Richard Paddock, second vice president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch, said winning the award was a real testiment to Richards.

“There are people who are president and there are people who are leaders and she falls in the latter category,” Paddock said. “I’ve been really impressed with the way she has taken up the presidency. I always thought we were the best branch and this year we proved it.”

Paddock, who works on the health and wellness committee, said one of this year’s goals was to structure and establish goals for standing committees, which Richards has been working on.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch also received praise on Twitter from two candidates running for CHCCS school board. 

Richards said it is important for people who want to get involved to stay up to date on the issues affecting their community and open yourself up to a broad spectrum of perspectives.

“It takes a team,” Richards said. “One of the things I feel most gratified about is we have a great team of people. It’s not any one person that makes a successful organization. We have a broad spectrum of folks who are engaged and committed to this work and without the team, we would not have had this honor of being recognized by our state organization.”

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