Nick Harville, who works in business recruitment and retention in Marion County for the Strategic Economic Development Corporation, received special recognition from Marion County commissioners at SEDCOR’s annual awards luncheon Sept. 14 at the Salem Convention Center.
Harville was honored for “his tireless work and dedication to the communities impacted by the Santiam Canyon wildfires” in 2020.
Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis noted that “Nick quickly jumped into action once the fires started. He gathered all the people he knew who had something to offer and he delivered real relief to so many people.”
Willis added that Harville partnered with Rich Duncan, the owner of Rich Duncan Construction, to recruit builders and contractors to donate labor and materials to build a community center for Detroit after the town was devastated by the wildfires.
“Nick was tireless in his work for this cause and the city of Detroit has a beautiful community center now as a result,” Willis said.
“Nick also has been a resource for the long-term recovery group and has connected folks trying to rebuild to local area contractors and suppliers who have been able to get them back into their homes. He has been a tireless advocate for the people of our community.”
Local companies came home with four awards from SEDCOR, which serves Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties. Those honored included:
• Siegmund Excavation and Construction received the Business Partner of the Year award for its Santiam Canyon recovery work that involved transporting materials and providing site work and other valuable resources.
• Blazer Industries of Aumsville, which specializes in modular buildings, shared the Community Service award with K&E Excavating of Salem. Blazer was honored for giving time, labor and materials to build sheds for survivors of the 2020 Santiam Canyon wildfires. K&E, meanwhile, shined by carving fire lines and delivering water to fire survivors.
• Freres Engineered Wood of Lyons was honored for its 100 years of innovation. Freres continues to push the envelop and create new products, including mass plywood panels (MPP) technology. Their work is being featured in the all-wood roof on the new terminal building at Portland International Airport.
In other honors bestowed at the luncheon GS3 Quality Seed of Monmouth won Agri-business of the Year, Chomp Chocolate of Salem won Entrepreneur of the Year, Solid Carbon of McMinnville received the award for Innovator of the Year, Project Oasis of Newberg was recognized for Public/ Private Partnerships, Shinsegae Foods of Salem was named Manufacturer of the Year and the City of Newberg was honored for Community Leadership.
