In October, the InterNeighborhood Council recognized 25 Durham County residents as Neighborhood Heroes, honoring such good deeds as helping the handicapped, organizing a Neighborhood Watch and campaigning for worthy causes.

“It is really important to recognize people who put a lot of effort into their neighborhoods, and never get any recognition,” council President John Martin said.

The awards were bestowed before a packed house at Motorco, and revived an INC tradition after a three-year lapse. Former INC presidents Bill Anderson and Tom Miller spoke briefly about each recipient, and today The Durham News begins sharing what they had to say with readers.

Space doesn’t allow us to present all 25 at once, so we’ll introduce several in each edition for a few weeks.

Judy Holt, Rougemont

Bill Anderson: You’ve been active for a little while, about 20 years, bringing food to folks who can’t leave their homes. Supporting families emotionally, while bringing in their mail and tending to their lawns, and all sorts of other assistance. From what (your nomination) tells us, suffering with a long-term illness might become popular in Rougemount, as long as Judy Holt is around.

But you don’t need to be handicapped to appreciate Judy’s efforts. Judy – the community notices when you beautify the entrance to your development, and maintain it with such care as you do. And since that results in bulk purchases of pinestraw and the like, you help all the families get their supplies at the wholesale prices. No wonder all the yards out there look like they belong to professional landscapers.

That’s an interesting way to affect your entire neighborhood, Judy!

When you keep those kinds of activities alive in your neighborhood, you not only draw the attention of your neighbors, you essentially hold up the fabric of what makes the Durham community what it is. That’s what we’re all here to celebrate tonight.

Julia Borbely-Brown, Trinity Park

Tom Miller: Julia has been president of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association at least three or four times over the last decade (or two), with additional tenures with the neighborhood association board as a director and in other positions.

During her current tenure as president, she has refocused the association on budgeting and reporting processes while also helping to organize yet another successful Trinity Park Home Tour. (It was not her first involvement in the home tour: she has acted as docent, chairman, and in just about every other Home Tour capacity at some point in the past.) Julia has led the neighborhood’s clean-up efforts the last three years.

The Trinity Park gazebo has been repaired during her paralleling tenure as president of the Trinity Park Foundation, and electricity (with limited usage so as not to disturb neighbors) in the park is on the way. And the association is going to redo the association website before her tenure is done! You can tell that when Julia is president, her focus is the business that always needs to be done if only someone will do it. Julia is always braced for business and though she is proclaimed a hero this year, she is not done just as the business of her neighborhood is not done. Her nomination from her neighbors is telling. It says things like “long-term,” “long-standing,” and “one of the first,” in every other sentence. It also says “highly principled,” “encourages others,” “leads from the front,” and “ready, warm smile.” For these, Julia Borbely-Brown, INC names you a Neighborhood Hero.

Charles Cain – Falconbridge

Tom Miller: Yesitis. A highly contagious disease not completely understood by those who don’t suffer from it. Rumored to spread through neighborhood organizations, serious flare-ups tend to occur whenever somebody says, “Who can we get to ...?”

Charles Cain of the Falconbridge community has a full-blown, stage-four case of yesitis. He has served on the association board for more than seven years now. Who’s handling membership? Charles. Who do we go to for architectural review? That would be Charles. Gee, the landscaping could use some sprucing up. Who usually handles that? Uh, Charles. Who’s my Neighborhood Watch captain? I think it’s Charles. You get the picture.

But wait, there’s more! Charles helped set up the website. Charles produces the annual neighborhood directory. He even fixes the locks on the mailboxes at the community mailbox cluster.

When will it end? It won’t. There is no cure for yesitis at this stage. The disease is not even manageable. The good news is that the disorder is not fatal. In fact, it tends to make life better – for everybody. Charles Cain is a true Neighborhood Hero.

Priscilla Fosnaught - Falconbridge

Bill Anderson: That Falconbridge Community Association is pretty cool. And thanks to that board of directors, we know that Charles Cain had some help. Priscilla Fosnaught’s efforts are quite visible as soon as you enter that community.

We’ve heard that Falconbridge wasn’t immune to its crime issues, just like any other community in the country. It was Priscilla that took the matter into her own hands, which is how she learned about the Neighborhood Watch program. She began to set one up for Falconbridge, working with the Durham Police Department.

She set up the neighborhood meetings, first overcoming the unfamiliarity, skepticism and apathy that everyone in that role discovers. Priscilla invited the crime-prevention officer, who completed a neighborhood risk survey, she recruited block captains and established phone trees.

Thanks to Priscilla, there are now Neighborhood Watch signs at all the entrances of Falconbridge, and theirs is now one of the most active programs in the city. Priscilla, that’s exactly how to combat crime problems in your community. It’s also how you have earned the distinction of becoming the Falconbridge community’s Neighborhood Hero for 2012.

Rachel Royster – Catsburg

Tom Miller: Some neighborhood heroes chair meetings and lead the parades. They deal in organizations, groups and numbers. And other heroes do their service in a more intimate setting. Their work is personal, one-on-one. Rachel Royster of Catsburg is this kind of hero.

A nurse professionally, Rachel never hung up her cap when she came home. She sought out the elderly, the handicapped, the homebound. Just to check up on them, just to make sure they are all right. Maybe Rachel brings a little bite to eat. Maybe she reads another chapter in the book. Birthdays and anniversaries? Rachel never forgets. Remembering is what she does best.

Lots of little things for lots of people add up very quickly to something really big. It’s not charity, it’s just neighborliness brought to a new level of intensity. Neighborliness is what makes a neighborhood, not buildings, not even people. You got to have these, but you have to have more. People have to connect. Rachel Royster makes the connections that make the neighborhood. For this she is a real Neighborhood Hero.