Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/Extensions of Remarks/Recognizing Sharon Stark
RECOGNIZING SHARON STARK FOR HER SERVICE AS DISTRICT DIRECTOR FOR THE 11TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY
OF VIRGINIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Mr. Connolly. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my dear friend and District Director, Sharon Stark, on her retirement after more than a decade of dedicated and faithful service to our community.
Mrs. Stark’s strong work ethic started at a young age when she got her first job selling shoes at the age of 15. After college, she began her career as a bank teller and worked her way up to be a Vice President of Operations by the time she was 29. She then started a second career as Vice President of a Top 25 title company for residential and commercial real estate.
In 2005, Sharon was selected to be a member of Virginia’s 11th Congressional District Democratic Committee where she served as the Treasurer for many years with our dear friend Chairman George Burke. Two years later, in 2007, she was named finance chair for George Barker’s campaign for the Senate of Virginia. The success of the Barker campaign flipped control of the Senate and helped Democrats secure the majority.
Sharon has managed my Congressional district offices since 2009. Under her leadership, the office has established a stellar reputation for constituent services and community engagement.
It was during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent collapse of the housing market that Sharon demonstrated just how hard she was willing to fight for constituents. She put her considerable talent and expertise to work for our constituents. People came to our office at risk of being foreclosed upon, having their utilities turned off, not knowing where they would be sleeping the next night, and Sharon took up their cause. She fought with the banks, gave people hope where they saw none, and even went to the courthouse steps to prevent foreclosures. She saved people’s homes and changed their lives for the better.
Since 2011, our offices have kept track of the financial assistance we have been able to secure for our constituents. This assistance includes helping constituents receive their refund from the IRS or benefits from the Veterans Administration, helping someone resolve their Social Security Disability Insurance claim, and other efforts that result in constituents receiving financial assistance owed to them. Over the past 9 years, Sharon and her team have helped our constituents obtain nearly $20 million in one-time or retroactive benefits plus $9 million per year in recurring benefits.
Sharon has organized countless events for the benefit of our constituents. She has established an Open Season event that brings together various health plan providers and industry experts to educate thousands of federal employees, retirees, survivor annuitants, and veterans on their health plan options for the coming year. Sharon spearheaded the annual Congressional Art Competition for VA–11 and has grown the event into something truly memorable for the participants and their families. Students compete for more than $1,000 in scholarship prizes and have the opportunity to see for the first time their own artwork in a professional gallery setting.
Sharon has also coordinated countless town halls, roundtables, fairs and festivals outreach booths, and numerous other community engagements. The events often grapple with serious topics such as gun control, the opioid epidemic, health care, and she has always striven to ensure that they are meaningful exchanges of information and viewpoints for attendees.
One particular area into which Sharon has thrown herself and her considerable energy is the Military Service Academy nomination process for VA–11. She organizes and coordinates the advisory boards from each service academy, sets the interview calendar, supports the deliberations, and in the end helps nominate the future military leaders of our nation. Under Sharon’s leadership, our district is routinely in the top three nationally for having the most students accepted into one of the prestigious U.S. Military Academies. For Sharon, it is a labor of love and service to both our country and the promising young students who seek to serve their nation in uniform.
This past year as we endured the COVID–19 pandemic, Sharon once again stepped into the breach, deferring her retirement by working tirelessly to help constituents who have faced personal tragedies and financial hardships. During the pandemic, Sharon has helped small businesses secure desperately needed grants and loans, helped families resolve issues with economic impact payments, and made every effort to ensure that our constituents who were stuck abroad were able to make it back to the United States safely. In 2020 alone, Sharon and our staff were able to help more than 1,800 individuals overcome personal crises directly related to the global pandemic.
Madam Speaker, Sharon Stark is a model public servant and I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing Sharon Stark health and happiness as she concludes a distinguished career in service to her country and community. There are people who have their health, a roof over their head, or food on the table thanks to Sharon. I am proud to have had her lead my district offices for the past 13 years and represent me in our community. Our office, constituents, and district will miss her immensely; as will I, and I wish her nothing but the best in retirement in which she will be able to spend more time with her husband Seth, her daughter Christine, and her granddaughter Jacqueline. Job well done Sharon Stark.