Wear blue: run to remember co-founder and community leader Lisa Hallett was named the "non-Rotarian" of the year by the Rotary Club of Lakewood Friday, July 6. She was also awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship, an award given to community leaders who demonstrate the Rotary motto, "Service Above Self."

Since 1993, the Ootkin family has donated a Paul Harris ($1,000 Rotary Foundation Donation) to recognize local citizens, in memory of Charter member Bernie Ootkin.

"Lisa is creating stronger communities nationwide with wear blue. We are pleased to honor her service with this award. Taking a tragic event and turning it into a purposeful community building activity. That is a person who needs to be celebrated," said Lakewood Rotary president Gayle Selden.

In addition to receiving the fellowship and the non-Rotarian of the Year award, Hallett will return to Lakewood Rotary as a guest speaker Friday, Aug. 10. She will speak on wear blue: run to remember, a community that runs to actively remember and honor fallen servicemembers and support their families. Her upcoming talk is titled "wear blue and the importance of honoring and remembering."

The Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) Chapter of wear blue: run to remember meets regularly in DuPont, where Hallett resides, although the nonprofit organization has chapters across the country. Hallett founded wear blue: run to remember in 2010 alongside Erin O'Connor. Both women were deeply affected by their husbands' deployment with JBLM's 5-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team (BCT) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Hallet's husband, Capt. John Hallett, was killed in Afghanistan in 2009 during that deployment. The 5-2 Stryker BCT sustained heavy losses overall, and Hallett and a small group of military spouses and battalion support staff turned to running as a means of coping with their losses. Hallett found support, community and an outlet for her grief through running, and she and O'Conner decided to share that experience with others by forming wear blue: run to remember.

The organization honors and remembers not only Capt. Hallett and his service to our nation, but that of fallen soldiers, as well, through weekly group runs organized on a local level and team participation in regional and national runs. The JBLM chapter will present a team and volunteer at the upcoming JBLM Freedom Run Saturday. Participants are encouraged to wear blue.

The Rotary Club of Lakewood, which formed in 1956, is also a community-focused organization. It fundraises and takes part in community projects in Lakewood and provides fellowship to Rotary members through weekly meetings, special events and recognition of exceptional community members.

According to their website, the money raised from fundraisers over the years have paid for baseball facilities (Charlie Peterson Fields), the formation of the Lakewood YMCA and the Lakewood Boys and Girls Club; the "Jaws of Life" and emergency vehicle for the Lakewood Fire Department; $100,000 for the Mary Bridge Children's Sexual Abuse Center; the construction of Springbrook Park; construction of the playground at Ft. Steilacoom Park; funding the start-up of the International Baccalaureate program in the Clover Park School District and an annual budget that currently over $20,000 for community concerns, $2,000 for youth achievement and sports, $6,000 for scholarships, $5,000 for international projects, and $3,500 for Christmas food baskets.