“You are a 2017 WBOC Jefferson Award winner Kenny,” WBOC’s Maxine Bentzel told him.
“Thank you,” Kenny replied. “This is…unbelievable.”
Kenny, of Lewes, Delaware, is a big supporter of protecting Delmarva’s wetlands. He volunteers with Eastern Sussex Ducks Unlimited and enjoys teaching safety and sportsmanship to young hunters.
“When the kid sees his first target break in mid-air, he said, ‘I did that,'” Kenny said. “Now it’s just, it’s amazing the feeling that you get you know the feeling that you get .. that you’ve worked with a kid to teach
him.”
Kenny has also helped raise more than $1 million for the American Cancer Society and is one of the original organizers of Sussex County Cancer Survivors Fund, a non-profit, fundraising organization that provides support to local cancer patients.
“I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more than Kenny,” said his friend George Naegele, who described Kenny as
the kind of person you want in your life.
“He’s there for you whenever you need him, he’ll do anything for you,” George said. “He’ll try to find anything you need. He doesn’t know the definition of the word ‘no.'”
Another friend, Ned Maull, said of Kenny, “He takes people and makes them feel good about themselves. It’s a trait that not everyone has, but Kenny certainly does.”
Kenny also mentors Boy Scouts and has hired several of them at Holly Lake Campsites in Millsboro, where he’s the manager.
“It’s just to help everybody out,” Kenny said. “You know one thing when I started to work for my father-in-law 31 years ago, he said, ‘If you’re going to volunteer your time make sure you do it 110 percent.'”
That’s why Kenny Hopkins is a WBOC Jefferson Awards winner.
