Cheers for Volunteers 2026: Three Lakes Celebrates Victoria Sherry

After a two-year hiatus, the Three Lakes Community Foundation has brought back a cherished tradition. The Cheers for Volunteers Award, established in 2017 to recognize the extraordinary individuals who give their time and talents to make Three Lakes a better place, is being presented once again in 2026. This year’s recipient, selected unanimously by an independent community committee, is Victoria Sherry.

Sherry will be recognized in a way that feels entirely fitting for someone who has spent decades showing up for others: she will have her own float in the Three Lakes Fourth of July Parade.

“Communities like Three Lakes thrive when we work together towards common goals,” said Linda Goldsworthy, Three Lakes Community Foundation Chair. “Victoria exemplifies this. Her volunteer resume speaks to a willingness to make Three Lakes better. She epitomizes our organization’s mission to make Three Lakes the place to live, work, and play.”

Bringing Back a Beloved Tradition

The Cheers for Volunteers Award was presented annually from 2017 through 2023, then paused.

Its return this year was inspired in part by community members who remembered it fondly.

“I remember being at Pioneer Day last summer, and someone said to me, ‘Why don’t you have the Cheers for Volunteers Award anymore?'” Goldsworthy recalled. “I didn’t have an answer, but decided that the board needed to revisit the recognition as community members obviously valued it.”

When the Foundation’s board decided to revive the award, Goldsworthy partnered with board member Jess Linderud, who had joined the board just months earlier in October 2025, to bring it back to life.

In a single January meeting, the two mapped out a timeline, developed the nomination process, and created the nomination form. They also deliberately decided to place the selection in the hands of the community rather than the board itself.

From there, Linderud took the reins. She handled all communications with potential selectors and nominees, coordinating the process from concept to completion. The result was a community-led selection committee that reviewed nominations independently — and arrived at a unanimous choice.

Deep Roots in Three Lakes

Although Sherry grew up in the Fox Valley area, she and her husband discovered Three Lakes through family visits and fell in love with the lakes, the landscape, and most of all, the people.

“The small community and people were so caring and giving,” she recalled. “Our neighbors were great.”

When an opportunity arose to move and put down permanent roots in 1979, they took it. Sherry has been part of Three Lakes ever since.

Before retiring, Sherry spent nearly three decades as a paraprofessional in the Three Lakes school system, working primarily with special needs students — autistic children in particular — across all grade levels.

A Volunteer’s Volunteer

Ask anyone who has worked alongside Sherry, and they will tell you the same thing — she shows up, and she shows up fully. Whether selling concessions at the Three Lakes Center for the Arts, stuffing backpacks for families in need at Faith Lutheran Church, tending plots at the Community Garden, or showing up before dawn to help the Lions Club set up a pancake breakfast, she brings the same steady, cheerful commitment every time.

As Susan Kordula and Rita Strathmann, who nominated Sherry, wrote in their application essay, “Whenever anyone needed a helping hand for a project, large or small, she was there with a smile.”

Her involvement spans nine organizations — the American Legion Post 431 and Auxiliary, Demmer Memorial Library, Faith Lutheran Church, Three Lakes Center for the Arts, Three Lakes Community Garden, Three Lakes Fire Department, Three Lakes Lions Club, Three Lakes Shoot Out, and the Three Lakes Women’s Club — and touches nearly every corner of community life.

Through the Women’s Club alone, she has chaired the Graduation Tea for Senior Girls, organized fundraising events, and recently joined the Executive Board.

However, some aspects of her volunteerism do not rely on local groups and organizations.

According to Kordula and Strathmann, Sherry also quietly checks in on elderly and housebound neighbors, helping with errands and light housekeeping, which is the kind of volunteerism that never makes a program or a press release — but means everything to those on the receiving end.

Nine Years at the Helm of the Reiter Center

Perhaps the most significant chapter of Sherry’s volunteer story is her 9-year tenure as President of the Reiter Center, from which she recently stepped down. Her accomplishments during those years are nothing short of remarkable.

Sherry did not simply oversee the Reiter Center — she transformed it. She oversaw major facility improvements, including new flooring, roofing, furnaces, and kitchen equipment.  The dedicated volunteer was not above getting her hands dirty in the process — literally planting flowers, hauling bricks for walkways, and joining the crew that repainted the common areas.

Seeing a need to make the Reiter Center more accessible, she created new programming to draw fresh audiences, including monthly game days and the popular “Sip n Swirl” fundraiser, which ran for three years and brought both new revenue and new faces through the doors.

“To say she was a hands-on president is an understatement,” wrote Kordula and Strathmann.

Sherry continues to serve on the Reiter Center board and is actively mentoring the new president, ensuring that the work she championed will endure well beyond her tenure.

A Message for Those on the Fence

When asked what she would say to someone who wants to get involved but worries about overcommitting, Sherry’s answer was warm and practical.

“You can start a little at a time,” she said. “You don’t have to jump. Just to go and help for a couple of hours here or there — that would be great.”

Volunteering, she emphasized, does not require a board seat or a standing committee. It can begin with a single morning, a single event, a single neighbor who needs help with groceries. The important thing is simply to begin.

“I think people would get so much out of helping other people,” Sherry said. “There are so many opportunities out there. There’s always something to do.”

Sherry’s dedication and leadership in volunteerism will be recognized at the Three Lakes Fourth of July Parade, where she will ride on her own float — a fitting tribute to someone who has spent decades ensuring others have what they need to gather, celebrate, and thrive.

The Three Lakes Community Foundation invites the entire community to join in celebrating her.

The Three Lakes Community Foundation’s mission is to make Three Lakes the place to live, work, and play. To learn more about the Cheers for Volunteers Award or to support the Foundation’s work, visit our website.