Spirit of the West Award recipients Lyn Haval and Tanya Stidham. Photo by Bernadette Lauritzen

Champions of Youth Ambitions News:

Champions of Youth Ambitions (C’YA) announces the top award for the 2021 winners of the Community Asset Awards.

The Spirit of the West Award was presented to Lyn Haval and Tanya Stidham. The pair, along with members of the Los Alamos Church of Christ, worked tirelessly sewing, quilting and distributing prayer quilts to the Los Alamos community and beyond.

This year, Stidham knew of a nursery school that burned down in another state and without hesitation both ladies stepped up and made 110 quilts, one for each child to receive when the new school was rebuilt.

Haval also was instrumental in helping a small group of ladies make a wedding quilt on very short notice for a young couple in difficult circumstances.

The pair was selected from several top contenders for the Grand Award. The award is named for former Los Alamos County Councilor Jim West. The beautiful piece of art is handmade by artist and welder Richard Ronquillo of Rich Welding, LLC.

Information on all of the nominees for this award will be available later this week. Champions of Youth Ambitions, C’YA, is a local non-profit, celebrating 14 years of the Community Asset Awards. www.cya-nm.org