SALISBURY — Lori Belter of Lakeville will be presented with the Donald T. Warner Community Service Award by the Housatonic Youth Service Bureau on Saturday, May 4, 5:30 p.m. at The White Hart inn in Salisbury, as part of the organization’s annual Community Celebration.
Belter, interviewed at her home in Salisbury on Wednesday, April 17, said she came to the Northwest Corner in 1969, at age 9.
Her community service resume is long. It includes: Founding member of Tri-Arts; 20 years on the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service; and a founder of the Housatonic Musical Theatre Society.
She has been the production manager for the theater company, which produces plays at the high school, since its start in 2003.
With director Michael Berkeley, students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School have staged musicals such as “Guys and Dolls,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “South Pacific,” “Chicago,” and, this year, Berkeley’s “Rip Van Winkle.”
The productions are consistently good. The amount of work that goes into them is staggering, as anyone who has ever wandered into an early rehearsal and then compared it to the show can attest.
Belter said she got the theater bug as a student at HVRHS, in “South Pacific.”
“I was very shy,” she said. She auditioned for the show and got a small part, in which she had one line.
Belter said that, for her, the experience meant, “I’d be able to say ‘I can do this.’”
She said instilling confidence and self-esteem is important for young people.
“I want to give those kids the opportunity I was given.”
She still gets notes from former students who participated in past shows.
At a party observing the 15th anniversary of the musical theater group, many of the erstwhile thespians showed up to relive the experience.
“Some of them hadn’t performed at all” since leaving high school. “I was so proud of all of them, to want to get up and perform, and do it so well.”
“Something was inside them — something we had instilled in them.”
Whether it’s the ambulance service, the town Grove advisory committee, Housatonic Child Care, or HTMS, Belter shows no sign of slowing down.
“I try to help out where I can.”
Justine and Victor Valla in their studio with a painting of Victor’s,”Jonah and the Whale.” Robin Roraback 
A ceramic vase by Kathleen Heidemann.Provided 
Joy Brown’s delightful ceramic sculptures.Provided 
