BERLIN – The community will honor a local couple known for giving back with the 50th edition of the Berlin Award.
Mike and Helen Wiley have been chosen as this year’s recipients of the Berlin Award. The Wileys, familiar to many through their work at the Church Mouse and at various town events, will be recognized April 23 at a banquet sponsored by the Berlin Lions Club.
“They both show their love for Berlin by the examples they set in serving others, year-in and year-out,” Mayor Gee Williams said.
Mike and Helen Wiley have been fixtures in the Berlin community for nearly a decade. During years of vacationing in Ocean Pines, the Annapolis couple discovered Berlin and knew immediately it was where they wanted to retire someday.
“We liked the small-town friendliness,” Helen Wiley said. “We made it our retirement destination.”
When Mike, a veteran of the Vietnam War, retired from his position as a career firefighter in Anne Arundel County, and Helen stepped down from her role as a sign language interpreter for the county’s school system, the pair picked out a lot on Buttercup Court. They built a home and settled down for a quiet retirement — for about two months. It didn’t take any longer than that for the town to draw in the naturally generous pair.
When they learned at church that the thrift shop run by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was in danger of closing, Helen volunteered to take over. With her husband’s help, they were able to keep the Church Mouse thrift shop going. Helen coordinates the shop’s volunteers, collects donations and sorts and prices the items that are donated. When she’s not at the shop, she’s fielding calls from potential donors and volunteers.
“I’ve always had a passion for outreach,” said Helen, who’s also involved in the town’s Main Street program. “I wasn’t going to get quite that involved but …”
Her husband has even set up a portion of their garage to store items headed to the tiny thrift shop. He and Helen though are quick to attribute the nearly 50-year-old shop’s resurgence to a group effort.
“If it wasn’t for the other volunteers, we couldn’t pull it off,” Mike said.
When he’s not busy with Church Mouse merchandise, Mike volunteers to help set up at local events like the Fiddlers Convention and the Berlin Christmas Parade. He’s also chairman of the town’s parks commission.
“When I was a firefighter, I worked every third day. Now I work every day,” he joked.
In reality, he and Helen wouldn’t have it any other way. They were well involved with their community in Annapolis and saw no reason to curb their efforts when they moved to the Eastern Shore.
“It’s just something we wanted to do to be supportive,” Helen said.
That’s especially true in Berlin, a town the Wileys say they’ve loved from the start.
“It’s a little place with a big heart,” Helen said. “We’re blessed and fortunate to be here.”
Williams says the Wileys fit right into the historic town.
“Mike and Helen are an excellent example of folks who chose to make Berlin their home for the best of all reasons — they sincerely share our community’s values,” he said. “They may have been born in a different place on a map, but they were naturally born in their hearts to represent the best of Berlin.”
The Wileys, the fifth couple to earn the annual honor, will receive the Berlin Award as the recognition marks its 50th anniversary on April 23. As always, the Berlin Lions Club will sponsor the evening’s festivities, which this year will take place at the Berlin Fire Hall. Tickets are $25 a person and may be purchased by calling Russ Barrett at 410-726-3823.
To celebrate the event’s 50 years, Berlin native and local historian Joe Moore will narrate a slide show featuring pictures from the town’s past during the banquet.