Volunteers honored at annual Philanthropy Day for year-round
work
San Benito County is full of goodie-two shoes. And that’s not a
bad thing for local nonprofits. On Philanthropy Day at the annual
awards luncheon at San Juan Oaks, 57 local volunteers were honored
for their good works throughout the year.
Volunteers honored at annual Philanthropy Day for year-round work
San Benito County is full of goodie-two shoes. And that’s not a bad thing for local nonprofits. On Philanthropy Day at the annual awards luncheon at San Juan Oaks, 57 local volunteers were honored for their good works throughout the year.
“It’s a great pleasure to welcome everyone to this event,” said Bernie Furman, President of Community Foundation. “We have established a record with 285 people [in attendance].”
More than 70 nonprofits were represented at the event.
“This is the only opportunity to meet with people solely to enjoy their company,” Furman said, “Without an agenda, no fund-raising and no business to be transacted.”
Diane Leverich, the coordinator of the Adult Literacy Program, had not heard about the luncheon until she was selected by the Friends of the San Benito County Free Library as their volunteer of the year.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Leverich said, the afternoon after the luncheon.
The annual event has been put on by the Community Foundation for San Benito County each year since 2001 to honor local nonprofits and some of the stellar volunteers who drive their work.
“It was Mary Schneider [of the Friends] who sponsored me, and she and I were remarking how good it was to spend an afternoon just with good news,” Leverich said. “I’m so tired of the bad news that pounds us every day.”
Leverich worked with the Friends and library staff to jump start the adult literacy program in San Benito County back in January 2006. She still tutors someone herself and coordinates training sessions to increase the number of tutor and learner pairs. In less than a year, Leverich has helped train 25 tutors who are helping residents learn to read.
“We just gave a tutor training session Saturday and we have two more tutors coming out of that,” Leverich said. “It feels like the field of dreams – if you build it, they will come – we offered it and they are coming.”
Leverich enjoyed the luncheon.
“This room glowed with good will,” she said. “In our small community, county, there are so many people doing good works.”
Gary Byrne, the executive director of Community Foundation, works with nonprofits throughout the year, but always looks forward to the November event.
“It is truly what San Benito is about,” Byrne said. “It’s a great time for donors, for workers, for committee members, to get together and celebrate accomplishements and it’s a thank you.”
National Philanthropy Day has been celebrated around the nation for years, but first came to San Benito in 2001. The first year, Byrne said they started out small with just 100 people attending. Over the years they have recognized 320 philanthropists.
The volunteers honored this year ran the gamut from those who work with at-risk youth to those who work to help the homeless. At this year’s event, nonprofits were allowed to select one person as their distinguished honoree for the year in September. They submitted up to 200 words on the person’s impact on their organization.
The biography of Michael Torres, nominated by the San Benito Stage Company, said ‘he is a master set builder who is always generous with his time and tools.”
Robin Lucas, of Off the Chain bicycle shop, was nominated for her support of Kids in the Park by the Child Injury Prevention Program of SBC.
“I’ve been with them for four years,” she said. “I work in Safe Moves Cities. I walk the kids through and teach them street safety as a pedestrian and on their bicycles.”
She has also volunteered at other bike safety events, including one at Cerra Vista this year. She first heard of S afe Move Cities when she worked in childcare.
“When we did get the bike shop, I got involved with Safe Kids Coalition (the former name of CIPP) and there was the city in my life again,” she said. “Every time I use it, I gain more knowledge and experience in speaking about safety and helmet safety with the kids.”
Bill and Harriet Brin were selected by the Hollister Airmen’s Association for the work they’ve done through the years. The two have been active with the group since moving to Hollister 30 years ago.
“We’ve probably been involved since 1978,” Harriet said. “I was secretary originally and at one time Bill was president. He also served on the airport commission.”
The two have been active in aviation for most of their lives. Bill wanted to fly during World War II, but at the time he was in France and Germany, they had enough pilots.
“He still had a desire to fly,” Harriet said, when the couple moved to Utah. “It was spiked by a couple of people he worked for who kept bringing in pilot magazines.”
Since then, he hasn’t looked back. One time he asked his three daughters where they wanted to go.
“They said they wanted to see the Statue of Liberty,” Bill said.
The family flew to New York. Over the years, as they moved from state to state for Bill’s job working on dams, they would fly to visit family.
Though Bill has not been able to pilot a plane since 1997, after he suffered a heart attack, he has been up in planes with friends at the helm.
One of the biggest projects the couple tackled was putting together a book, “From Grassroots to Airstrips: a history of the Hollister Municipal Airport.”
Another man involved with the Association had gathered information on the airport for years, but died before he could compile it.
“It was a lot of stuff to sift through,” Harriet said. “We thought about having a committee, but it was so hard to get together to agree on stuff.”
The collection included news pieces on the local airport as well as items related to aviation around the world. Eventually Harriet and Bill sorted it into the book that is now available.
“It was a year before it was ready to go,” Harriet said.
They found the airport started much like other airports.
“It was what we ran into as we were flying around the country,” she said. “They start out as an airstrip crop dusters use and develop into more.”
Though the couple spends less time at the Hollister Airport than when they were flying, they still attend meetings of the Hollister Airmen’s Association and stay involved.
“Its just wanting to help where we can in the community in the fields we are especially interested in,” Harriet said.
The couple also volunteers with the Friends of the San Benito County Free Library. Harriet also has volunteered for years helping low-income seniors and others do their taxes through an AARP program offered every year.
Along with Diane Leverich, the honored volunteer for the Friends of the Library, the couple enjoys seeing what other nonprofits are doing in the community.
“We are not that big a dot on the map, and by golly people have taken up volunteering for a good cause,” Leverich said.
