5 FINALISTS FOR FERNANDO LIFELONG VOLUNTEERS NOMINATED FOR AWARD.Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer WOODLAND HILLS - Five San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. residents were nominated Friday for the 43rd annual Fernando Award, the Valley's most prestigious award for community service and volunteerism. This year's nominees are Stanley Bryant of Northridge, Rose Goldwater of Woodland Hills, William F. Powers Jr. of Northridge, Ruth Richter of Winnetka and Bob Scott
They were selected from a field of 18 nominees who were each honored during a luncheon ceremony at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel. ``True leaders don't promote followers followers see dairy herd. but create new leaders,'' said Fred Thomas Fred Thomas can refer to:
Launched in 1958, the award is named for a fictitious American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. hero who has come to symbolize the San Fernando Valley. Tom Soule, president of the Fernando Awards, said the nominees represent a ``reservoir of volunteerism,'' people who have together contributed more than a century of service to the Valley. ``These people are volunteers to the ultimate,'' he told the crowd of nearly 400 people. ``They have done a tremendous amount of good, and they have brought a lot of people along with them.'' The nominees for the award said they simply saw needs in their community and did what they could to meet them. ``When you see something that needs to be done, you don't wait, you just do it,'' said Richter, 78, who has owned West Valley Cycle Sale for 50 years. ``When I moved out here in 1950, someone asked me to help out with the Chamber of Commerce, and I haven't stopped helping since.'' Richter was instrumental in getting expanded bus service for the Valley in the mid-1970s when she served on the board of the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Rapid Transit rapid transit, transportation system designed to allow passenger travel within or throughout an urban area, usually employing surface, elevated, or underground railway systems or some combination of these. District, which has since become the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She now serves on the Valley Transit Valley Transit is a city bus and paratransit commission operated by the city government of Appleton, Wisconsin. The system operates across the Fox Cities and serves the cities of Appleton, Kaukauna, Menasha and Neenah, as well as the towns of Buchanan, Grand Chute and Zone Board and is fighting to establish a separate transit district A transit district or transit authority is a special-purpose district organized as either a corporation chartered by statute, or a government agency, created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. in the Valley. Scott, 55, also said he has used his volunteer efforts to obtain greater city services The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. for the Valley. A six-time Fernando Award nominee, Scott is vice chairman of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and has collected more information about the Valley's economy and quality of life than any other researcher. ``To some extent, volunteerism is an addiction,'' he said. ``There has been a vacuum of elected leadership in the Valley. So you just look at all the things that need to be done and know that if you don't do them, nobody will.'' Other nominees said they have focused their efforts on helping young people. For three decades, Goldwater, 69, has been volunteering for the West Valley Boys and Girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. Club, the Haven Hills Home for Battered Wives and Children, the West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, and a number of other community service groups. ``Giving to others has always been a big part of my life,'' she said. ``And I have really tried to focus on the youth because they are our future.'' Powers, a 55-year-old, Chatsworth-based attorney and real estate broker, said he is also driven by a desire to improve the world by helping children. ``What it's all about is leaving something better for my own kids, and hopefully they'll do the same for their own kids,'' he said. ``It's everyone's responsibility to make the community better.'' Among the organizations Powers has served are the Child Development Institute, the West Valley Community Development Corp., United Chambers of Commerce and the executive board of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. Bryant, 59, an insurance broker, said he has primarily targeted the disabled in his volunteer efforts. He co-chaired an effort to raise $4 million to expand facilities and programs for disabled adults, and has played a key role in raising money to build a new North Valley Family YMCA YMCA in full Young Men's Christian Association Nonsectarian, nonpolitical Christian lay movement that aims to develop high standards of Christian character among its members. . ``I just enjoy giving back and helping others,'' Bryant said. The nominees were selected by a 14-member selection committee composed of previous winners, members of the Fernando Award Board of Directors and representatives of a variety of civic groups. Ballots will now be mailed to about 100 patrons and benefactors of the award program, former award winners and members of the board of directors. The winner will be announced at the annual Fernando Award Dinner on Nov. 2. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Finalists for the 43rd annual Fernando Award are, from left, William F. Powers Jr., Bob Scott, Ruth Richter, Rose Goldwater and Stanley Bryant. The award, for devotion to volunteerism, will be given at a November banquet. Michael Owen
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