Latrobe resident Ed Kubicek knows his city’s downtown streets and parks like few others.
Several times each week he makes his rounds through the community, clearing litter from sidewalks and weeds from landscaped areas.
Jodee Harris has drawn upon her varied talents to whip up everything from cupcakes to an oversized papier-mâché banana split for festive events and activities presented by the Greater Latrobe-Laurel Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The pair are among people and organizations recently recognized by the chamber during its 76th annual dinner and awards ceremony for the contributions they’ve made to the community.
Harris was honored as Volunteer of the Year, Kubicek as this year’s Fred Rogers Good Neighbor, reflecting the neighborly values espoused by the late Latrobe native and famed children’s television host.
Other award recipients: James R. Okonak, Community Service Award; The Rotary Club of Latrobe, Nonprofit of the Year; The Medicine Shoppe, Small Business of the Year.
An officer with Latrobe nonprofits that support community programs and improvements, Okonak is executive director of the McFeely-Rogers Foundation, vice president of the Latrobe Foundation and treasurer of the Latrobe Community Revitalization Program (LCRP).
“He’s a visionary who’s pretty much involved in every improvement project that happens in Latrobe,” said Briana Tomack, chamber president.
The local Rotary Club provides recreational opportunities at its Rotary Park in Youngstown and weekend food for children in need, through the club’s Food for Thought backpack program. The club also assisted with the purchase of new wreaths to spruce up downtown Latrobe during the holiday season.
In the early stages of the covid-19 pandemic, The Medicine Shoppe was one of the first local pharmacies to offer the covid-19 vaccine, administering it to first responders and local educators as well as conducting community vaccination clinics.
Originally hailing from Greensburg, Kubicek relocated to Latrobe when he was transferred by his employer, the Thorofare supermarket chain.
He’s been in Latrobe “steady for 40 years,” he said. “It’s just a great little city to live in.”
Kubicek joined the LCRP board and, about five years ago, began volunteering to help keep the downtown looking good.
“I saw the town was needing something,” he said. “I just started pulling weeds and cleaning the sidewalks and curbs, everything I could get hold of. I’m proud of my town, and I want to make it look decent.”
During winter months, he keeps busy inside the Quatrini Rafferty Building, where the LCRP office is located. “I do odd things,” he said. “Whatever needs to be done.”
At 85, he said, “I’m right in there hustling. “With the way the world is going today, you’ve got to get out there and help one another. I call it brotherly love.”
Harris, a Derry resident and a financial adviser at First Commonwealth Bank, has been volunteering with the chamber since 2018.
Drawing upon her artistic skills and her bachelor’s degree in visual arts management and master’s degree in museum studies, Harris used materials including papier-mâché and foam insulation to create a giant banana split sculpture. It has appeared on floats in Latrobe’s Fourth of July parade, to promote the town’s Great Banana Split Celebration, which is organized each August by the chamber.
The super-sized split also has become a centerpiece and favorite backdrop for photos at the August event.
“We didn’t realize it would be around forever, so I’m working on more permanent pieces for it,” Harris said of the sculpture.
Harris serves on the festival committee, helping to run the chamber’s booth at the event, assisting with an associated pageant and ordering festival-themed merchandise.
She’s also baked cupcakes for other chamber gatherings and has chauffeured her 15-year-old daughter, Piper Anke, to sites, including an Erie-area reindeer farm, to create holiday-themed video segments for Latrobe’s annual Holly Jolly event.
“I’m not good at sitting around idle,” Harris said. “I want to do anything I can to help the chamber help my community be a better place.”
The awards dinner returned as an in- person event after switching to a virtual format in 2020 because of restrictions related to the pandemic. Held at Saint Vincent College’s Fred Rogers Center, the sold-out dinner featured a “Roaring ’20s” theme.