A Bowmanstown woman is the inaugural recipient of an award named after a late community activist.

Kara Scott was announced by the Carbon County Community Foundation as the initial Elissa M. Garofalo Community Impact Award winner.

Scott received the award at the 20/20 Circle annual meeting and grants dinner on Wednesday at Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton.

A supporter of her community for over three decades, Scott has founded, participated in, and championed community and nonprofit organizations for most of her life.

“I have mixed feelings on it; I feel like I am just kind of a compilation of everybody who is working toward a better community,” Scott said. “There are so many people that are working so hard for this community; I’m a little mind-boggled by it actually.”

Scott said she’s grateful to be named through an award in Garafolo’s name.

“Elissa did so much, and to be honored through an award in her name is just so humbling,” she said. “I had no idea until the last few days when my phone started blowing up, the magnitude of it.”

Scott reiterated that her award wouldn’t have been possible if not for the tireless work of her peers.

“Again, so many people working so hard, and I look at the Reimagine Carbon that we’re working on and the people in the room with the Reimagine Carbon and our group that is just coming up with great ideas and coming up with fantastic things,” she said. “I’m just pulling it together, I’m the connector, and I am just honored to pull the passionate people together in the room.”

Scott stressed the significance of Reimagine Carbon, which is geared to support participants to create a bottom-up, collective visioning process for a sustainable, equitable economy “to strengthen our communities and pull people together, because I believe that’s the way we’re going to create changes that will make Carbon County the home that we dream of.”

Scott has also been active in local government, now in her fourth term as a member of the Bowmanstown Borough Council.

She is chairwoman and charter member of the Carbon County Council of Governments, a voluntary association that represents local municipalities to provide cooperative planning, coordination, and technical assistance on issues of mutual concern.

Scott founded Bowmanstown Area Residents Connected, which received the Environmental Partnership Award from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Northeast Pennsylvania Environmental Partners.

She also founded the Bowmanstown Area Action Committee to fight for local rights against a proposed trash transfer station in the borough alongside the Lehigh River.

Scott previously served as president of the Pennsylvania Community Rights Network and as a member of the National Community Rights Network.

She has volunteered for the Bowmanstown Planning Commission, Family Promise, Team Rubicon as a gray shirt, and the 1Love foundation, which supports victims in Sierra Leone.

Scott is the owner and operator of Gypsy’s Sweet Retreat and is certified by Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and ELI — MP (Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner). She has degrees in psychology, communication and recreation.

The award is presented in memory of Garofalo to someone who demonstrates leadership, vision and impact in Carbon County.

Wild Elder Wine and Cider Co. in Jim Thorpe is the initial award sponsor and has pledged to help make it permanently endowed at the Community Foundation.

“Elissa was a friend and a mentor. I first met her as a community member concerned with planning and was honored to eventually work alongside her as a peer,” said Amber Finsel, Wild Elder’s co-owner. “She was a brilliant woman who had the vision, determination and patience necessary to bring about positive community change. If she was here today, Elissa would certainly still be working tirelessly for the benefit of our community. It was from this idea that the Elissa M. Garofalo Community Impact Award was born.”

“To be recognized in the footprint of Elissa Garofalo is a humbling honor,” Scott said about the award. “I wouldn’t be in this position without the time, support, and resources shared with me by so many people with a common vision of hope and prosperity for our community. I am so grateful to be a small part of this collective effort.”