Honoree is fostering a legacy of service

This year’s winner of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley’s Don Poe Community Spirit award said she recognizes the value of such an organization to parents.

“Because it’s hard to raise kids,” Melva Prasil said. She will be presented the annual award during a ceremony today.

“Everybody needs help and (the Boys and Girls Clubs are) where you can get all kinds of help,” she said. “It’s a great organization; very well run and provides a huge service to the community in making sure your kids turn out.”

Prasil, 72, said when she was growing up in Boring, Ore., with a twin sister and younger brother, she witnessed her parents offering their help and resources to various community service organizations, including United Way.

When Prasil began working for Allstate Insurance in Seattle in 1981, she began her own journey of community service. She was asked to represent the company as a loaned executive to the King County United Way campaign, and after moving to Lewiston she continued on that path, eventually joining the United Way board and serving as campaign manager and president.

“I think when I worked for United Way in Seattle … I don’t know how quickly I would have gotten into the community if I hadn’t gotten to do that,” she said.

In 1988, Prasil joined the Lewiston Rotary and served as president in 1993. While in that office, she organized the first Rotary rose sale, which continued until the COVID-19 pandemic halted the fundraiser.

Prasil and her husband, Rob, have long been supporters of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley. They have made several large monetary donations and are strong supporters of the club’s annual auction.

In 1994, Prasil served on the club’s board of directors and as president in 2003. Recently, the Prasils contributed half a million dollars toward the new commercial kitchen that will be part of the Booth Hall renovation. It will be named “Honey’s Kitchen,” after the name Prasil’s grandchildren gave her.

Prasil said she got the nickname when her daughter, Cheri, was pregnant for the first time.

“She (Cheri) had a friend whose children all called their grandmother ‘Honey.’ I said: ‘I’ll take anything besides “Grandma.” I like it — let’s do ‘Honey,’ ” Prasil said.

Prasil is also involved with the Gina Quesenberry Foundation and has been chairwoman of the Pink Ribbon Luncheon that raises money for breast cancer patients.

The Prasils have two daughters, Elizabeth and Cheri, and she said one of the things that makes her proudest is that both of her daughters are actively involved with nonprofit organizations.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.