Volunteers and businesses who give back to the community were
honored Tuesday when the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce
announced its 2008 woman, man and businesses of the year.
HOLLISTER
Volunteers and businesses who give back to the community were honored Tuesday when the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce announced its 2008 woman, man and businesses of the year.
Both Cilly Fisher and Ed Stephenson – the chamber’s woman and man of the year, respectively – are longtime local volunteers. In a press release, the chamber provided a seemingly endless list of groups that each has helped.
Fisher, 80, is a cook at the homeless shelter and also helps organize its “Jazz Under the Stars” fundraiser at Ridgemark. She has also volunteered with the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce, the annual Independence Day motorcycle rally, the Ridgemark Homeowners Association and more.
Fisher said she scaled back her volunteerism after breaking her neck earlier this year – but now that she has recovered, she’s gone back to work. In fact, Fisher told the Free Lance on Tuesday she planned to cook at the homeless shelter that evening.
Fisher said she enjoys working at the shelter because the people she helps are “very grateful” and she gets to watch as some of them enhance their lives.
“I really believe that stuff about life being a gift,” Fisher said. “We’ve all got pretty good lives here.”
A Massachusetts native, Fisher said she’s glad she moved to Hollister in 1991. Her employer Lockheed Martin tried to transfer her to Florida six months later, but instead of moving she retired.
“(This is) the garden spot of any place in the world,” Fisher said.
Stephenson has a long history of volunteerism, too. It runs in the family – his wife Michele was declared woman of the year in 2007.
Stephenson, 72, was born in Hollister, but he has also lived throughout the state while working at various financial institutions. He returned to Hollister in 1983 to be the first president of San Benito Bank, and it was as bank president that Stephenson found himself volunteering for one group after another.
“I don’t go looking for projects,” Stephenson said, laughing. “I am not a professional volunteer.”
Stephenson’s accomplishments include being a founding director of the San Benito County United Way, a past president of the Hollister Rotary Club, a 14-year director of the San Benito County Community Foundation and more. The Community Foundation named him its philanthropist of the year in 2005.
Stephenson is currently chairing the Community Pantry’s capital campaign. The pantry needs to buy the building it now occupies so it can stop paying $4,000 in monthly rent, he said.
“It just really pinches the budget,” Stephenson said.
Asked if there’s a single volunteer effort he’s particularly proud of, Stephenson said he couldn’t think of just one.
“There are so many needs in this little town,” he said.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jessica French said she was “thrilled” about the selections of Fisher and Stephenson.
“Typically, these are people who have been involved for years,” French said.
The volunteers were chosen by a committee of past man-of-the-year and woman-of-the-year winners, French said. The chamber’s board of directors also selected four businesses of the year.
“They are important businesses – all businesses are, the way I look at it – but they go above and beyond,” French said.
This year’s winners
Woman of the Year: Cilly Fisher
Man of the Year: Ed Stephenson
Retail Business of the Year: McKinnon Lumber Company
Service Business of the year: Bianchi, Kasavan & Pope
Hospitality Business of the Year: Flapjack’s Country Cafe
Agriculture Business of the Year: Earthbound Farm/Natural Selection Foods
