By Manny Lopez | SDUN Reporter

The Friends of Balboa Park (FOBP) celebrated its 13th annual “Salute to Volunteers and Visionaries,” on Oct. 29, with an award luncheon at the historic Balboa Park Club ballroom. The awards recognized outstanding volunteers that have demonstrated significant and long-term contributions of service to the park.

Formed in 1998, FOBP—originally named the Millennium Society—is a non-profit advocacy, fundraising and volunteer outreach organization, dedicated to the preservation and propagation of the 1,200-acre historic park. Executive Director Kathleen Stoughton said that in the past 12 months, more than 400 volunteers from all walks of life have provided over 5,000 hours of service for FOBP in a large variety of areas.

Stoughton identified several major projects recently completed by the organization, including: restorations of the lily pond, construction of the park information kiosks, planting of the Australian garden and providing funding for buses to bring fifth grade school children to the park.

“This place without a doubt runs on its volunteers,” said Jim Hughes, outgoing chairman of the Friends of Balboa Park. “There might be less than 1000 total paid staff, but you go into any institution, museum or the Zoo and there are literally thousands of people that put in a minimum number of hours to qualify as a volunteer.” Interim Mayor Todd Gloria presented five Inspiration Awards, which are given to volunteers nominated by their peers in the Balboa Park community. This year’s winners included Harold Doerr of the Spreckels Organ Society; Andrea Fleming of the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet; Dick Murphy of the San Diego Automotive Museum; Stella Vasilakis of the Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol; and Ruth Voorhies of the Japanese Friendship Garden.

“This has always been one of my favorite events,” Gloria said. “The park is run by volunteers who contribute collaboratively with our city employees and all of these people deserve great awards and I’m glad that the Friends of Balboa Park is acknowledging them.”

“This is an annual celebration of all the wonderful things that Balboa Park does for the community,” said former state senator Christine Kehoe, who added that she lives walking distance from the park. “It’s a wonderful way to see old friends and interact with people who love Balboa Park.”

County Supervisor Ron Roberts presented the Millenium Award—given to individuals and organizations committed to the betterment of the park—to the Gildred family of Rancho Santa Fe. The award recognized the family’s three generations of leadership, stewardship and volunteer activity in Balboa Park, which started with Philip L. Gildred, who served as the managing director of the California Pacific Exposition in 1935.

“As children, we lived a couple of canyons away from the park and this is where we grew up,” said Philip Gildred, Jr. “My mother and father were very involved with the institutions here and so it just was second nature that we followed in their footsteps.”

Betty Peabody, a founding member of the organization was a featured speaker. She noted that financial times have changed and more public and private partnerships are forming, because the city no longer has the money to do everything that needs to be done.

“The park as everyone knows is a tremendous asset to San Diego and it’s important that we maintain it,” Peabody said. “We thought we would be enhancing things, but as it turned out, we’re introducing new programs to make the park better for future generations. We owe that to the visionary forefathers who preceded us.”

County Supervisor Ron Roberts—who during the organization’s inception gave $10,000 to help get it off the ground—said it’s important for a park of this magnitude to have a supportive organization like the Friends of Balboa Park. He added that in a city with so many priorities such as San Diego, there are important projects that otherwise won’t get done.

Stoughton said upcoming projects include re-landscaping the Persian Rug and Zoro Gardens, bringing water-wise irrigation to the park, and restoration of the Sefton Guard Houses, the Botanical Building and the El Cid balustrades.

After 13 years of service, award recipient Fleming said she still gets excited when people enter the Casa Del Prado Theater.

“I love to be part of the park and watch the faces of the people who come back year after year to enjoy the theater,” said Fleming. “It’s a wonderful honor to be able to work with the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet for so many years and be able to watch my daughter grow up and dance and follow in my footsteps.”

For more information about Friends of Balboa Park, visit friendsofbalboapark.org or call 619-232-2282.