Katey Taylor Receives Edina Leadership Award

Katey Taylor of Edina received the Rotary Club of Edina's 2012 Chrysanne Manoles Women In Leadership Award on May 24.

Taylor received the award for working at the local and national levels to educate the public on drowning and pool and spa entrapment.

Taylor's 6-year-old daughter Abbey had a part of her intestinal tract pulled out by a wading pool drain. Abbey died in 2008 after 16 surgeries and a triple organ transplant. Abbey told her parents before she died that she hoped no one would ever suffer the way she did. Taylor founded the Abbey's Hope Charitable Foundation with the mission of making pools and spas safer by educating parents and pool operators about the potential hazards of drain entrapment. It also encourages parents to stay vigilant with children are in the water and works to strengthen compliance with pool and spa legislation. Since 2008, the foundation has awarded more than $85,000 in grants to Minneapolis and St. Paul swimming and pool safety organizations.

Nominees for the award cannot be current Rotarians and must live, work or volunteer in Edina. Nominees must demonstrate Rotary's "Four Way Test" of the things people think, say, or do; Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

The award is named after Chrysanne Manoles, first female member of the Rotary Club of Edina, who joined a year before Rotary opened up membership to women worldwide in 1989.