2007-2008 Volunteer of the year
Awarded at 2008 Jamboree on August 2, 2008

Volunteer of the Year
Charlie Thomas

Charlene (Charlie) Thomas was nominated by her husband Tom. They moved to Bend in 1994 from San Diego and she immediately started bowling leagues with the Bend WBA.

In 1996 Charlie was elected as a director to the Bend WBA, later becoming President when the presiding President had to step down. Teaming up with Lois Turner she set out to secure advertising for the annual yearbook. Together they brought in enough funds to not only pay for the yearbook but also establish an annual scholarship. As president she was credited with improving attendance of board meetings and making them enjoyable to attend.

With a little coaching in Web writing she started up the Bend WBA website in 2000. The site was geared towards being both informative and friendly. It was one of the first local websites to post scores from local tournament as well as information about other Bend WBA events.

In 2000, the OSWBA inquired about starting a state website. Charlie volunteered to start a site and train a Webmaster to maintain it. This was done and she continued to give help to the new Webmaster. In 2001 the OSWBA Webmaster stepped down and Charlie took over the website until the OSWBA merged to become the OSUSBC in June 2005. At that time she volunteered to become the Webmaster for the new OSUSBC site and remains in that position to date. The site has garnered many accolades from both Oregon and out of state viewers.

Charlie became the Secretary/Treasurer of the Bend WBA in 2001 when the previous Secretary/Treasurer became ill and had to step down. WinLabs, the national software issued by WIBC and ABC, was just coming into effect. She installed the system and put the Bend WBA on line. This was a formidable task at the time, due to all of the problems of documentation and the many bugs that inhabited the early software. Charlie not only overcame this but went on to become a WinLabs guru for other Central Oregon secretaries. As Secretary/Treasurer she planned and managed annual tournaments, wrote and edited the annual yearbooks and helped the many new league secretaries in carrying out their responsibilities.

Charlie served on the transition board to merge WBA, BA and YABA to Bend USBC and then served the next two years as the Association Manager. She also created the Bend USBC website and maintains it. In addition she serves as a member of the OSUSBC Nominating Committee. She still bowls in two leagues and is secretary/treasurer for both. She is very thorough in all she does and is well known throughout Bend and among many of the officers and directors of OSUSBC.