Timberline Bank and Mobility Driven are among the latest winners of annual awards presented by the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce honoring community service.

Timberline Bank was named the large business of the year. Mobility Driven, a firm launched by Robert Dittmer, was selected as the small business of the year.

Jeff Kuhr, executive director of Mesa County Public Health, was named Citizen of the Year. Emma Leenerman, an alumni coordinator who helped coordinate COVID-19 testing at Colorado Mesa University, was recognized as Young Professional of the Year. The awards were presented during the annual chamber banquet.

Founded by employees and investors in 2004, Timberline Bank operates locations in Grand Junction as well as Aspen and Montrose. 

In 2020, the bank moved into a new four-story headquarters in Grand Junction. The building includes a community room available for free use to nonprofit groups. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Timberline Bank processed nearly 2,200 Paycheck Protection Program loans worth a total of almost $200 million.

Over the past two years, the bank has contributed a total of more than $300,000 in sponsorships and donations to local groups.

Bank staff from the president to tellers volunteer their time and serve on the boards of a variety of local organizations, including the Western Colorado Latino Chamber of Commerce, Riverside Education Center and Young Professionals Network of Mesa County.

Dittmer launched Mobility Driven in 2015 to serve clients with mobility issues — providing options to make their homes more accessible or adapting their vehicles. The company also works on recreational vehicles.

Mobility Driven sponsors a downtown car show to provide a family event while also raising awareness of advances in the adaptive industry.

Dittmer serves on the board of Blood Brothers, an organization dedicated to helping people with physical disabilities restore their mobility and independence.

Dittmer also sponsors and partners with Colorado Disability and partners with Agribility, an organization that helps farmers, ranchers and other agricultural workers with disabilities. 

Partnerships and sponsorships also have benefited the Center for Independence, Hilltop Community Resources and the MS Society.

Kuhr has served as executive director of Mesa County Public Health since January 2010.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Kuhr and his department faced what he viewed as both a public health and economic crisis.

Kuhr helped set up COVID-19 testing sites and then a vaccination site. He also worked with CMU and Mesa County School District 51 to offer in-person instruction.

Mesa County Public Health joined with the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and other partners to implement the Mesa County Variance Protection Program— also called the 5 Star Program.

Under the program, businesses submitted a safety plan to Mesa County Public Health. A Mesa County Public Health representative visited establishments and audited their procedures as they related to the pandemic. Businesses that received certification were allowed to operate at less restrictive levels. The program also enabled people to know which businesses followed guidelines and practices intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. The program served as a model that was implemented statewide.

Leenerman has served as coordinator of alumni engagement at CMU since July 2017. In 2020, she volunteered to coordinate COVID-19 testing on the campus.

She helped set up a drive-through testing site and recruited CMU staff, faculty and students to administer tests. The site administered more than 80,000 tests and played a role in enabling CMU to offer in-person instruction.