A longtime child care professional in Carbon County was honored recently for her work in the community over the last three decades.

On Friday, during the 12th annual Human Services Breakfast, held at Whispering Pines in Penn Forest Township, members of the Carbon County Collaborative honored Kim Whitney for her dedication to the children of Carbon County.

Jill Geissinger, director of Carbon County Children and Youth, on behalf of the collaborative and breakfast committee, presented Whitney with the award.

“Her dedication to the Carbon County Child Development Center has made a difference in the lives of countless children and families to help them achieve their school readiness and personal goals to build a stronger, healthy community,” Geissinger said.

Whitney was shocked to be honored.

“I feel very privileged to have been involved and part of the collaborative,” she said. “I was just so happy to be involved and helping.”

Whitney is the outreach coordinator at PathStone Corporation and has worked with the organization for 20 years and with Carbon County Head Start for 30 years.

She is set to retire on May 31.

“I’d like to thank you all for the wonderful award. It was definitely not expected and as you all saw, left me quite speechless,” she said. “Carbon County is lucky to have such a dedicated and loyal group to look out for and fight for them.”