Celebrating Our Champions
In Indian Head and across our west side communities, some of the most important work happens quietly. It happens in school hallways, at pantry pickup tables, behind the scenes at events, and in the steady planning that makes sure no neighbor slips through the cracks.
That is why Voice of Indian Head created our Community Champion of the Year Award in partnership with the Town of Indian Head. It is our way of pausing long enough to see the people who serve with integrity and follow through, and to honor the community of faith that shows up again and again to strengthen our town through compassion in action.
This year’s finalists represent the best of what it means to build community on purpose. Their service looks different, but the pattern is the same: they notice needs, they mobilize help, and they keep going. Congratulations to our Community Champion of the Year Award winner, Marissa Ackerman, and kudos to all our finalists.
Mayor Brandon Paulin and VOIH Director Victor Foulk present Marissa Ackerman and Assistant Principal Janee Johnson with the award and donation check. As is her way, Marissa donated every penny back to the community!
Marissa Ackerman holding the custom engraved crystal trophy, as the First Annual Town of Indian Head Community Champion of the Year (2025). Congratulations, Marissa! You and the other finalists make this community shine!
A special thanks to Brandon Paulin, Mayor of the Town of Indian Head, and Jeron Hayes, former PAO for NSA South Potomac (Retired) for joining the arduous task of judging all of our amazing nominations. Read Marissa’s incredible story, and the inspiring stories of all of our finalists, below. Then, take a moment to share this announcement to help spread awareness of the amazing work being done to improve our home of Indian Head, MD.
Community Champion of the Year Winner: Marissa Ackerman
In Indian Head and across the west side of our county, the work that holds people up is often easy to miss. It shows up in the daily coordination, the quick problem solving, and the behind the scenes follow through that keeps food, support, and opportunity within reach for families who need it most.
That is where we find Marissa Ackerman.
Marissa serves as a community school coordinator, and her day to day work touches far more than a single school building. It reaches families who need food, students who need healthcare access, children who need enrichment, and parents who need a trusted guide through a maze of resources.
One of the biggest examples is the new school based health center, set to become the first of its kind in Charles County. When staffing changes left a major gap in coordination, Marissa stepped in to keep the effort moving forward. She is helping drive enrollment, family awareness, health department participation at events, and grand opening planning. When fully running, the center is expected to provide services like strep testing, immunizations, and sports physicals, helping families access care locally and helping students miss less school.
Marissa is also behind a sustainable food pantry model that has grown into a true community network. The pantry feeds at least 100 people during bi-weekly openings, and partners provide 110 weekend snack sacks every Friday so children have food over the weekend. What stands out is not just the scale, but the standard. Marissa prioritizes dignity and quality, protecting confidentiality and refusing donations that families would not feel good about receiving.
Impact Snapshot
- At least 100 people served through pantry openings (bi-weekly)
- 110 weekend snack sacks delivered every Friday
- 100 students supported with Boys and Girls Club summer camp fees so no family was turned away
Her work also supports military families. Under Marissa’s leadership, her school became the first Purple Star school in this space, strengthening training and support for military connected students, a population she estimates at about 10 percent of the student body.
And she does not stop there. Marissa coordinates extended learning opportunities that bring clubs and enrichment to students who might not otherwise have access, with 100+ students participating in a single season and an estimated 200 to 250 students reached over a year. She also helps families with practical needs like hygiene products, school supplies, internet hotspots, and mental health support referrals.
This is what community champion work looks like. It is service with follow through. It is compassion with structure. It is collaboration that multiplies what any one person or organization could do alone.
Voice of Indian Head and the Town of Indian Head are proud to recognize Marissa Ackerman as our Community Champion of the Year Award winner for 2025!
We Celebrate All of Our Finalists!
When we announced the First Annual Town of Indian Head Community Champion of the Year Award for 2025, we received an incredible outpouring of responses from the community. Truly, there are many among us working tirelessly to improve our Town, and we appreciate them all. Overall, this was one of the most difficult evaluations that the judges had ever taken on.
Admittedly, some nominees declined the nomination, preferring to stay anonymous. We pushed hard to encourge all of these stories to be publicized because it is critical that we identify constructive civic engagement, and celebrate it as a model to be emulated by more of us.
It should also be pointed out that, regardless of what your personal beliefs are, the evidence shows that there is a tremendous amount of good being done for the residents of our Town by our partners in the community of faith. The generousity, the commitment, and the believe in a better, safer, more prosperous Indian Head are strong. Kudos to our finalists, and thank you for your incredible work!
Community Champion Finalist: Becky Chick
Some community builders lead with speeches. Others lead by making the impossibly hard work look possible, again and again, until a town feels more connected.
Rebecca Chick is one of those steady builders. Through her outreach work with BRIDGE Church and her partnerships across Indian Head, she helps organize large, family friendly events throughout the year that routinely welcome about 400 to 700 neighbors at a time. Those are massive gatherings to coordinate, and they do not happen without leadership, logistics, and a lot of care.
Rebecca does not do it alone. For each major event, she recruits and supervises 40 to 60 volunteers, helping people find a role, show up, and succeed. That is part of the quiet ripple effect of her service. She is not only creating moments of joy, she is building a culture of neighbors helping neighbors.
A simple promise sits at the center of her approach: community should be accessible. That means making sure there are free parts of events so every family can participate, including single parents and neighbors who are stretched thin. Her motivation is personal and practical, rooted in how hard it can be to find wholesome, affordable activities for kids and teens, and how much it matters when a town creates safe spaces where children can just be children.
Rebecca also supports neighbors facing food insecurity. She manages food donation collection efforts tied to the local pantry and estimates that numerous bags of food are collected each week. It is consistent service with real impact, delivered with humility and follow through.
“The more we can be that village to each other… the more we can just be family.” – Becky Chick
How you can help Becky’s mission:
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Volunteer when community events and cleanup days are announced
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Donate non expired pantry items if you are able
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Invite a neighbor to attend a seasonal event with you
When we celebrate finalists like Rebecca, we are not just naming a person. We are lifting up a model for what community looks like in action.
Community Champion Finalist: Sherry Rison
In a town like ours, some of the most important work happens quietly. It looks like someone showing up again and again, not because anyone is watching, but because neighbors need help.
That is the kind of steady service with humility that Sherry Rison brings to Indian Head along with the efforts of her small congregation. Her focus stays rooted in practical, local needs, especially through a strong partnership with Indian Head Elementary school.
What Sherry and her congregation do, in real terms
Their support of the school is not symbolic. It is hands on and measurable.
They regularly provide food for the school pantry, and Sherry and her husband personally deliver donations to the school to help keep support consistent. They also helped provide hats, gloves, and coats for children, meeting needs that become urgent when winter hits.
One moment that stood out from Sherry’s interview was a milestone that is both simple and powerful: her church provided eight complete Thanksgiving baskets for eight families, an impressive effort for a congregation of about 40 to 50 members.
She also volunteers her time at the school’s pantry hours, supported the children’s clothing closet, and pitched in during the book fair. It is a steady pattern of service, not a one time push.
“We do as much as we can considering the size.” – Sherry Rison
Service that ripples outward
Sherry’s community impact also shows up through collaboration. She works with other local partners, including support for community events organized alongside other churches. She described these efforts as a way to simply let neighbors know: we are here if you need us.
That spirit aligns closely with the heart of Voice of Indian Head, which exists to strengthen our community through charitable impact, shared awareness, and civic engagement.
A life rooted here
Sherry has deep roots in the Indian Head area. She raised her family here, worked for decades at the base, and continues to invest her time and energy into the well being of local families.
She also leads a large annual volunteer effort through her church connected to a holiday shoebox gifting drive, organizing the packing of 300 shoeboxes each year and raising the $3,000 needed for shipping. It is another example of her consistent ability to turn goodwill into action, year after year.
Why this matters
In every community, there are people who quietly keep the fabric from fraying. They notice needs. They organize help. They follow through.
Sherry Rison is one of those people.
And as we celebrate our Community Champion of the Year finalists, her story reminds us of something hopeful: impact is not always loud, but it is always felt.
Community Champion Finalist(s): Jenn & Rick Legacy
Some community organizations grow by building bigger walls. Others grow by building bridges.
BRIDGE Church, led by Pastors Jenn and Rick Legacy, has built its work in Indian Head around a clear idea: our town should be better because they are here. Not because they are perfect, and not because they are trying to be the heroes, but because service is part of their assignment.
Their name is not just branding. BRIDGE is an acronym that reflects their approach: Building Relationships, Intentional Discipleship, and Generous Engagement. What stands out is how often that generous engagement shows up outside church walls, in places where families actually live their daily lives.
We should also note that our call for nominations was certainly for individuals… but not once in all of the nominations did Pastors Jenn and Rick show up individually. In every nomination they were a pair, a team, champions together and a force for good to be reckoned with. And so, we took them as such.
Showing up where families are
In the years after COVID, when isolation hit hard and community rhythms were still rebuilding, BRIDGE Church helped create safe spaces that invited families back together. One example is leaning in to keep trunk or treat going during and after the pandemic to keep the community connected. This annual tradition that draws hundreds of neighbors and offers a safe, welcoming environment that families can count on, and they refused to let that connection fall away. You wouldn’t normally see a church leaning in to a holiday such as this… and for that reason it shines so much brighter as evidence of the commitment and love of the residents of our Town.
They also built deep partnership with our local Title I elementary school, asking a simple question: what do you need most? That question led to practical support like resourcing teachers, equipping classrooms, and supporting parents and students through events and sponsorship.
One effort, their Back to School Prep Rally, went beyond supplies and clothing. They organized partners to provide guidance on internet safety, nutrition support, and practical tools for families. That included simple, thoughtful resources like laminated morning and evening checklists designed for kids who may be home alone because their parents are working. It is not flashy, but it is the kind of help that meets real life.
Investing in shared community spaces
BRIDGE Church meets in a place many residents already know: the Blackbox Theater. Instead of pursuing a stand alone building, they intentionally chose to stay and invest in improving a shared community facility so more people can enjoy it, whether they ever attend a church service or not.
Upgrades they described include improvements that touch the whole building experience, from carpet and paint to plumbing, HVAC, sprinkler system, and sound. It is a quiet kind of community investment, but one that strengthens a local asset for everyone.
“In all of this, for our Town… it is about thriving, not surviving.” – Pastors Jenn and Rick Legacy
Youth, belonging, and practical life skills
A consistent theme in their story is creating safe spaces of common ground. For teens, that takes shape through the Cove youth group, designed as a welcoming environment for any kid. The focus is relationship, a meal, and practical conversations that help young people navigate real life, including conflict management and character building.
In a small town where residents often ask for more constructive options for teens, it is meaningful to see a program that aims to help kids feel seen, known, and loved, without making belonging conditional.
Showing empathy in the hardest moments
Service is not only festivals and school supplies. Sometimes it is grief.
Pastor Jenn shared moments BRIDGE Church has walked through with our community, including hosting a memorial for a Marine family after the loss of a child to SIDS, and opening doors after a devastating tragedy so neighbors could gather, grieve, and simply not be alone. In those moments, the priority was presence, not agenda.
Indian Head grows stronger when we choose partnership over silos and presence over distance. BRIDGE Church’s story is one reminder that community fabric is built through consistent, tangible care.
What these stories ask of all of us
If you see good work happening in our town, amplify it. If you see a neighbor in need, show up. If you have a few hours to give, volunteer when calls go out for events, pantry support, or cleanup days. These finalists remind us that community strength is not accidental, it is built by people who choose service and keep choosing it.
To Marissa, Rebecca, Sherry, and Pastors Jenn and Rick, thank you for the example you set and the hope you bring to Indian Head. Together, we build a better Indian Head.
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