Benny Westcott
Sweet Home resident and Weyerhaeuser Santiam Lumber Mill operations manager George Virtue was named the Weyerhaeuser Company’s Volunteer of the Year for 2022, a distinction the firm, which operates throughout the U.S. and Canada, distributes to four employees annually.
“I feel pretty honored,” Virtue said. “Rooted in Weyerhaeuser’s culture and core values is citizenship. It’s promoted from the very top to be active in our communities and to give back. So to be chosen from that group is quite the honor.”
“George’s nomination stood out to the award selection committee because of the strong connection to the Sweet Home High School natural resources education program,” Weyerhaeuser People Development and Community Giving Manager Anne Leyva said in an email. “Because of volunteers with industry expertise like George, this program has become a leader for forestry education programs in Oregon. George is connecting students to the great local careers available within natural resources and introducing them to an industry that is vital to sustaining our communities.
The 46-year-old Virtue, a 1994 Sweet Home High School graduate, was nominated by his alma mater’s natural resources and forestry teacher Blake Manley, who extolled his work with Manley’s students, particularly as a board member on the SHHS Forestry and Agricultural Advisory Committee. When the educator saw the Weyerhaeuser Volunteer of the Year contest advertised on social media, he thought of Virtue.
“One that’s at the top of the list for me that’s helped my program the most is George,” Manley said. “And it didn’t take me long to think about that. George does a lot for our community. I’ve seen that firsthand through forestry, but also, he’s there every Friday night running the chain crew at football games [a task Virtue’s undertaken every Sweet Home fall Friday night since 2002].
“Every time I pick up the phone and I need something involving lumber mill manufacturing type work,” Manley continued, “George is my first phone call. And I don’t have to have a second phone call.”
“We just offer to help in any way that we can,” Virtue said of his work with the school groups. “One way would be helping give direction with the program and being a voice for the industry and what we’re looking for from the kids that we’re educating, and that are headed out into the workforce in the coming years.”
He also assists with curriculum, tours and providing manpower for competitions. The committee additionally helped organize a career fair at the high school last year.
His work, of course, extends beyond local education. Virtue has served as a volunteer with the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District between 2000 to 2014, returning in 2018 after a four-year break to live in Klamath Falls. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2008 and named deputy chief last October.
“We help people out on their worst day,” Virtue said of his stint with the district. “If I can help that be a little bit better and give them some comfort during those trying times, that’s what I want to do.”
SHFAD Fire Chief Nick Tyler emphasized the importance of volunteers at the department. “We could not do our day-to-day operations without [them],” he said.
Virtue’s community activism doesn’t stop there. He’s been a Sweet Home Economic Development Group board member since 2021. Virtue has also volunteered with the Sweet Home Softball Association since 2011 (his daughters played softball), first as a board member and now as a coach. Additionally, he’s volunteered as a pianist at the Community Chapel since 1991 and helps other area churches in the same capacity.
“I feel that we are called to make this world a better place,” he said. “If I can take some time out of my life to make someone’s day a little bit better and help those in need, I feel that that’s what we’ve been called to do.”
Virtue elected to donate half of his $5,000 award to Sweet Home High School, and the other half to help raise money for a new firefighter support vehicle for use at rescue, fire or medical calls.
His advice for others is simple.
“Get out and volunteer,” he said.