For those individuals, businesses, organizations and staff who have volunteered to help the Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities, the agency wants to honor you.

But first, you have to be nominated.

Anyone interested in nominating individuals or organizations may contact Jenny Dexter at the board office, 4370 Malsbary Road, Suite 200, Cincinnati 45242 or by e-mail at jenny.dexter@hamilton-co.org.

Nomination applications are also available at the board's Web site www.hamilton-co.org/mrdd.

Forms can be picked up at: Breyer School, 2676 Civic Center Drive, New Burlington; Fairfax School, 4999 Kingsley Drive, Madisonville; Rost School, 5858 Bridgetown Road, Green Township; Beckman Adult Center, 2600 Civic Center Drive, New Burlington; Kidd Adult Center, 9910 Reading Road, Evendale; Franks Adult Center, 5884 Bridgetown Road, Green Township; Jackson Adult Center, 5093 Kingsley Drive, Madisonville; Support Center, 4370 Malsbary Road, Blue Ash; and Northside Center, 4210 Dane St., Northside.

Deadline for nominations is Jan. 10.

Awards will be given for corporate partner, team effort of the year, Sue G. Breiner self advocacy, Thomas H. Kidd Community partner, Stuart Warshauer Volunteerism, and Youth Leadership.

An awards banquet is set for 6 p.m. March 3 at the Sharonville Community Center, 11355 Chester Road, Sharonville, during National MRDD Awareness Month.

"The awards banquet is our opportunity to recognize the wealth of dedication, commitment and caring that is exhibited by those in our community who strive every day to provide quality services to individuals with MRDD in Hamilton County," said Cheryl Phipps, superintendent.

Five finalists have been announced for the American Marketing Association's Community Impact Award for 2002.

They include the Enquirer's Neighbor to Neighbor; the Neighbor to Neighbor Volunteers; The Source, Yavneh Day School's annual Jewish Community magazine; Depression Awareness Campaign of the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati; MEDIAting Change, WCET; and Summerfair 2002, Summerfair Inc.

The award recognizes outstanding marketing campaigns from organizations within Greater Cincinnati.

It just takes a little creativity and ingenuity to earn extra cash, students in an economics class at Finneytown High School learned.

They solicited Kroger plastic shopping bags, recycled them and sold them to Phoenix Recycling, Pawleys Island, S.C.

"They pay us by the pound," said Gay Volz, teacher and Family and Consumer Science Department head. "With the money, we have bought several microwaves, shelves and equipment for the lab."

Allen Howard's "Some Good News" column runs Sunday-Friday. Contact him at 768-8362, at ahoward@enquirer.com or by fax at 768-8340.