‘One moment away from knowing someone who can change the world’

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force gathered Dec. 10 to honor five community members who have exhibited outstanding dedication to preserving and advancing human rights. Cynthia Dalsing, Debbie Love, Andrea Marcoccio, Dawn Mehra and Jen Jackson Quintano received the nonprofit’s first human rights awards in what the BCHRTF hopes to make an annual tradition.

“The reason we’re here tonight is because the past year has become increasingly challenging for all of us, and we decided that maybe it was time to celebrate,” said BCHRTF President Linda Navarre. “Today we are honoring five exemplary women who have boosted the value of all our lives in Sandpoint, statewide in Idaho and nationally.”

Mehra was chosen for her commitment to filling the gaps in mental health services as president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Far North Chapter.

“Mental illness is really all around us. The stats are staggering — one in five people have mental health struggles in their life,” said Mehra in her acceptance speech.

NAMI Far North’s most recent project has been the creation of the Sand Creek Clubhouse, a psychosocial rehabilitation program that functions as “physical therapy for the brain.” The program is the 370th branch of Clubhouse International and gives members a space to form friendships, learn new skills and take charge of their lives.

Honorees from left to right: Dawn Mehra, Andrea Marcoccio, Jen Jackson Quintano and Cynthia Dalsing. Photo by Soncirey Mitchell.

“What it is is restoring people, purpose and place back into these individuals that have lost either one or three of those,” said Mehra, later adding, “I feel like we’re going to save a lot of kids, sisters, uncles…”

To learn more about NAMI Far North, visit namifarnorth.org.

Marcoccio is founder and co-owner of Matchwood Brewing Company, board member and former executive director of Ponderay Economic Partnership, regional leadership council member for the Innovia Foundation, founding chair of the Sandpoint Pride Festival, founding steering committee member of Sandpoint Alliance for Equality, founder and senior adviser of the Alliance for Youth Action and the national program officer for the Campus Organization Action Fund.

“We’re just one moment away from knowing someone who can change the world, and that’s why we run Matchwood. We see ourselves as the connective tissue to all these things happening,” she said.

Marcoccio’s dedication to the community has helped fund projects like the Save the Sled Hill campaign and given members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies a space to support one another and celebrate their shared culture, history and future at the yearly Pride Festival.

“If you can come for one day and feel completely safe in a town that often doesn’t feel safe, maybe you see someone else there, and then you learn that you have a new friend,” she said.

To learn more, visit sandpointpride.com, innovia.org and matchwoodbrewing.com.

Dalsing has dedicated her life to women’s health as a certified nurse-midwife, providing primary care, guiding women through childbirth and performing medical exams on sexual assault survivors. Since her retirement, she has become an advocate for women’s reproductive rights as a board member of the Pro-Voice Project and Idahoans United for Women and Families.

“I had a reporter interviewing me and she asked me how I would describe Sandpoint. I realized that someone had described Sandpoint when I moved here 30 years ago as, ‘A town where you can really get everything you need.’ You can’t get women’s health care in Sandpoint anymore,” said Dalsing.

Through the IUWF, Dalsing is drafting language for a 2026 ballot initiative to restore reproductive rights and health care to Idaho. To learn more, visit iduwf.org.

Dalsing works alongside fellow-honoree Quintano, who founded the Pro-Voice Project — a statewide organization that is working to remove legal and social obstacles to abortion and reproductive health care. PVP’s accomplishments include the traveling exhibit, which gives an in-depth look at the history and future of women’s health care and how it relates to the health of the whole community.

“This is a community enterprise, and I am so grateful that I live in Sandpoint because none of this would have been possible in a different community,” Quintano said.

PVP has also released the short documentary Overturned, which tells the stories of three women who received fatal fetal diagnoses and were denied abortion care in Idaho. Stream the documentary on the Pro-Voice Project YouTube.

“I’m so grateful we have such an engaged and passionate and informed community,” said Quintano.

Visit theprovoiceproject.com and worthofawomanidaho.com for more information.

Finally, though she could not attend in person, the BCHRTF honored Bonner Community Food Bank Executive Director Debbie Love, who has served in her position for nine years, streamlining the organization’s offered resources and reaching new individuals.

Love submitted her acceptance speech in the form of a letter.

“When I first joined the food bank, I was driven by a simple but powerful belief — that we meet people where they are without judgment. We don’t ask questions, and we don’t make assumptions. We welcome all with love, compassion and a commitment to serving their needs,” she wrote.

The food bank serves an average of 3,144 people per month and saw a 53% increase in the number of families accessing its services — whether winter clothes, food or toiletries — in just two years.

“I am committed to continuing the work we started, knowing that we are creating a future where no one is turned away, where every person is treated with kindness and where everyone can live with dignity and hope,” wrote Love.

Visit bonnerfoodbank.org to learn more.