Stroudsburg – Debbie Kulick is a board member at Pocono Mountains United Way, but that is just one of the many hats she wears in our community. It’s part of why earlier this month, her township – Middle Smithfield – recognized her as one of three finalists to be for the Person of the Year in 2022 Award for the township.

Kulick was a finalist alongside David Brown and Wayne Bolt – who ended up being named Person of the Year for 2022. Interestingly enough, Bolt is a former Board Member for Pocono Mountains United Way

At Pocono Mountains United Way, President/CEO Michael Tukeva has a saying about the employees and board members that dedicate their time to helping build a better Monroe County.

“We are a group of self-starters and leaders,” says Tukeva. “Pocono Mountains United Way benefits from leaders like Debbie that can build our programs to their full potential and bring fresh ideas to the table on how to continually benefit our communities within Monroe County.”

There is no doubt that Debbie Kulick has these qualities. Her involvement in a number of organizations over the years has shown a consistent desire to benefit the community that she has been a lifetime resident of.

Her other activities include:

• Nearly 50 years with Bushkill Emergency Corps as President, Crew Chief, and other positions
• Monroe County Ambulance Association
  • President
• Pocono Mountains United Way
  • Board Member
  • Resource Development Committee Member
• John’s Pastoral Council
  • Chair
• John’s Columbiettes
  • President
• Rotary Club of the Stroudsburgs
  • Member
• East Stroudsburg School District
  • School Board Director
  • Chair Policy Committee
• East Stroudsburg School District Halls and Walls of Fame Foundation
  • Vice President/Co-Secretary
• Friends of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
  • Current: Secretary
  • Past: President/Vice President
• Middle Smithfield Township Park Commission
  • Member
• PA DOH EMS Instructor and American Heart Association CPR/First Aid Instructor
• Previously served on the Board of Supervisors for Middle Smithfield Township (12 years) and was a multi-term member of the ESU Alumni Board.

“As a lifetime resident of Middle Smithfield, I know our township and so many of the wonderful people who live here,” said Kulick. “Growing up here, my parents both instilled in my sisters, brother, and me the need to volunteer and to be involved in the community.”

Debbie Kulick took those values that she learned as a child and has turned those lessons into a lifetime of community service. Even when she was recognized for this award, she said one of the best parts of being a finalist was the recognition it gave to the organization she is a part of.

“The best part of being recognized for the many organizations I volunteer with is the ability to have them be put in the spotlight. To recognize not so much what I do as a volunteer for them, but to have the community recognize the value of the work those organizations do for the community as a whole. I sincerely appreciate the honor, and certainly to be recognized alongside [Brown and Bolt] for the contributions they make to our community as well, made the honor even more special.”

Kulick’s work in Middle Smithfield Township deserves to be appreciated and recognized. The impact she has made over five decades of service to her community is immeasurable only because of the wide variety of ways she has contributed to building, maintaining, leading, protecting, and nurturing the community that helped raise her.