Eva Packard

It's hard to know where to begin when talking about Eva's work with the League of Women Voters. This has always been one of Eva's passions. She was a member of LWV for 59 years! She was active at both the county and state level, serving on the boards for both and holding numerous positions including President of LWV Oakland Area and VP for Voter Education of LWV Michigan. She was instrumental in making voter guides available on the Internet, recruiting me at my retirement party in 2002 to mentor Tera Moon and create the first website for LWV Oakland Area so the guides could be posted there. In her mid-70s she was traveling around the state teaching much younger League members how to use specialized software to collect the candidate information and produce these guides. She was also very involved in creating "They Represent You" brochures for 60 communities in Oakland County, updating League position policies, sponsoring candidate forums, and providing a speaker's bureau to send lecturers to groups wanting to know more about propositions on the upcoming ballot, etc. As a result of these decades of devoted volunteer work, in 2011 Eva was awarded the prestigious Belle Brotherton award by the LWV Michigan. In introducing Eva before surprising her with the award, the League officers said... The Belle Brotherton award is named for the first President of the League of Women Voters of Michigan, Florence Belle Brotherton. This award honors an individual whose outstanding leadership and significant accomplishments have benefited the citizens of Michigan, inspired others and fostered greater public participation in the democratic process. Recipients of this award have done the most to demonstrate outstanding leadership; have demonstrated significant accomplishments in support of the mission of the League at the local level; have benefited the citizens of Michigan beyond the local level; have inspired others; and have fostered greater public participation in the democratic process. The first recipient of this award was honored in 1997 and at every State Convention since then. The recipient of the Florence Belle Brotherton Award is a forty-eight year member of the League of Women Voters and has served in multiple leadership roles in several Local Leagues. This member truly dedicates herself to the League mission of an educated electorate. Her name is synonymous with Voter Service, having lead multiple initiatives resulting in a remarkable array of positive media coverage. A tech savvy honoree, this member is equally adept at finance as she is in a web-based environment. She doesn't stop until every avenue has been explored when it comes to reaching the desired outcomes that move forward the mission of the organization. This member is adept at policy analysis and was responsible for helping to update position summaries so they would be more accessible to members and the public. Most recently, this honoree successfully lead the most comprehensive state voter service plan ever initiated. More residents, including those out of state, must credit her leadership with assuring sample ballots were accessible to all Michigan voters. This volunteer, who first came to the United States as an immigrant, learned early from her father the love of this country and the democratic process. In her early years the seeds were sown for a lifelong commitment to and passion for active civic engagement and leadership. Congratulations, Eva Packard, member and former President of the League of Women Voters Oakland Area and member of the LWV Michigan Board of Directors.