Arakaki, Shuck honored; HMR ranks No. 1

▪ Jackie Arakaki, a library assistant known for her work with Spanish-speaking customers, has received the Lexington Public Library’s Joseph H. Miller Award for Customer Service.

Arakaki, who works at the library’s Village Branch, volunteers to work weekends for special library programs and commits hours to help Spanish-speaking customers translate things as varied as filling out forms and buying plane tickets. She also is a board member of the Foundation for Latin American and Latin@ Culture and Arts.

The Miller Award is named for a longtime member of the library’s Board of Trustees and Advisory Board known as a strong advocate for customer service. The library board established the award after his death in 2009. Arakaki is the seventh recipient of the award.

▪ Gretchen Shuck, an appraiser with Shuck Appraisal Co., has won the Mortgage Banker of the Year Award for 2016. Shuck has been a a board member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Bluegrass for years and has served on several committees.

▪ A program offered in cooperation with the University of Kentucky and created by HMR Weight Management Services has been named a No. 1 “Best Fast Weight-Loss Diet” in the 2017 Best Diets rankings released by U.S. News & World Report. It’s the second year in a row HMR earned the top spot in the category. To find out more about the program, call 859-422-4671 or go to Weightlossky.com.

Compiled by Dorothea Wingo

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Arakaki, Shuck honored; HMR ranks No. 1."