraries, schools, human services, conservation, public art, and faith‑based outreach. Prior to his induction to the Volunteer Hall of Fame, Bruce has been recognized with the Urbandale Citizen of the Year Award, Iowa Parks and Recreation Community Services Award, and Des Moines Community Foundation Better Together Award.
Deloris I. Clayton, Marshalltown
Deloris exemplifies a lifetime of compassionate, hands‑on service that has strengthened the lives of veterans, families, and communities across central Iowa. For more than 30 years, she has devoted herself to the Iowa Veterans Home, contributing over 10,800 volunteer hours and offering companionship, recreation, and encouragement to aging veterans. Through monthly bingo events, recreational outings, and her steady presence, she provides connection and dignity to individuals who often face isolation.
Her commitment extends far beyond the Veterans Home. As a hospital greeter at UnityPoint, she welcomes patients and families with warmth during vulnerable moments. Through her church, she sews quilts for World Relief, offering comfort to people in crisis around the world. She also serves meals at the House of Compassion, volunteers monthly with Orphan Grain Train to sort donated items for national and international aid and builds community at the YMCA by teaching line dancing to create joyful, friendly spaces for people of all ages.
A natural connector, Deloris strengthens organizations through leadership and collaboration. She serves as Vice President of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and is an active member of multiple church ministries, fostering fellowship and shared purpose. Her extensive involvement across humanitarian, faith‑based, and community programs reflects her remarkable reliability and generosity.
At 94, Deloris continues to volunteer multiple times each week, modeling a lifelong commitment to service that has created meaningful, lasting impact.
Girls on the Run of Central Iowa, West Des Moines
Girls on the Run of Central Iowa embodies the spirit of the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame through its volunteer-driven model, welcoming environment, and deep community partnerships. Since 2007, the organization has reached more than 16,000 girls and now serves approximately 1,600 participants annually across 75 sites. Its evidence-based program addresses critical community needs by supporting girls’ confidence, social-emotional development, and healthy habits during formative years. Independent evaluations show that 97% of participants learn essential life skills such as resolving conflict and making intentional decisions, and the program significantly boosts confidence, connection, and physical activity, especially for girls who need it most.
Connection building is central to Girls on the Run’s success. More than 600 volunteers each year, including coaches, assistant coaches, board members, and event teams, create supportive, empowering environments for girls while strengthening relationships among families, schools, and community partners. Collaborations with educators, nonprofits, health professionals, and local businesses broaden access and reinforce a shared commitment to youth wellbeing. Seasonal 5K celebrations further unite communities in a fun, non‑competitive recognition of girls’ accomplishments.
The organization’s impact extends beyond each season. Volunteer coaches contribute more than 8,000 hours per season, and girls apply their skills through Community Impact Projects that address real needs in their schools and neighborhoods, from kindness campaigns to supply drives and cleanup efforts. These projects foster civic engagement and spark ripple effects of service that continue long after the program ends.
Through measurable outcomes, enduring partnerships, and a culture of empowerment, Girls on the Run of Central Iowa has made a lasting, transformative impact on young people and communities across the region.
Iowa Project AWARE, Marion
Iowa Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) represents one of Iowa’s most impactful and enduring volunteer-led conservation efforts. What began in 2003 with three dozen volunteers camping, canoeing, and pulling trash from the Maquoketa River has grown into the state’s largest annual river cleanup event. Each July, hundreds of volunteers of all ages spend a week on an Iowa river, removing debris, learning about watersheds and geology, and deepening their connection to Iowa’s natural resources.
The program addresses a critical and ongoing need. More than half of Iowa’s monitored rivers and streams are impaired. Project AWARE provides a community-powered solution: in 2025, the initiative surpassed one million pounds of trash removed from Iowa waterways, with an exceptional 83% recycled over the past two decades.
Connection-building is central to Project AWARE’s success. Multigenerational families, youth groups, church groups, and volunteers from across the nation join the cleanup each year, creating a warm and inviting culture where everyone can contribute. Partnerships with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, county conservation boards, tribal partners including the Ho Chunk Nation, and numerous sponsors strengthen local engagement and expand environmental stewardship.
Project AWARE’s impact extends far beyond the riverbanks. Participants learn about history, ecology, and responsible recreation, gaining the confidence and know-how to lead cleanups in their own communities. More than 50 additional events have been inspired or advised by AWARE. With thousands of volunteer hours donated annually, Iowa Project AWARE truly encompasses grassroots leadership, education, and environmental service.
Maanya Pandey, West Des Moines
Since founding Love For Red in 2020 as a Waukee High School student, Maanya Pandey has volunteered thousands of hours to ensure Iowans never miss school, work, or dignity because they cannot afford menstrual products. What began as a small project became a student-powered 501(c)(3) that has distributed more than 285,000 free products to 149 Iowa organizations, including 118 schools across 49 districts. Rooted in service, awareness, and advocacy, Maanya’s work has transformed how schools and communities address period poverty.
Maanya launched Love For Red after learning that students were missing class, nurses were paying for supplies out of pocket, and shelters rarely had menstrual products available. She created a sustainable, school-based model that places free pads and tampons directly in bathrooms, eliminating shame, increasing class time, and reducing unsafe improvisation. She built a student ambassador system that keeps supplies stocked and empowers young leaders to reduce stigma and champion dignity.
Beyond schools, Maanya partners with organizations including Urban Dreams, USCRI, Primary Health Care, youth shelters, and Ronald McDonald House to reach refugees, low-income families, and people experiencing homelessness, communities often overlooked in donation drives.
Her leadership extends to policy. Maanya organized Days on the Hill, brought students and educators to share stories with lawmakers, and helped advance HF543 and HF883 to fund free menstrual products in Iowa school restrooms. Her volunteer-led advocacy has helped move period poverty from a private struggle to a statewide conversation.
Through direct service, youth leadership development, and advocacy, Maanya has created measurable change and a path toward long-term access for all in need of menstrual products.
Dr. Jimmy A. Reyes, Waukee
For more than two decades, Dr. Jimmy Reyes has demonstrated exceptional volunteer leadership advancing health equity across Iowa. He has dedicated thousands of unpaid hours to expanding preventive care, strengthening culturally responsive services, and supporting underserved immigrant, refugee, rural, and aging populations. His work with MyHealthIowa–MiSaludIowa, the Alzheimer’s Association, Refugee and Immigrant Voices in Action (RIVA), and statewide public health coalitions reflects a sustained commitment to improving community health through service, education, and collaboration.
Dr. Reyes has helped deliver free nurse practitioner–led screenings, health education, and chronic disease programs in trusted community spaces such as churches, food pantries, schools, barbershops, and agricultural worksites. These efforts have reached thousands of Iowans who historically lacked access to preventive care. He strengthened long-term sustainability by training community health workers, developing standardized screening tools, and embedding evidence-based practices within local organizations.
A skilled connector, Dr. Reyes has built partnerships across health systems, universities, and community organizations to increase access, trust, and culturally appropriate resources. His mentorship has equipped dozens of community navigators and future healthcare professionals with the skills needed to serve various populations. In addition to direct service, he has contributed his expertise to statewide advisory boards shaping maternal health, cardiovascular care, primary care access, and aging services, helping ensure impartial policies and programs.
Dr. Reyes has extended his volunteer impact globally by supporting public health and nursing programs in Nigeria, enhancing research capacity and sustainable community health education.
Through sustained service, mentorship, and systems ‑level leadership, Dr. Reyes has created lasting improvements in health equity and community well‑being.
Ellen J. Vanderloo, Waterloo
For decades, Ellen has embodied the very best of servant leadership in Iowa. Throughout her career with the Waterloo and Des Moines school districts, and long before and after retirement, she has devoted her life to supporting youth, families, and the broader community. Her volunteer legacy is most distinctly reflected in the Black Hawk County Community Graduation Ceremony for foster youth, a program she created 17 years ago after recognizing that students aging out of foster care were often graduating without support, celebration, or essential items for adulthood. Entirely volunteer-run and sustained solely through her efforts, the event now draws more than 200 community members annually and provides personalized graduation baskets filled with household essentials, ensuring each student is prepared for their next chapter. More than 200 foster youth have directly benefited from Ellen’s leadership, compassion, and unwavering belief in their potential.
Ellen’s impact extends far beyond this signature project. She has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for more than 20 years, offering consistent encouragement, comfort, and advocacy for children navigating the foster care system. As a former TeamMates and volunteer coordinator in the Waterloo Schools, she supported mentoring relationships that reached more than 1,000 youth. She continues to serve on the Waterloo Leisure Services Board, volunteer with the Waterloo Schools Foundation, and assist countless organizations with hands-on, behind the scenes support.
Quiet, reliable, and deeply community-minded, Ellen is the person organizations turn to when something simply needs to get done. Her lifelong service, steadfast humility, and profound dedication have strengthened youth, families, and entire communities.
Photos from the 2025 Volunteer Iowa Awards ceremony can be viewed on our Flickr page. Special thanks to Ella Slade for serving as photographer for the event.