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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>Longtime Beaufort volunteer Norma Duncan was recently selected by United Way of the Lowcountry (UWLC) Women United as the 2022 Woman of the Year.</p>
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<p>Duncan was honored during UWLC Women United’s 10th annual Power of the Purse event, which raises funds for education initiatives in Beaufort and Jasper counties.</p>
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<p>The Woman of the Year Award was created to celebrate women in the Lowcountry who have made a powerful impact on their local community through their volunteer efforts and serve as role models for inspiration and achievement of other women.</p>
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<p>“Norma exemplifies what Women United, and the Woman of the Year Award is about: philanthropic-minded women who through their investment of time, energy and their belief in helping others are making the Lowcountry a better place to live,” Chair of Women United’s Woman of the Year Nominating Committee Gloria Duryea said in a release.</p>
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<p>Duncan has spent a lifetime being a part of the Beaufort volunteer community. She has given her time to the Child Abuse Prevention Association, Friends of Caroline Hospice, the Port Royal Sound Foundation, Greater Alzheimer's of Beaufort, and the Pat Conroy Literary Center – all causes near and dear to her heart.</p>
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<p>For more than nine years, Duncan stopped by Bayview Nursing Home daily after work to visit five different patients who had no family of their own.</p>
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<p>Duncan comments humbly on her volunteerism, saying, "I feel I still have a lot to give back to my community through my continued volunteering. Volunteering blesses my heart."</p>
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<p>Duncan was selected from a group of four award finalists that included Stephanie Greene, Business Development Specialist at SC Vocational Rehabilitation; Holly Bounds-Jackson; Director of Content and Operations at ETV Lowcountry in Beaufort; and the Rev. Dr. Nannette Pierson, Founder and Director of the Sandalwood Community Food Pantry on Hilton Head Island.</p>
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<p>UWLC Women United established the Woman of the Year award in 2016. Previous recipients include Nan Sutton, Charlotte Gonzalez, Connie Wegmann, Connie Hipp, Bobbi Weber, Elizabeth Millen&nbsp;</p>
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