BOARDMAN Leadership Mahoning Valley members to receive awards

One of the honorees died last month after a long illness.
BOARDMAN -- A dinner honoring four outstanding members of Leadership Mahoning Valley will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Holiday Inn, 7410 South Ave.
The organization will present its annual LMV Civic Leadership Award posthumously to Lorene T. Hill. The Rev. Edward Patrick Noga will receive the Community Leadership Association Distinguished Leadership Award; Karen M. Fox, the Ohio Association Community Leadership Outstanding Leadership Award; and John P. Donchess Jr., the Ohio Association Community Leadership Distinguished Program Leadership Award.
A presentation also will be made on behalf of the Davis Foundation. Dinner is planned for 7 p.m., with the awards presentations beginning at 8.
A profile of the honorees:
U Father Noga is a lifelong resident of Youngstown. He attended the seminary at the Athenaeum of Ohio in Cincinnati and was ordained a priest Feb. 15, 1976, by Bishop James W. Malone.
Father Noga served as an associate pastor at four Youngstown parishes before becoming pastor at St. Patrick Church in Youngstown in 1985. Five years ago, the parish, the diocese, the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown and the local Lutheran Synod opened an ecumenical elementary school in the parish school building adjacent to the church. New Hope Academy serves mostly poor neighborhood children.
Father Noga serves on the diocesan personnel board and the local transit authority and is involved in ACTION, a faith-based organization that includes 20 churches and two community organizations.
U Fox is coordinator for customer and community services for FirstEnergy's Eastern Region in Ohio. She graduated in the LMV Class of 1992.
She developed and coordinates the Power Factors, a group of employees that oversees the volunteer projects for FirstEnergy's Eastern Region. Fox helped to develop the Mahoning Valley Reads Steering Committee, a local effort of OhioReads, the statewide reading initiative developed by Gov. Bob Taft. She serves as a liaison between area businesses and school districts to enlist reading tutors. She has served or serves on several boards and committees, including the Youngstown-Mahoning Valley United Way.
U Donchess, a certified public accountant, principal and director of tax services for Packer Thomas accounting and consulting firm, has been a tax consultant for Mahoning Valley businesses for more than 23 years. He joined Packer Thomas as director of tax services in 1989 after being in charge of the tax division of the Youngstown office of Ernst & amp; Young.
Among his responsibilities are helping clients with tax planning, managing Packer Thomas' overall tax practice and coordinating in-house tax education.
He graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor's degree in accounting. He is a member of the Ohio Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs and an alumnus of Leadership Council of Mahoning-Shenango Valley. President of LMV, he also has been its youth finance chairman and vice president of finance.
U Hill was a graduate of the Leadership Youngstown Class of 1988. She was born March 2, 1934, and died Jan. 17 after a long illness.
Her career in education began in the Youngstown City Schools, where she led programs for the physically handicapped. She retired after 20 years with the school district, then became supervisor of student teachers at YSU.
Hill served LMV as vice president of selections. Other agencies and organizations in which she participated are Youngstown-Mahoning Valley United Way, New Hope Academy, Goodwill Industries, Southside Community Development, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Youngstown Area Alliance of Black Educators.
She also was coordinator of the ushers ministry and on the personnel citation, consolation and outreach ministries at Tabernacle Baptist Church, Youngstown.