Nelson is honored as chamber's top volunteer

SANDPOINT — The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce has honored Marcella Nelson as January’s Volunteer of the Month for her service to the community.

Among her other accomplishments, chamber officials said there were years when Nelson pretty much single-handedly, as a volunteer, kept the chamber running. She was the chamber’s Citizen of the Year recipient in 1991. She worked in the office, chaired committees, and championed all kinds of causes and events on behalf of the chamber.

“It is so fitting the chamber honor Marcella,” said Kate McAlister, CEO of Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce.

Nelson was raised on a farm in Paradise Valley outside of Bonners Ferry and learned early on to be a hard worker. She ran the Job Service office in Sandpoint for many years and, when she retired, totally devoted herself to making things better in her adopted hometown. She is the only person who has served as president of POAC, the Panida, and the Festival at Sandpoint, working to make Sandpoint the arts mecca that it is.

Currently, Marcella still serves on all the boards of POAC, Panida, the Festival, and Bonner General Hospital Foundation Advisory Board. She runs Ponderay Community Development Corporation and has so since 2004. She is a Bonner County Area Transportation Team member and has represented PCDC in that role since 2004, Community Assistance League member since 1990, Bonner County Republican Women member, Rotary Club of Ponderay member, Idaho Community Foundation member and Bonner County Historical Society member.

Marcella hits the gym several times a week, regularly attending aerobics — and even kick-boxing.

“She is the youngest 83 year old I know, and I want to be just like her,” said McAlister.“She is so smart, unfailingly kind, elegant, thoughtful, funny, and generous with her time. She is an absolute Sandpoint treasure!”

Before she retired on May 1, 1984, Nelson worked for the state of Idaho from 1947 to 1984.

She started volunteering at the Greater Sandpoint Chamber in May 1984 — a practice she continued for 20 years to 2004.

In her volunteering for The Festival at Sandpoint, Nelson has worked as a fundraiser, served as both vice president and president and will serves on the organization’s board of directors.

Nelson also volunteers for the Pend Oreille Arts Council where she has served as a fundraiser, presiden, ticket taker at events, auction chair and more from approximately 1987 to the present.

She is a familiar face at the Panida Theater, where she has done everything from raise funds, take tickets and sell concessions to volunteer.

She has been a member of the transportation design team and was named the “Community Star” by Panhandle State Bank in 2004. Nelson has been recognized as the International Association of Personnel in Employment Security as “Retiree of the Year” twice and was named a Woman of Wisdom in 2000.

She is a member of the Bonner General Hospital Foundation Board, Holly Eve Foundation, Kinderhaven Festival of Trees, and more.

“And there is ‘The Power of the Bun,’ ” said McAlister. “No one can ever say ‘no’ to Marcella — she is an amazing fundraiser!”