Bill Ryan wins Brian Ebright Memorial Award for volunteer service to Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts

20 July 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:     Rick Bryant, Executive Director
                        Email: rbryant@arts-festival.com

State College, PA – Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts Director Rick Bryant, Director of Development Diane Bloom, and Director of Operations Carol Baney presented the fifth annual Brian Ebright Memorial Award to Trash Crew Coordinator, Bill Ryan. The award was presented on Saturday, July 16, at 9:00 a.m. during the Sidewalk Sale Award Ceremony on the Arts Festival’s Allen Street stage.

The award recognizes cheerful volunteerism above and beyond the call of duty.

The award is given in memory of the late Brian Ebright, an honor student in accounting at Penn State and festival volunteer from Hummelstown, PA. Known for his appetite for work and his zest for life, Brian was killed in an automobile accident shortly before Christmas 2006.

“Bill does a remarkable job recruiting crews to fulfill the needs of trash crew pick-up during Festival week.  Always pleasant and as busy and involved as the trash crew recruits, Bill is an excellent role model to the many groups of kids who participate on the trash crew.  Simply put, Bill makes trash fun,” said Diane Bloom, the Festival’s Director of Development.

Ryan’s neighbors volunteer together as the East Highlands Trash Crew.  They are quite possibly the only festival trash crew in America that wears authentic Scottish Balmoral caps.

In addition to his trash crew duties, Ryan has served on the Festival’s Board of Directors since 2007.  A native of Pittsburgh, Ryan joined the Penn State Department of Meteorology in 2000, where he teaches and does research in the field of air quality forecasting and also provides air quality forecasts for the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Bill and his wife Joan Richtsmeier, a professor in anthropology, live in State College’s Highlands neighborhood.  They have three children.