Kevin Lee, recipient of the 2024 Impact Award
The NorCal SCI Board is delighted to announce that Kevin Lee has received the 2024 Impact Award.
This is the inaugural annual award where NorCal SCI recognizes an individual who has made a positive impact on the SCI Community.
Kevin (bottom right) with the NorCal SCI Board Members in attendance.
“I first met Kevin at my first Peer Support Meeting in August of 2014 at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) and it quickly became clear to me that Kevin had a knack of engaging with the newly injured and their family members at such a difficult time in their recoveries. “ writes NorCal SCI co-founder Nick Struthers.
“His compassion and a disarming sense of humor was on show when he spoke to the newly injured injecting the appropriate and sometimes inappropriate joke to lighten the meeting. For the next 10 years, Kevin was an ever present vital member of the Peer Support Team regularly leading the meetings. He must have seen close to a thousand patients and their family members in that time. There was always surprise in the room when Kevin mentioned that he had been to Burning Man several times before and after his injury. He was able to share his own experience and more importantly a positive outlook with them demonstrating what can be achieved in the long road to recovery. This commitment and dedication in itself would warrant the award but Kevin has done so much more. He regularly took the opportunity to visit former patients in their homes after their discharge, traveling from Monterey to Sacramento to do this.
He was instrumental in ensuring a patient in a non specialized rehab center got the opportunity to be admitted to dedicated SCI rehab at the highly thought of SCVMC. Even before I met Kevin, he had already been attending the Peer Support pretty much since his own injury in 2004. He was literally going the extra miles by ensuring a close friend who had no transportation was able to attend regular peer support by going out of his way in his accessible van. He was always innovative, finding ways to improve the lives of others. For instance, he rigged up cell phones to power wheelchair batteries long before USB sockets were common. He was always on hand volunteering to support our own organization at numerous abilities expos and other outreach events by manning our booths and naturally conversing with other members of the SCI community. If that wasn’t enough, Kevin has also found the time to volunteer for ReCARES providing leadership and manpower for their important work.
Over the last decade, Kevin has been a good friend to me and has been a great friend to the SCI community for the last 20 years. Please join me in congratulating Kevin as the first recipient of the NorCal SCI Impact Award”