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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > HEART OF MARIN AWARDS
Article published - January 13, 2009
Credit: NOVATO ADVANCE
Heart of Marin Awards – Linda Tavaszi of Marin Community Clinic wins Board Leadership Award
By Kelly Dunleavy
As the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin (CVNL) presented the Heart of Marin Champion Award to the late Pam Hamilton, who passed away from cancer in September, the emcee, KRON-4’s Jan Wahl, got teary-eyed.
“Her spirit is here and I keep seeing Pam Hamilton,” said Wahl.
Hamilton, who founded the PR company Hamilton Ink, was a prominent figure in the Marin nonprofit community, donating her services to a long list of organizations. A year ago, Hamilton won the Mill Valley Citizen of the Year award. Shortly afterward, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Hamilton’s husband, Pete Louis, thanked everyone for supporting his wife and urged them to continue to serve in her memory. “In these hard times, Pam would ask us to double our support of the nonprofit community,” said Louis.
With more than 750 people in attendance at the annual Heart of Marin Awards, honoring volunteer and nonprofit excellence, the community support for these organizations is growing. Sixteen years ago, the Heart of Marin awards began with just 150 people. Last year, 620 people moved into the larger room at the Marin Center Exhibit Hall. Those gathered included 141 people nominated for awards, heads of nearly all the nonprofits in Marin, sponsors of the event and members of the community.
“Together we can be the transformation we await,” said Linda Davis, CEO of CVNL.
Youth Volunteers of the Year awards, chosen by a panel of youth volunteers, were presented to five winners, including two San Rafael High School students: Cindy Ku, who helped provide guidance and support to low-income and minority students to get them into college, and Javier Espinoza, who spent his childhood in and out of shelters for victims of domestic violence. Espinoza also helped students, focusing on those that were in shelters. He developed the “In the Box” program, providing boxes filled with back-to-school necessities to ensure that the kids in shelters are given an equal opportunity to succeed.
“I want to thank my mom,” Espinoza said, “and, on a side note, I want to say, Stop the ICE raids.”
The other winners of the Youth Volunteer of the Year award included Hannah Bichkoff from Terra Linda High School, who has traveled to Latin America to teach health education; Caroline Mulroy, who used creative fundraising techniques to raise enough money to provide a clean water source to 5,000 people in Kenya; and the youngest recipient, eighth-grader Lauren Grieve from San Domenico, who developed school programs to show the environmental impacts of what we eat and has participated in the U.N. World Summit on the Environment.
Two people shared the honor in a first-ever tie. The award went to both 19-year-old Vincent Chew, who works with homeless youths, and Jean Taylor, who contributed over 500 hours to the Next Key Center in Novato. “It’s been the culmination of a wonderful 20 years,” said Taylor.
“Please, Hollywood, tell these stories,” Wahl said of the outstanding youths represented.
But the mantra that many of the awardees repeated throughout the luncheon came from Linda Tavaszi, who won the award for board leadership for her work with Marin Community Clinics to open a new clinic in San Rafael’s Canal area. “It’s not me, it’s we,” said Tavaszi.
Chris Chater, winner of the award for excellence in leadership for her role as executive director of Senior Access, echoed the sentiment: “I’d like to dedicate my award to the families we care for.”
The winners each received a $5,000 donation to their nonprofit, courtesy of the sponsors: Bregante + Company, the Marin Community Foundation, Autodesk, Bank of Marin and Woodlands Market.
Bank of Marin took home the award for corporate community service for the $250,000 it donates annually to nonprofits, for the Spirit of Marin awards it started 14 years ago, for encouraging employees to volunteer by giving them time off during working hours and for the 135 nonprofit boards in Marin and Sonoma counties that have employees of the bank serving on them.
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