Nearly 400 staff members of the Building Care and Campus Life Housekeeping departments met to recognize six housekeeping and custodial staff members at the fourth annual Bartels Award for Custodial Service Excellence, Dec. 7 in Bartels Hall.

The award winners -- Eileen Evans, Tom Orzel, Vy Merritt, Don Sutfin, Cheryl Cummings and Yaroslav Sikora -- each received a $500 award and a certificate of recognition. They were congratulated by the Bartels family -- Phil, Susan, Katie and Christopher -- who had established the award in 2006 and endowed it in 2009.

Four additional staff members -- Joyce Ward, Scotti Slocum, Rob Longo and Laurie Bradshaw -- received the scholarship award that the Bartels family established and endowed last year, as did four parents and their children: Catherine Cardinal and her father, Steve; Nicole Dyer and her father, Bill; Russell Hostrander and his mother, Michele; and Katilyn McCall and her father, Gary.

Phil Bartels '71, a member of the Cornell University Council, and his wife, Susan, had established the Bartels award in 2006 after Craig Beaver, a custodian working in Duffield Hall, had shared a plate of cookies with their daughter, Katie Bartels '06, a senior studying for her final exams with her classmates.

"You are a backbone department of this university," Phil Bartels told the custodial staff. "Without you, this university would not be functioning every day to support the students who are working toward completing their education."

Last year, the Building Care academic custodial staff were combined with the Campus Life residential housekeeping group under the leadership of director Rob Osborn; accordingly, this year the Bartels family increased their endowment to annually recognize six rather than five awardees for custodial service excellence.

Vice President for Facilities Kyu-Jung Whang thanked the Bartels family for their generosity. "The thing that's so special about this event," said Whang, "is hearing the stories of each of the recipients. ... Thank you all for touching the lives of others and sharing your stories with us."

Details about the recipients of the Bartels Award for Service Excellence include:

• Evans, who works in the ILR Conference Center, was recognized for her "positive attitude and genuine concern" for the conference center's maintenance.
• Orzel, who works in Hollister Hall and the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, was highly regarded by Professor Emeritus Howard C. Aderhold when Orzel worked in Ward Lab.
• Merritt, a housekeeper at the Cornell Child Care Center, is known for balancing multiple routines and has been awarded for excellent attendance 12 times.
• Sutfin, head custodian of the Duffield Hall custodial complex, was recognized for helping to prepare Duffield Hall for a visit by Bill Gates.
• Cummings, who began her 31-year career in Campus Life as a housekeeper and has spent the last 20 years as a lead custodian, was acknowledged as someone who cares about her staff.
• Sikora was a member of the team that readied the new Physical Sciences Building for occupancy this past fall.

Previous award winners were also recognized at the event. Osborn concluded the program by giving each member of the Bartels family a Cornell Campus Life jacket.