The 26th Annual SYDA Foundation Community Service Award was presented to Shelly Field at the government center on November 18. Harriet Cole, the owner of a Manhattan-based media company, presented the award.

Cole said SYDA Yoga, based in South Fallsburg, “teaches that service, gratitude and acknowledgment are the core values that foster respect and good will among people.”

Cole said Field had served as an advocate for more than 10 years, first a board member and now president, of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Sullivan County (CASA.)

In accepting the award, Field said, “While we might never know how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, what we do know is that without the kindness and generosity of real-life angels that are in Sullivan County, our county wouldn’t be as good as it is.”

The award comes with a $5,000 honorarium. Field said $1,000 would go to the Alzheimer’s Association of Sullivan County, to be used to support families of Alzheimer’s victims in Sullivan County and to pay for research for the illness; $4,000 will go to CASA for the establishment of a memorial fund in honor of her late mother Selma Field, who she said was a driving force in the establishment of the organization.