Six area residents were among the Virginia Living Museum volunteers thanked for their many hours of service to the museum and its visitors with a dinner and recognition ceremony at the museum in November.

Coco Cary of Suffolk received the Golden Box Turtle Award for presenting live animal programs and the “Saved Our Bacon” award for helping the Development Department with special projects. She also passed a 1,000-hour service milestone.

Genevieve Ebarle of Carrollton received the Big Bang Award for service above and beyond the call of duty to astronomy and a Flexible Ferrett award for volunteering in several different areas.

Brad Halcums of Suffolk surpassed a service milestone of 2,500 hours and received an Energizer Bunny Award for volunteering more than 500 hours in one year.

Larry Gonzalez of Smithfield received an outstanding merit award for his work in maintenance and reached a service milestone of 1,000.

Pam Courtney of Suffolk and Cindy Foss of Smithfield were recognized for reaching service milestones of 2,000 hours.

The museum has more than 400 active volunteers. In 2011-12 volunteers contributed about 37,200 hours of service, the equivalent of 20 full-time positions.