Summary

Councilmember Reagan Dunn awarded Rob Nist with the 2020 MLK Medal of Distinguished Service award.

Story

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn on Tuesday awarded District 9 resident Rob Nist with the Martin Luther King Medal of Distinguished Service, an award that recognizes individuals whose work has answered the question asked by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “What are you doing for others?”

In 2007, after realizing that local youth sports teams were struggling to find fields to play on, Nist rallied community support around the expansion and improvement of Ravensdale Park, which was falling into disrepair. Today, Ravensdale Park is a key resource for youth sports teams and families across Southeast King County.

“Rob saw a problem and was determined to fix it,” Dunn said. “Because of the countless hours he dedicated toward renewing Ravensdale Park, thousands of kids now have better access to athletics and the outdoors. Rob is an example of everyone’s potential to make a difference, and I’m proud to be able to support his efforts.”

Nist was one of the original leaders behind the Ravensdale Park Foundation, where he currently serves as a volunteer board member. The foundation worked to restore the Park’s existing baseball and soccer fields and added two multipurpose sports fields. Collaborating with Dunn, who represents Ravensdale, the Foundation designed and facilitated upgrades to Ravensdale Park in partnership with King County Parks.

”The building of our park in Ravensdale would have never happened without all the sports groups in our community coming together in an unselfish way to design fields that all the users could share, and our board never losing focus on working towards what was best for all the community,” Nist said.

Nist is the Chief Operating Officer of Seattle-Tacoma Box Company, which has its roots in the Seattle area since 1889 and has been run by his family for six generations. Through the family business, Nist recently led the establishment of a fund, made up of donations from the Nist family as well company employees and associates, that offers college scholarships to children of their business’ employees and gives donations to local organizations that support families.

This year marks the fifth year that councilmembers have each selected someone from their district whose work embodies the spirit of King’s question.