Tom Harrison was selected as the recipient of the Public Service Award due to his consistent level of selflessness demonstrated in his volunteer work spanning over a decade.
He single-handedly maintains the path between Bahia Vista Elementary School and Spinnaker Point. He weeds, prunes, takes out dead plant material, cleans up litter, and coordinates group activities when the City has an interested volunteer group.
He also ventures out far beyond the neighborhood and does cleanups throughout the Canal and all the way into downtown San Rafael. He does weekly patrols throughout the downtown and removes graffiti, stickers, and flyers from public facilities such as light poles, signs, trash cans, and buildings. He is a map-maker and uses his skillset to map out trash cans throughout San Rafael, to map tree locations, and to map illegal dumping in the area. His efforts have prevented hundreds (potentially thousands) of pounds of garbage from ending up in our waterways, making San Rafael more beautiful and livable for all.
Tom is the ultimate team player, participating in the San Rafael Clean campaign, contributing to the Downtown Business Improvement District, helping organize Earth Day and Coastal Cleanup Day, and often joins other groups and committees to offer a hand the most humble way. He brings so much insight to the groups he participates in and he is never ‘too good’ for any task, he is a great team player and offers his support however he can.
Tom’s efforts to remove graffiti and stickers from trash cans, streetlights, fire hydrants, parking meters and traffic control boxes have beautified the downtown corridor, making it more attractive to shoppers and contributing to the economic vitality of local businesses. Through these efforts, Tom models civic duty and public service at its best – he sees a need, then takes initiative to meet than need for the benefit of the entire community.
Tom is the ultimate self-directed doer, not a self-promoter, the ultimate tireless and effective civic volunteer. He sets his own goals and always achieves them, working several hours each day on San Rafael civic projects. Tom’s efforts and accomplishments have bettered our community in many ways, which has earned him the nomination and selection to be the recipient of the City of San Rafael’s Public Service Award for 2024.
Congratulations Tom!