ILLINOIS — Three local communities will be among 23 from across the state that the Serve Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service Commission will be honored at this year’s Governor’s Hometown Awards program Thursday at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield.

This program gives former recognition to communities that contributed to their community’s quality of life via projects that have strong volunteer support, met a need and made a definite impact.

The Commission selected the Village of Royalton’s “Royalton Community Garden” as a project winner. The City of Harrisburg’s “Free Summer Lunch Program” and the City of Marion’s “Girl Scout Silver Award Carnival for Lighthouse Shelter” received honorable mentions. All selections were based on the project category and population division in the preliminary round.

Officials from Royalton, Harrisburg and Marion have been invited to attend Thursday’s event where they will receive a plaque and a road sign honoring their achievements.

Nomination forms for both the Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards, which honors individual volunteers, for calendar year 2018 efforts are available now atwww.serve.illinois.gov.