Youth alliance recognizes outstanding volunteers
This year’s nominees for the Hollister Youth Alliance Community
Hero Awards play different roles in San Benito County, but they
share a common bond: they make a difference.
Vincent Luna, youth advisor for the League of United Latin
American Citizens (LULAC), was selected as this year’s recipient of
the hero award, which was presented at a dinner on Dec. 4. Other
nominees were local homeless shelter manager Cindy Parr and Debbie
Ruiz of Community Solutions.
Youth alliance recognizes outstanding volunteers
This year’s nominees for the Hollister Youth Alliance Community Hero Awards play different roles in San Benito County, but they share a common bond: they make a difference.
Vincent Luna, youth advisor for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), was selected as this year’s recipient of the hero award, which was presented at a dinner on Dec. 4. Other nominees were local homeless shelter manager Cindy Parr and Debbie Ruiz of Community Solutions.
“We wanted to recognize the ordinary person doing extraordinary things,” said Diane Ortiz, executive director of the HYA. “We have local heroes within our community that do things every day. They could make excuses and say ‘I don’t have the time, I have kids, I have a job.’ But they make that commitment, they take that time, they have that passion, and they really do make a difference.
Luna, 66, was born in Salinas and attended San Juan School and Hollister High School. The second oldest of 15 children, he was raised by his grandparents, who ran a labor camp in San Juan Bautista, where he worked after school and on weekends.
“My grandfather was always involved with the community,” Luna said. “I used to go with him and saw what he did.”
As an adult, Luna and his wife, Mickie, devoted much of their free time to their two sons, Vincent and Theodore. Over the years, Luna coached soccer and baseball, was a Cub Scout den leader and served as the “band dad” who assisted with band reviews and drove equipment to competitions.
Luna said he is “grateful” to be recognized as a community hero by the youth alliance, though, “I consider myself just a regular person. I share this award with the other nominees.”
After LULAC formed its youth council in 1989, Luna became the youth advisor, promoting education by awarding students with ribbons or certificates when they make the honor roll or renting vans to take young people to state leadership conferences.
“My satisfaction is when they finish their education and they come back and thank me for helping them,” Luna said. “Education is the number one project for LULAC. I tell the kids to get involved; do school projects; if anybody asks for help, help them.”
Ortiz of the HYA said all three nominees for this year’s community hero award “hope and inspire not only the kids, but all of us.”
“It’s a way to honor them for that effort because often doing that kind of work can be thankless and they may feel that they aren’t making that much difference or that one person doesn’t matter,” she said. “But the reality of it is that one person can make such a huge amount of difference in the lives of a young person.
Luna, Parr and Ruiz were all “incredibly humble about the work they do and the impact they make,” Ortiz said.
“What struck me from all of them when we told them they were nominated is that they each said it feels weird to be honored for something that they love to do. It doesn’t feel like work to them – it’s part of who they are.”
Andi Anderson, who nominated Parr for the community hero award, called the shelter manager a “tireless” advocate for the homeless who finds ways “to meet the needs of an often forgotten population. Her heart is so open to meeting them right where they are with no judgment or condemnation.”
Ruiz’s nomination for the hero award cited her advocacy work on behalf of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
“Debbie is an energetic and caring professional that gives each and every individual she works with the utmost respect and attention,” the nomination read.
Approximately 90 people attended the community hero awards ceremony at Cedar House Restaurant. County Supervisor Anthony Botelho and new Hollister Mayor Eugenia Sanchez presented awards to the honorees.
The Hollister Youth Alliance, a nonprofit organization founded in 1994, previously awarded community hero awards to Judy Rider and Marley Holte. From its headquarters at the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets in downtown Hollister, the group partners with the Hollister School District and the San Benito County Office of Education to provide after-school programs throughout the county.
“We want to reach kids early and support them so they can achieve all they want to achieve,” said Ortiz, noting that the economy has created challenges.
“We need to make sure that we rally and pull together, which is very typical of San Benito County. We need to make sure that these programs don’t lapse.”
The Youth Alliance’s operations are funded by grants and its neighborhood outreach and intervention efforts are supported by donations from agencies such as the Packard Foundation and First 5 San Benito.
“We run a very lean operation,” Ortiz said, noting that of her organization’s 26 employees that serve close to 400 people each day, just four are full-time. “We don’t have full-time admin support; we contract out our accounting services; we get a lot of in-kind donations for rent support. Everything we do is because of donations, collaborations and partnerships so that it stretches our dollars to a broader base of the community.”
GET INVOLVED
For more information on the Hollister Youth Alliance, go to www.hollisteryouthalliance.org or call Diane Ortiz at 636-2853.
HYA receives grant
The Hollister Youth Alliance recently received a $50,000 grant from Hewlett-Packard to develop an after-school program targeted at English language learners.
The hands-on curriculum is focused on the visual and performing arts, according to Emiliano “Mino” Valdez, HYA’s enrichment and technology coordinator.
“We’ll cover music, theater, all of the arts,” Valdez said of the program, which began Dec. 1.
Diane Ortiz, executive director of the youth alliance, said there is a “huge need” throughout California for a curriculum specifically serving English language learners.
“Cultural inclusion, community building and incorporating the needs of a rural community” are all components of the grant-funded program, she said. “It’s our goal for this to serve as a model for other rural communities’ after-school programs for diverse populations. Working with the team we have here we can create something that’s really innovative and engaging.”
