Giver’s Reward for Giving: More to Give

As we debate health care and other public policy and as we sometimes grow annoyed at the phrase “public service,” it’s cool once in a while to see someone who gives public service away get noticed.

A few months ago I walked into Harrison Medical Center to visit a man with a knife and I saw on a wall full of photos the face of someone familiar around the Sun office for the past 42 years. Ron Muhleman is the operations director here. During my seven years he’s the friendly guy who always asks me how I’m doing and how things are on the beat.

Ever since I saw that picture on the wall, when people ask “Who’s the man?” I always tell them it’s Ron Muhleman.

His picture is there at the med center because he’s on the board of trustees. In fact, he’s a volunteer in a lot of places and has probably done more to enhance the image of this business in the community than just about anyone else I can think of.

For that he was honored by our parent company, E.W. Scripps, with the “William R. Burleigh Award for Distinguished Community Service. His prizes are a trophy and donations by Scripps to local charities.

If you see Ron anywhere, tell him “Thanks.”

Here’s the e-mail we all received at work:

Ron Muhleman will do whatever is needed to help others, as shown by his jack-of-all-trades approach to volunteering.

“While many of us find a volunteer niche serving in volunteer board positions or in ‘worker bee’ roles, Ron is well-known for covering any base,” his nominator said. “A typical week of volunteering for Ron may include everything from reviewing the financials of Kitsap’s regional medical center, to bell-ringing and counting kettles for the Salvation Army, to shoveling dirt at a United Way community project site.”

Muhleman is also an ambassador for the Literacy Council of Kitsap County and an advisory board member of a Salvation Army homeless hygiene initiative.

During his 42 years at the Kitsap Sun, Muhleman has chaired the board of trustees for the Harrison Medical Center, which under his leadership, added neighborhood medical facilities and an open-heart surgery program.

Muhleman served as chair of the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce, which honored him in 2000 with Kitsap’s most prestigious volunteer award, “The Thunderbird Award.”

In addition, he has served with the West Sound Community Health Network, the Kitsap County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Puget Sound Naval Bases Association, Pacific Northwest Personnel Association, the Bremerton Historic Ships Association and the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce, as well as the United Way, YMCA, Kitsap County Domestic Violence Task Force and the Boy Scouts of America.