Morenci employees can proudly herald their annual company picnic as not just one of Arizona's top community events, but as the top event for populations under 25,000.
The Arizona Parks and Recreation Association recently presented the Morenci Community Services team with the Outstanding Special Event – Populations Under 25,000 award for the October 2017 picnic enjoyed by more than 5,000 active and retired employees and family members.
"Congratulations! Now, we have an award-winning center, and we have an award-winning team inside," said Stacey Koon, Morenci's General Manager-Administration. "We sincerely appreciate all the efforts that go into making our community a great place to live. We know it's no small task, but this team sure makes it seem easy."
This was not the first award the company has received from APRA. In 2014, the newly opened Morenci Community Center received an Outstanding Facility – Populations Under 25,000 award.
Miranda Gomez, Interim Community Services Director for Arizona Parks and Recreation Association, said the Morenci picnic received high marks for innovativeness, unique challenges, number of people served, volunteer involvement, positive exposure and overall excellence.
"Events like this bring people from the community together to enjoy entertainment, activities and food while getting to know one another. This picnic checked all of those boxes," Gomez said, also praising the Morenci team for putting the event together. "They are clearly passionate about their community and serving Greenlee County's communities and residents."
Steve Richardson, Director-Morenci Community Services, said his team is focused on providing Morenci residents with multiple recreational opportunities.
"We are pleased to support Morenci, its employees and residents by creating fun, family events such as this picnic," Richardson said. "The big difference last year was getting a major, rising country star like Chase Bryant to play there."
This overall entertainment value to the community is what prompted the team to nominate the event for the award.
"I told my team this was a big deal, but then they saw for themselves how big it really was when we attended the APRA conference for the award presentation," said Richardson, who credited Kia Gaethje, Assistant Director-Morenci Community Services, with crafting the nomination letter that helped clinch the award.
While the bar is set high for this year's picnic, Richardson said his group is up to the task. "We look forward to topping last year's event at this year's company picnic."
Watch a video about the 2017 Morenci company picnic produced for the APRA award ceremony.
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