 Cass Lake's Kevin Van Dyke is this year's winner of the John Yord Pillar Award. The award is given out annually to an outstanding volunteer of public television. Lakeland general manager Bill Sanford presented the award to Van Dyke last night at Lakeland's annual board meeting in Walker. Kevin has served as a volunteer for Lakeland News on the production crew for 19 years. He helps out once or twice a week and he does everything from running our audio to teleprompter to studio cameras. He's one of the really unsung heroes of Lakeland News and has played a big part in our success. The award is named after John Yord who began working to build what is now Lakeland Public Television back in the 1970s and is considered to be the father of public television in northern and central Minnesota. After John passed away in 1999, Lakeland Public Television established an annual award called the John Yord Pillar Award to acknowledge outstanding service to the organization. Kevin is the 19th award recipient. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.