Brian Chamberlin received the 39th Key Peninsula Lions Club Citizen of the Year Award during a dinner celebration of about 130 people at the KP Civic Center March 14.
Chamberlin was nominated for his seven years of volunteer service at The Mustard Seed Project, transporting seniors to appointments, errands, and meals at KP Community Services, and delivering groceries to individuals and families once a week for Food Backpacks 4 Kids.
The Lions Club has recognized a Citizen of the Year since 1984 (excluding the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020- 22) after collecting nominations from the community for anyone whose work, professional or volunteer, deserved recognition for its impact on the Key Peninsula.
Anyone can submit a nomination, but the recipient is chosen through secret ballots cast by club members.
There were 15 nominees for the 2025 award.
“Brian’s actions embody what the Lions’ mission is all about — unselfishly serving those in need,” said Vice President Hal Wolverton.
Chamberlin, 62, began driving a shuttle for The Mustard Seed Project in Key Center after retiring from the Bremerton shipyard in 2019.
“The shuttle bus is handy,” he said. He drives between six and 10 hours a week, picking up half a dozen or more people from their homes to take them to TMSP or Key Peninsula Community Services south of Home, or to appointments.
“After dropping people off at Mustard Seed, I go across the street to Food Backpacks 4 Kids and pick up groceries for folks who aren’t that mobile, that type of thing,” he said. “It isn’t just for kids; it’s for the elderly or whoever applies, just who needs what at a given time. It’s Food 4 All now. That would be a week’s worth of food. And when I’m done, I come back to Mustard Seed to get people for their return trip.”
Chamberlin moved to the Key Peninsula in 1992, soon after getting married to Toby Medak (Chamberlin), who grew up near Minter Bay. The couple lives on the same property her parents bought in 1960, when they moved from Tacoma. His in-laws passed away within a few years of each other in the early 2000s.
“Back then, there were no services out here for anything,” he said. “If you needed help to get to groceries or appointments, every family was kind of on their own to take care of themselves. However, the Mustard Seed’s main mission is to try and get folks to live in their home as long as they possibly can, so that means providing services to them, so they can still be somewhat independent. I saw an advertisement in our local paper, and I thought it was neat, and it just somehow fit for me.”
Chamberlin said he would like to have more drivers volunteer with him.
“There’s only three or four of us, and sometimes only monthly, so that’s been hard,” he said. “You can use your own car. You know, for some of these folks, it’s the only time they get out, that might be the only time that person that week goes to interact with somebody else in the community at all.”
He also admitted he was unfamiliar with the Citizen of the Year Award or the KP Lions Club before he was invited to the ceremony.
“I was surprised at Saturday’s dinner,” he said. “I mean, they had 15 nominees, I read through all their descriptions and what everybody’s doing, and they’re all great people doing great things. As far as being recognized out of all that group, that’s been quite a shock. I don’t know how they made their decision, but you’ve got a pretty good group of folks to pick from, so it’s got to be pretty tough figuring out how they’re going to whittle it down to one person.”
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