Community Super Heros – John Ross and Ronald N. Thibeau

A very special award was given to a couple of very special community leaders in the New England (Boston) market.  Ron Thibeau and John Ross were awarded a “Community Super Hero Award”.  I have copied the actual award here to let everyone know just how special these guys are and how invaluable they are to their community.

Many of you know that a year or so ago Microsoft launched a campaign called “Heros Happen Here” to help local community hero’s. This award “Community Super Hero Award” is a special award created for the purpose of recognizing someone that did not need any encouragement from Microsoft or anyone else. In fact, there are actually two people that will be “sharing” this award.  These people have spent countless hours helping their peers in the North East United States.  These people are Super Hero’s to many because they help hundreds or even thousands of IT Professionals and developers get more out of life.  Not only that, but they tend to stay in the background and take absolutely no credit for any of the great things they do.  As we were considering them for an award for this “over the top” commitment to community, we found that there does not seem to be an end to the “giving” nature of these guys. It is clear that these really special people tend to elevate the giving nature in others as well.  When others see the work they do for the community, they inevitably feel like they should help as well.  So, in appreciation for their LEADERSHIP and all that they do John Ross and Ron N. Thibeau (both of Waltham MA) are awarded the “Community Super Hero Award“.

The award was signed by Dan Stolts (IT Pro Evangelist US North East), Blain Barton (Community Champ US East Coast), Chris Bowen (Developer Evangelist) and Jim O’Neil (Developer Evangelist)

In addition to the glass covered award, they were given a “backpack” of goodies which included a certificate from O’Reilly Publishing for a Safari Online Subscription, a number of books from Microsoft Press as well as some Microsoft software including Office 2007.  They sweetened the goodie bag with an XBOX 360 game console and a bunch of games.  Some of the contents of the game package included…Guitar Hero, Halo 3, Your In The Movies, Lips and a whole lot more.  There were many other goodies also.

As someone who knows John and Ron pretty well, I hope they do not give it all away. These guys go to many of the events that are put on by Microsoft and many other vendors and many of the local user group meetings because they love to learn.  With all the events they attend they win their fair share of door prizes.  Many of the prizes they win, they give to user group leaders and speakers to use for raffles to give to others.  They are the most “giving” people I have ever known.  I am thrilled that they were honored with this award.  Something tells me they will keep the XBOX 🙂  I even recall there was one event not too long ago these guys pitched in with their own money and bought a book ( I think it was the Windows Vista Security Guide) to be given out to all attendees of one of the user groups.  I recall they purchased about a hundred of these books to hand out. You can probably guess the shipping for these set them back at least a few dollars.

There are others that also wanted to share in the thanks, John and Ron were given notes of appreciation by many. Russ Fustino (Russ’s Tool Shed) sent in a Certificate of Appreciation for all the work these guys have done for the “Tool Shed” cause.

These guys work very hard and I hope with their new toys they will find some time to just have some FUN!  I send my congratulations to Ron Thibeau and John Ross.  It is nice to see them get recognized for literally years of selfless service to the community.  If anyone wants to see some of the stuff they are up to you can check out the calendar on Boston User Groups.  They are on the board of Boston User Groups as well as other user groups such as Boston Area Windows Server User Group. They attend and assist many other user groups in the community.  To see a list of user groups in their area visit Boston User Groups online.

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User Groups, community, Dan Stolts