The Sebago Lake Rotary Club has honored Cyndy Bell, the advertising account manager for the Lakes Region Weekly, with the Paul Harris Fellows Award, which is named after the founder of the 109-year-old international service organization, and the President’s Community Service Award.

Bell is the secretary of the Sebago Lake Rotary Club. Don Dyer, the outgoing president of the club, praised Bell’s “strong work ethic.”

“She was involved in most every other activity or project the Rotary club did this past year,” Dyer said. “She was instrumental.”

A committee of individuals who have previously received the Paul Harris award selected Bell and two others for the honor this year, Dyer said. Dyer, who selected Bell for the community service award, noted her efforts to provide gift bags to 25 senior citizens who were going to spend Christmas alone. He also applauded her work on Feet for Food, an upcoming community walk-a-thon that is designed to raise funds for as many as 16,000 meals for hungry families in the Lakes Region.

Toby Pennels, a longtime organizer of the club’s ice fishing derby on Sebago Lake, said Bell has been a dedicated volunteer working to solicit sponsors for the event.

“She’s just been incredible, whether it’s her willingness to volunteer, her positive attitude, or her results,” Pennels said. “Having just run the derby, personally, it was not possible without her.”

Although Bell was named Rotarian of the Year in 2013, she said she was not expecting to receive the Paul Harris Fellows award, which the club has not given out in recent years.

“I was completely surprised and deeply honored to receive this most prestigious Rotary award,” Bell said. “I am aware of others who have received this award and the accomplishment and impact they’ve had and I just feel that I have been inducted into a wonderful group of movers and shakers in the community.”

Cyndy Bell