Originally Posted by Ontario Chamber of Commerce
“ONTARIO — Amber Campbell has been volunteering in local communities since she was in middle school and says volunteer work and serving the community is part of who she is. But Campbell says there are many people around the area who help their communities, and are as much deserving as she is to be recognized for their service. Campbell will be honored as the Ontario Area Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year at its annual Honor Banquet on Jan. 11.
Campbell shared the following comments with Betty Carter, who is on the selection committee for the annual Honor Banquet, and who gave Campbell the news that she was being honored.
Campbell said she is very humbled by the honored and “receiving the award this year is a bittersweet experience. Amber and her best friend, Lark MacKenzie, spent hours helping the same groups.
“Thursday marks the first anniversary of the untimely death of Lark. Amber shares and dedicates this award with her dear friend Lark.”
Campbell’s volunteer work has been statewide as well as local, she said in a statement.
In 2017 she was appointed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown as Ambassador of Public Service for the State of Oregon, after Campbell was nominated by her employer, the Oregon Department of Corrections — one of 15 nominations the agency made.
A member of the Western Treasure Valley Rotary Club for more than 20 years, she had held several administrative offices within the club, including presidents and participates in club projects every year. Currently she is in the three-year rotation as Rotary District assistant governor, serving as a liaison between assigned Rotary Club and the district governor.
Other past positions include membership on the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario Foundation Board, where she served 11 years as a board members and four years as the board chairwoman.
In addition, Campbell has served on the Four Rivers Cultural Center Ball committee, which she did for 15 years, That include being a sub-committee chairwoman and chairwoman of the committee for the entire event.
Other participation has include the Ford Family Foundation, the Miss Malheur County Scholarship Pageant board, when it was still functioning, and still includes the involvement in the Parent Teacher Organization at her daughter’s School and Chamber of Commerce activities and events.
Campbell and her family have started a new community event that supports children who have Type I Diabetes. They raise money to provide supplies to local children with Type 1 Diabetes and provide money for children and their families to attend camps where they learn how to manage the disease.
Campbell has worked a the Snake River Correctional Institution since 1995, starting in the business office. Other positions she has held include management, assistant to the superintendent and executive support to the assistant superintendent. Currently, Campbell works as program analyst for inmate work programs and is SRCI public information officer.
Her responsibilities include coordinating the Prison Advisory Committee, and, true to form, is active in the SRCI food drive. She is on the SRCI Staff Military Committee and the SRCI Staff and Community Partnership Committee. Campbell also represents SRCI on the local Fish With a Cop and Shop With a Cop.
“Community service to Amber is about making the community a better place, while helping others,” Carter said about Campbell in her printed remarks, “She shares that there are so many people who provide service to their area communities that this ward could be given out dozens of time every year.” “
