February 2009 Special Olympics Leadership Award Special Olympics Oregon, based out of Portland, chose CORIL as one of the two recipients for the 2009 Leadership Excellence Award that was presented at their February 27th Celebration of Champions Luncheon here in Bend, Oregon.  State Treasurer Ben Westlund, a longtime active Special Olympics supporter, presented the award to Jim Lee, Executive Director of CORIL.

Bend Chamber 2009 Organization of the Year For the past four years CORIL has been selected as one of the three finalist organizations in the Bend Chamber's nonprofit sector for the Organization of the Year.  They say the fourth time is the charm as we were honored by the Bend Chamber membership as the winner for this category in 2009!  This award was presented by Tim Casey, Executive Director of the Bend Chamber, at their May 12th Annual Awards Dinner and Ceremony at the Riverhouse Convention Center in Bend.

Al Soenneker 2009 Memorial Award
CORIL had the distinct honor of being nominated by the Central Oregon Down Syndrome Network and many of our other community partners for this award.  This annual recognition is given to the individual or organization for making a significant contribution to the lives of people with intellectual disabilities or other developmental disabilities through innovative practices in service, program development, or research.  Al Soenneker was one of the chief visionaries in Oregon and our nation in helping those with disabilities reach their full potential, goals and dreams.  This award was presented to our Executive Director, Jim Lee, on behalf of CORIL, at the June 2009 Oregon Mega Disabilities Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Oregon Business Magazine Top 100 Nonprofit
2009 is the first year that this long standing publication has included a nonprofit category for their best-practices award of being in the top 100 such companies to work for in our state.  This list and rankings were based on the confidential input from 6,700 employees from over 200 Nonprofits across the state.  CORIL believes in the importance of creating and sustaining positive work cultures for our staff and volunteers as a primary determining indicator for the sustainability and success of our mission.

Celebration of the Human Spirit Award-Tower Theatre, October 2009 CORIL was honored and selected as one of ten individuals or organizations who exemplify passionate uplifting service to their community and service to those in need.  Presented at the special event, "A Night to Remember", produced and directed by Alistair Paterson of Bend, the night was described as "electric" as the selected organizations and individuals were described by skilled narrators as a picture slide of their lives and service were displayed on the screen.  CORIL believes that it was all of our participants who we have the privilege to serve who inspired this award and they deserve all of the credit!