DANVILLE -- Women from Danville and Berwick received the Outstanding Women's Awards Saturday at the annual Columbia-Montour Women's Conference in the Danville Middle School.

They are Lois Gensil, of Danville, and Bette Grey, of Berwick.

A retired Danville health and physical education teacher for 33 years, Gensil helped establish the Gatehouse shelter for the homeless and served on its task force and board for 11 years, was instrumental in creating the Jubilee Kitchen where free hot meals are served every Saturday to about 50 people and was its chairman and director of the kitchen for 14 years, retiring in 2007, said Nancy Roberts DePoe, chairman of the Outstanding Women Awards Committee.

Gensil, who is concerned about others and has a desire to help the less fortunate, also serves on boards of the Riverside Food Bank, Columbia-Montour Area Agency on Aging, Geisinger Cancer Society and Good Samaritan Store, DePoe said.

Bette, a member of Berwick Borough Council and the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine, devoted more than 800 hours to establish the Columbia County Volunteers in Medicine Clinic -- a free clinic for the working uninsured in Mifflinville. It is serves residents of Columbia, Montour and southern Luzerne counties.

She also worked with Congressman Paul Kanjorski to revitalize the Eagles Building in Berwick that has become a satellite of the Luzerne County Community College, making classes more convenient for people living in Columbia and Montour counties.

The conference has honored outstanding women since 1984 or three years after the first conference was organized.

The honorees are chosen on criteria including how they have enriched lives of other women, instances in which they have been a risk-taker, projects or tasks they consider their most important achievements and aspects of their personal growth and development they believe helped them to serve as role models for other women.

Their selection is based on information provided through answers to four essay questions with judging done anonymously, meaning the names of nominees are eliminated from the biographies the committee reviews. The only one who knows the identity of the women is the committee chairman who doesn't participate in the judging process.

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