Longtime Vashon Island School District employee and community volunteer Char Phillips was recently named the Doors of Opportunity award winner for 2014.

Phillips has worked at the district since 1999 and has served as the athletic secretary since 2001. As a volunteer, she drives a school bus for athletics and club activities and is the advisor to the guide dog program.

“We are pleased to honor her contributions to the community and the school,” said Doors of Opportunity Award chair Erica Davidson.

Reached last week, Phillips said the award took her by surprise.

“I was dumbfounded,” she said. “I had no idea.”

She noted that it is her work with the guide dog program that earned her the award, which comes with a $2,000 prize, and, as intended, she hopes to use half of the funds for club travel, possibly to the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in San Rafael, California. Members of the club also travel with Phillips to Boring, Oregon, when the guide dogs graduate. Sometimes, she said, there are students along who have never been out of Washington before, making travel that much more important.

Phillips, who leads both students and adults in the art of raising guide dogs, also raises puppies herself and currently is on puppy number 17. She makes clear, though, her work is a labor of love that extends far beyond puppies.

“It is all inclusive,” she said. “I love it for what it does for our students and adults. I love it for the volunteerism, and I love what it does for visually impaired people.”

In addition to the $1,000 for club activities, $1,000 is intended for Phillips’ personal use — and she has an idea for that as well.

“I have been dying to go to Africa. It might help with that,” she said.