The American Red Cross serving south central Illinois seeks nominations for local heroes. Nominations will be accepted for the categories of Civic, Community, Healthcare, Military, Public Safety, Senior, Youth and Workplace. Nominees must either live or work in Sangamon, Christian, Logan, Menard, Macoupin, Montgomery or Shelby County. Local heroic acts must have taken place within the last 18 months to be eligible, unless the nomination is for a lifetime of service.

Trish Burnett, American Red Cross Regional Communications Director, said they look for nominations of people who do things to make their community a better place to live.

"Anything from a major heroic event, such as saving a life, down to organizing neighborhood bake sales to raise money for a cause that's important to them. Heroic things are all different paths and we're just looking for those people that are really helping others through that work."

Burnett said the hero winners will be honored at the Heroes of the Heartland Dinner at 6pm on Friday, July 24th at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield.

"We will be selecting winners from the nominations, and I hate to call them winners but those that we're going to honor, because everybody that's doing heroic things is a winner. But we will have honorees that we will recognize that evening and it's also a fundraiser for the Red Cross because we try to really be heroes in our communites too by doing good things. (There are) two different purposes with the evening but really the heroic efforts of these individuals are what we want to shine that night."

The nomination deadline is Sunday, June 14th. Nominations can be submitted online here: 2015 Heroes of the HeartlandThomack 6/8/15