Barbara Earl’s name doesn’t show up in the news too often despite her active involvement with many community organizations.
That’s fine with her. When describing her community service work, her friends repeatedly talk about how Earl doesn’t bring attention to herself.
“A lot of the work she does is behind the scenes, so it’s not really visible to people, but her impact is tremendous,” said Jean Hales, executive director of the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce.
Earl will receive quite a bit of attention this month as she receives the chamber’s John M. Fluke Sr. Community Service Award for 2003. The award will be presented at the South County Chamber’s annual dinner Oct. 22.
Earl said she was “stunned” to hear she would receive this year’s Fluke award, but Hales said the Mill Creek resident fits the criteria perfectly.
Born in the Midwest, Earl has lived in Snohomish County since 1967, interrupted only by four years in which she commuted between here and Texas. That’s when she was a senior manager for GTE, now Verizon. She also was vice president of public relations for Stevens Healthcare before launching her own consulting business more than three years ago.
In that business, BETS Associates Inc. in Mill Creek, Earl helps clients with marketing and branding efforts, executive coaching, government relations and policy initiatives.
Her list of unpaid work, however, is much longer. This year’s president of the Rotary Club of Lynnwood, Earl also is a director and member of the South County Chamber’s executive committee and a director for Volunteers of America.
She also is involved with the Citizens Advocating Transit organization, the Snohomish County Citizens Commission on Salaries of Elected Officials, and the county’s Criminal Justice Advisory Council.
In addition, she is a former director and chairwoman of Leadership Snohomish County and director for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Snohomish County, and she has held many other community service positions.
“She’s been very much involved in this community on many, many organizations,” said Travis Snider, Earl’s husband and the chairman of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce. “That’s her passion.”
Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel, who will present the award to Earl, said she has repeatedly used her professional expertise and personal time to better the county.
“The form of government we enjoy here relies on citizen volunteers such as Barbara,” Drewel said. “I have all the respect in the world for her.”
Earl said that, despite the seemingly endless list of boards and government committees she has helped, she also has tried to balance her commitments so she can give her full attention to each. But she truly enjoys the volunteer work, she added.
“I found really early on that I get energy from it,” she said.
Eric Fetters is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.
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