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		Points of View Dana Richter July 22, 2002 Guest Column © 2002 Dana Richter. Published with Permission. Photos © 2000 and 2002 Michele Anderson unless otherwise indicated.

Chuck Harris deserves Heart and Hands Award

By Dana Richter

Editor's Note: At the July 4, 2002, Horsetail Scramble and picnic, the Keweenaw Land Trust awarded the Heart and Hands Award to Chuck Harris of Hancock. The award is intended to recognize and honor those in the local community who have given of themselves working for peace, justice or the environment. Dana Richter nominated Chuck Harris for this award because of Chuck's long term, unrecognized community service. The following is Dana's nomination letter.

During the Keweenaw Land Trust July 4 picnic at Churning Rapids near Hancock, Terry Kinzel, left, Keweenaw Land Trust co-founder and past president, holds the Heart and Hands Award as Dana Richter reads his letter nominating Chuck Harris for the award.

Chuck was instrumental in the formation and in the early activities of the Copper Country Peace Alliance. He hosted many meetings and put together the first mailing list of peace activists in the Copper Country. He was one of the main organizers of the Legs Against Arms Runs that were held to highlight the Nuclear Freeze movement in the early 80s. Chuck has walked in many peace walks over the years and still works with the Peace Alliance.

During the Keweenaw Land Trust July 4 events, Chuck Harris of Hancock accepts the 2002 Heart and Hands Award for his years of volunteer service to the local community.

Chuck's activism and volunteer service also extend beyond the local community. He has participated in actions at the School of Americas, bringing this issue and his experiences back to our community. He works at volunteer services and prisoner advocacy in the South for several winter months each year. With his wife, Diana George, Chuck has also gone on a school building mission to Africa.

All of these activities are done without pay.

Chuck was one of the first presidents of the local Audubon Club and served in that office for several years. As one of the founding members of FOLK (Friends of the Land of Keweenaw) and UPEC (Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition), Chuck worked to prevent using the UP as a nuclear waste dump and to prevent the use of Keweenaw Bay for a pulp mill. 

In the early 90s, Chuck co-founded, along with Chris Heavner, the Copper Country affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, through Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (where he is a member). He served several years on the Habitat board and as its President in the early days.

Chuck Harris works on a Habitat for Humanity house with other volunteers. (File photo © and courtesy Chuck Harris)

By taking the Habitat message to community groups, Chuck brought together many churches and other groups to work on Habitat houses. It is because of the seeds that Chuck planted that Copper Country Habitat has been honored nationally as a model local group. Chuck continues to work as a coordinator and a construction crew member for energy-efficient Habitat houses.

In addition, Chuck worked building the new facility for Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly in Hancock and put in many extra hours beyond what he was paid for.

In October 2000, Chuck Harris, right, and Dave Bach remove old roofing from the building that would become the new facility for Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. The building was completed in August 2001.

Chuck is currently a hospice volunteer, spending hours each week with the sick and dying.

People who know Chuck cannot help but like him. He is a wonderful neighbor to everyone no matter what their politics might be. Chuck sees the humanity in every individual first and makes his love felt. He builds bridges among people and groups that often have differences, and he can get them working for a common cause. He gives freely of his time to his friends He shares his garden produce freely. Chuck maintains a joyful demeanor and spreads laughter wherever he goes. One could go on and on... 

Chuck Harris is truly deserving of the Heart and Hands Award.

Editor's Note: Guest columnist Dana Richter is a research scientist in the School of Forestry at Michigan Technological University, a resident of Hancock and the 1999 recipient of the Heart and Hands Award.

Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.