Donna and Robert Mort of Hermitage have worked diligently to make a difference in the community.

Both were chosen as Buhl Day honorees this year for community services each has done -- together and separately.

Mort said he never expected he and his wife to be chosen for something that comes naturally for them.

"It really blew my mind to find out we were honorees. We just tried to do the right thing and live a low-profile life," he said.

He credits Mrs. Mort for being hard working in the realm of human services. Though she is retired, she continues to work through the Shenango Valley Urban League with some of the first participants of the teen-age pregnancy program.

"We have been fortunate enough to help," she said.

She said many of the women are older now, in their 30s, and continue to look to her for guidance and support, some on a weekly basis.

Mrs. Mort is an advocate for equality and has done what she could to help people who suffer from unfortunate circumstances and racial discrimination.

"I care deeply about working to eliminate discrimination and I feel that everybody should have an equal chance," she said.

She said many of the young women she's worked with have faced the struggle of being single while raising children. However, with help, some have gone to college; others have found jobs.

Mort described the contributions as "labors of love," which he said they prefer to do on a "quieter, more personal level." For example, Mort has helped people secure loans and start businesses.

"My wife and I believe that education is very, very important and have been blessed to help a number of kids to go to college and help people get homes. That's a labor of love," Mort said.

Mrs. Mort was honored for her hard work at the 20th Urban League Guild luncheon in 1994.

She also supports the annual Black Hero Essay Contest, which is sponsored through the Urban League Guild and has contestants from Farrell, Sharon, Hermitage, West Middlesex, Greenville, Conneaut Lake and Mercer. She makes sure each winner gets a trophy.

"She is a person who has always administered to people," Mort said. "She never gives up on them; even when I might, she never gives up on them."

However, Mrs. Mort said her husband has also been an inspiration in the community, promoting equal rights and good living standards for the less fortunate.

Several years ago Mort, with his close friend Marion Lampkins, worked to renovate and remodel the Ark House, a battered women's shelter operated by Southwest Gardens in Farrell. Mort is also deeply involved with the Keystone Blind Association and helps develop programs and activities, along with Kathie Preece, who manages the programs, for visually- impaired children and young adults.

Mort has a term for what he said he and Mrs. Mort involve themselves in.

"We've always been involved in the gut issues," he said. "We've always been for the people who have fallen through the cracks."

Despite all of their contributions, neither of the Morts could fathom why they were chosen as honorees.

"How we got chosen, we'll never know," Mrs. Mort said.

Mr. Mort said they've only tried to make a statement with their lives by doing what everyone should do.

"I would like everybody to do the right thing. I don't like being honored for something that we should do," he said.