Community Recognition Award Winners Banquet

“Take care of your customers and everything else will fall in place.” That is the mission statement of Bob Smith Toyota, our 2013 Business of the Year. The Smith family has been in the car business for over 97 years, 79 of which were in Glendale and La Crescenta. This year they are celebrating 20 years in the Crescenta Valley and we wanted to make sure everyone knew that they give back to this community.

At Bob Smith Toyota, they say, “We may make our living as Toyota dealers, but we are also passionate about our involvement in our community. We support many local organizations and charities.” Here a just a few: Clark Magnet High School, St. Francis High School, La Cañada High School, Crescenta Valley High School, Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Support Group, Holy Redeemer School, St. James School, Our Lady of Lourdes School, Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge, La Cañada Chamber of Commerce, Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Montrose Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Bob Smith Toyota, for giving back to the community.

Our Organization of the Year is Glendale Healthy Kids. Their mission is “to provide affordable or no cost quality healthcare to children who have no access to insurance or are under-insured.” Little known fact: Glendale Healthy Kids received a Health Care Leadership Award this year from the Los Angeles Business Journal for best institutional or educational program and was chosen because of their committed staff of four, their collaboration with over 200 volunteer healthcare providers and their very active and committed board of directors.

Our Volunteer of the Year is Joe Allen. He tirelessly gives of his time to the Crescenta Valley, especially local youth and civic organizations. He is on the board of the CV Little League and helps plan their opening and closing ceremonies and other events for the organization and can be found announcing at many of their games. He oversees all the entertainment for the Montrose chamber’s annual Oktoberfest and organizes our annual golf tournament that raises funds to give scholarships to graduating seniors from Clark Magnet High School and CV High School. He is the Exalted Ruler of the Glendale Elks. The Elks is an organization that raises funds for many local and national causes. They provide scholarships to graduating seniors, give food and toys to the needy, funds to various youth programs and veterans’ causes and they have a drug awareness program. He also volunteers his time with CV Alliance and is the VP of Programs. It is here that Joe lends his expertise with drug and alcohol awareness and prevention among teens in the area. He is a police officer with the Glendale Police Department and teaches about the latest drug trends to other law enforcement personnel across the country and helps educate parents locally.  Joe also helps volunteer to plan the annual CV Prom Plus, the biggest after-prom party around, and volunteers at the Fire House, the teen center at St. Luke’s of the Mountains, a safe place for teens to go on Tuesday nights. We are proud of all of our recipients.

Please read my article next week when I will highlight more of our community award winners.

We invite you to join us on Jan. 23 at Oakmont Country Club at 6 p.m. when we honor our 2013 award winners. Our Installation and Community Awards dinner costs $50 per person in advance or $60 at the door. To attend you can mail your payment to: MVCC, 3516 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208, contact the office at mvcc@montrosechamber.org or call us at (818) 249-7171.

We have a ribbon cutting on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 5:30 p.m. at Back to Basics Fitness, 2836 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale 91208.

Plan now to attend our 2014 Installation Dinner and Community Recognition Awards on Thursday, Jan. 23 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Oakmont Country Club.

  melinda clarke