At a recent dinner at Casa Milanese, the Highland Rotary Club presented their 18th annual Service Above Self awards to Lloyd Police Chief James Janso, Jeff Paladino owner of Milton Hardware, Dillon Hawkes of Custom Concrete, Fred DeMaio of Minard Farms and Dimitri Bakatsias, Salutatorian of the Highland High School Class of 2022. Rotary bestows these awards upon individuals who go above and beyond in service to the community.

Rotary President David Lambert said these awards, “mean that we live in a community that is really centered around community service. Rotary is the largest service organization in the world and to know there are people who are not in the Rotary but that we consider of a Rotary mindset, is tremendous and that’s what makes our community so special and is what I really love about Highland.”

Police Chief Janso said, “I am honored and humbled and we do what we do because we want to do for our community. I am really grateful for the award and I couldn’t do it without my wife supporting me in making me do better things.”

Janso also thanked, “my right hand man Lt. Phil Roloson for making me follow through with what I want to do. I come up with some crazy ideas sometimes, but they come from my heart and they know I want to do it and they make me get it done.”

A special Rotarian of the Year award was bestowed upon member B.J. Mikkelsen for his humanitarian efforts helping refugees in Ukraine. Not only has he raised more than $30,000 to help those affected by the war, but he spent time in Berlin working with rotary clubs there and in Poland to aid in the relief effort by purchasing and shipping food and medicine to the people of this war-torn nation.

Lambert said Mikkelsen, “went legitimately into the face of danger so he can help people in need. I can’t think of any more actions that can embody a Rotarian than somebody who goes into a situation knowing that this is service above self. This man has been a tremendous humanitarian and for that the club thanks you.”