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SUNNYVALE ANNOUNCES CITIZEN AWARDS
Sunnyvale, CA (4/17/00)-- Mayor Pat Vorreiter announced the City of Sunnyvale’s annual awards for community and citizen achievement. The awards will be presented at the State of the City event on Saturday, May 6, in downtown Sunnyvale, on Washington Avenue at South Murphy. The event, "Many Cultures—One Community," begins at 11:00 a.m. with multi-cultural entertainment and is open to the public free of charge. The program, with award presentations and the State of the City address, follows at 1 p.m.
Nominees for the annual awards were received from a broad range of community organizations, businesses, schools and citizens. The award selection committee was comprised of Sunnyvale citizens and business representatives appointed by Mayor Vorreiter.
These awards recognize the value of individuals making a commitment to enhancing our community. "It was a challenge for the awards committee to make these selections with so many outstanding individuals contributing so selflessly to make Sunnyvale a community with heart," stated Vorreiter.
The award categories and the recipients are:
Distinguished Citizen of the Year: Jeanine Stanek
Jeanine Stanek’s extensive commitment to community service has made a profound impact in many sectors of Sunnyvale. Empowering individuals to participate is the cornerstone of Stanek’s community service. According to last year’s Distinguished Citizen Award honorees, Willa and Gordon Markley, "She puts her heart and soul into making Sunnyvale a better place to live." One of Jeanine’s many accomplishments in Sunnyvale is being one of the founders of the premier leadership development program of high school students --Tomorrow’s Leaders Today (TLT). She has been active in that program for over five years, served as program director from 1994 to 1998, and is credited with being one of the key factors in the success of that program. Jeanine is a graduate of the Leadership Sunnyvale program, upon which TLT is patterned, and was Interim Executive Director of Leadership Sunnyvale. Jeanine was recognized as Leadership Sunnyvale Alumnus of the Year at the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Showcase Sunnyvale award event.
Jeanine has been active and held leadership positions in many school and community organizations. She has years of service at Sunnyvale Community Services, where she not only volunteers, but recruits teens. She is also active in Caring One-to-One, helping those in need.
At Homestead High School she organized Career Day where hundreds of representatives from a wide range of occupations were available to meet with high school students, and Grad Night, the all-night celebration for graduates.
She has been active in Girl Scouts, PTA, and St. Martin’s Church. At St. Martin’s she devotes many hours to coordinating volunteers who visit ill and isolated parishioners. She coordinates year-round arts and crafts programs for seniors and the yearly holiday bazaar. In addition, she helps in St. Martin’s outreach efforts by helping families in crisis and driving people to medical appointments.
As a model of exemplary service and leadership, the Sertoma Club of Sunnyvale recognized Jeanine as the winner of the annual Service to Mankind Award.
Outstanding Community Volunteer: Patricia Boyle
Patricia Boyle has volunteered hundreds of hours and helped hundreds of individuals and families through her devotion to teaching English as a Second Language and her dedication to life-long learning. Pat served two terms on the Sunnyvale School District’s Board of Education. For over seven years, she has impacted education in Sunnyvale by bringing English classes to hundreds of families. She is an advocate of mastering English in order to participate fully in family and community life. The program that Pat started, now the Family Literacy Program, has helped over 1,000 individuals learn English, get jobs or a better one, and has inspired their children to new levels of competency and excellence. Pat is recognized for doing whatever it takes to get the job done--whether that is baby sitting with students’ children, getting books donated, or assisting in resume writing. Pat’s accomplishments in ESL occurred while she was also volunteering for PTA, soccer, and the Lakewood reading lab for four days a week for five years.
Outstanding Business Person: Marie Kuykendall
Marie Kuykendall, co-owner of Kuykendall’s Auto Repair, contributes her time, talent and leadership as an advocate for small business owners. She is an active member of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce and serves as a resource for new business owners. In addition to encouraging businesses to join the Chamber of Commerce, she actively brainstorms with new business owners about ways to build their business success. In her weekly business ads, she recognizes an organization or individual who has made a positive contribution to the quality of life in Sunnyvale.
Marie is a member of the Sunnyvale Rotary Club and in 1998 received the Rotarian of the Year award in recognition of her outstanding volunteer efforts. For three years she served as Rotary’s liaison to the Homestead Interact Club mentoring teenage volunteers. Through Interact she has helped Homestead High School work with Special Education students to establish an Ice Cream Shoppe to raise funds for kids with special needs.
She is a graduate of Leadership Sunnyvale and Treasurer of the Celebrate Sunnyvale 2000 committee.
Outstanding High School Senior: Emily Mellentine
Emily Mellentine is a positive ambassador for teens balancing academic excellence with extensive community service. Her commitment to expanding community mindedness and volunteerism among her peers is exceptional. As the president of Wilcox High School’s largest service club, Interact, she has involved hundreds of Bay Area students in community service. Recently, she promoted volunteerism through the Interact conference that she organized for six hundred teens from more than fifty area schools. Interact volunteers regularly serve food at Martha’s Kitchen, walk for MS and AIDS, and assist with the Hands on the Arts Festival. Emily also serves on the City of Sunnyvale Teen Advisory Council, and is active in the Fishbowl program. She works with young children through the Sunnyvale Department of Parks and Recreation, Tiny Tots program, and is an active Candy Striper at Kaiser Permanent. She has assisted with the United Methodist’s Senior Citizen Nutrition Program, the Homeless Care Force Program, Stanford Children’s Hospital, and she is active in the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, and South Skyline Association. Emily maintains a 3.9 grade point average and has received academic achievement awards in English, chemistry, athletics, and art, including having her artwork on display in the Triton Museum.
Award of Excellence: Le Boulanger Bakery and Café, Inc.
Le Boulanger Bakery and Café made an extraordinary commitment to teens and their futures. Le Boulanger became a partner with the City of Sunnyvale in developing the innovative Fishbowl--a Saturday night coffeehouse program for older teens. The Fishbowl provides a place for high school age teens to "hang out" and socialize in a positive, wholesome and safe environment. Almost 200 teens gather weekly and also have a chance to showcase their talents in music, poetry reading, and tap dancing. In addition, Fishbowl provides both leadership development and volunteer opportunities for local teens.
Le Boulanger initially committed to a three-month pilot program and provided their facility at no cost to the City, provided food service staff, and discounted menu prices. Later they extended the program to the 1998-1999 school year and now continues their commitment with a long-term lease agreement. Mayor Vorreiter acknowledges that, "Through the strong advocacy and personal investment of Ray Montalvo, Le Boulanger, Marketing Director, this investment in youth took place. The corporation took a risk, made and extraordinary commitment, and serves as a role model for rest of the business community and individuals in becoming partners with the Fishbowl program and our future leaders."
Members of the 2000 Mayor’s Awards Selection Committee, which selected this year’s award recipients, were:
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