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Truckee woman awarded for commitment to local children

Christine Stanley
Sierra Sun
Photo by Ryan Salm/Sierra Sun
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After three decades of service to North Shore communities, Truckee resident Ruth Hall will be awarded by Sierra Nevada Children’s Services with the organization’s 13th annual Children’s Service Award on Wednesday.

Hall, who moved to Truckee in 1977, has dedicated her career to developing and providing services for children and families, and has helped to lay the building blocks for many of the programs and assets that Truckee and the North Shore have today.

“My heart has always been with social change,” Hall said.



As a young woman growing up in Detroit in the ’60s, Hall was surrounded by racial tensions; she was concerned about the war in Vietnam and said she became socially conscious.

“I was always drawn to work where groups of people could find services, and it’s fulfilling to work in those environments,” she said.



From Detroit to New York, to Montana and California, Hall immersed herself in

difficult and challenging social work. She came to Truckee on the heels of good friends and soon after took a position with Sierra Nevada Children’s Services for 23 years.

“She could always get the ball rolling,” said Stephanie Blume, who replaced Hall last year as Sierra Nevada Children’s Services’ regional coordinator. “She’s quick to bring up the subjects that are going to support our community ” housing … the core working class families … safe places for kids to play, and keeping diversity in our community.”

She is involved with the Tahoe Truckee Child Abuse Council and was part of the Tahoe Truckee Health Council, both of which served as prototypes for a number of other collaboratives that sprung up in the area, said Hall.

As time passed, Hall said she noticed the need for other projects, and Sierra Nevada Children’s Services started a United Way campaign in Truckee, and a domestic violence coalition that was later absorbed by Tahoe Women’s Services.

“A lot of what we did was the precursor for services that are available in Truckee today. Our style was to help bring new services and projects forward,” Hall said.

Hall was nominated for the Children’s Service Award by Dr. Ken Cutler, chair of the First Five Nevada County Commission, as a person who goes “beyond her duties with great heart and commitment.”

“Our community is certainly better for her outstanding efforts,” Cutler said. “She has been a forceful voice for child advocacy in our area, and she has touched a lot of lives.”

She has touched lives in her new position as the Truckee school readiness coordinator, a position through which she works on projects benefiting families and children prenatal through 5 years old.

Hall is also interim director of the Truckee Family Resource Center, chair of the Truckee Tahoe Child Abuse Prevention Council, president of Truckee Friends of the Library, and has appointments to the Citizen’s Oversight Committee to Nevada County Libraries and the Nevada County Child Care Coordinating Council.


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