{"id":245557,"date":"2012-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/volunteers-and-visionaries\/"},"modified":"2012-11-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T08:00:00","slug":"volunteers-and-visionaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/volunteers-and-visionaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers and Visionaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Community leaders present awards at Friends of Balboa Park luncheon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Antonio Rey | Editor SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Volunteers
Todd Gloria presented the Inspiration Awards. (Photo by SDUN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Friends of Balboa Park held their annual \u201cSalute to Volunteers and Visionaries\u201d luncheon on Oct. 30, handing out seven awards to individuals and organizations in recognition of their long-term contributions to Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

Now in its 12th year, the reception and program was held at the Balboa Park Club ballroom.<\/p>\n

Approximately 350 people attended, including Rep. Susan Davis and State Sen. Christine Kehoe. Councilmember Todd Gloria presented the Inspiration Awards and Assemblymember Toni Atkins, who serves on the Friends of Balboa Park advisory council, presented the Millennium Awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf volunteers hadn\u2019t been involved since day one, what would our park be like now?\u201d said Jim Hughes, Friends of Balboa Park chair. The luncheon is the organization\u2019s signature event, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy role here today is to talk to you about volunteers, and the important role that they play in Balboa Park and our city as a hole,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cIn the spirit of the many, many volunteers who have labored in Balboa Park over the past century, we are here to honor current volunteers who have set such examples that they are being awarded \u2026 Inspiration Awards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspiration Award-winners included Jane Cowgill, Betsy Gardner, Kay Harry, William Swank and Mary Toomey, who were all present to accept the honors.<\/p>\n

Cowgill, a volunteer at the San Diego History Center as well as the Old Globe Theatre, was honored for her work creating a database archive of San Diego County marriage license records, a project she started in 2007. She also has served as chair of the Old Globe\u2019s annual fashion show fundraiser, \u201cCelebrating Culture,\u201d and this year\u2019s silent auction.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving family in San Diego County for over 200 years, the History Center was just a natural calling to me,\u201d Cowgill said. \u201cAs for my second family, at the Old Globe, I\u2019ve been with them since 1975. \u2026 I can\u2019t tell you how much it\u2019s meant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally a volunteer parent of the San Diego Junior Theatre, Gardner has been volunteering for the organization for 21 years. \u201cMy daughter fell in love with the theater, and for that I\u2019m so grateful because then the theater became my love also,\u201d she said. \u201cI want others to have the same opportunities that we have experienced from this special place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serving as the San Diego Floral Association\u2019s fundraising co-chair, Harry also volunteers her time with Balboa Park\u2019s Festival of Trees and Historic Garden Tour. She oversees two other projects in the park, the spring butterfly celebration in Zoro Garden and the Kate Sessions\u00a0 birthday celebration, held Nov. 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelative to her vast expertise of plants and history, Kay has become an important member of the team that produces California Garden, the oldest continuously published horticulture magazine,\u201d Gloria said.<\/p>\n

Harry said she was accepting the award on behalf of the Floral Association\u2019s volunteers. \u201cOur hope is to continue the wonderful work we\u2019ve been doing. We invite any and all of you to join us in that effort,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Toomey\u2019s volunteer service for the San Diego Natural History Museum spans 36 years. Both Gloria and Toomey told of her first interaction with the museum, when she offered a scorpion as a specimen. She is now part of the team that prepares similar specimens for the San Diego County Plant Atlas Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the museum,\u201d Toomey said. \u201cYou learn something new with every department.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Inspiration Award was also given to Swank, a \u201cjovial and friendly\u201d volunteer who has portrayed Santa Claus in the park\u2019s annual holiday festivities for over a decade.<\/p>\n

With red Santa hat in hand, Swank said his \u201chat was off\u201d to the crowd and the Friends of Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank the academy,\u201d he said, then listed Balboa Park visionaries including George Marston, Kate Sessions and John D. Spreckels, among others, before ending: \u201cMerry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the Inspiration Awards, Atkins presented two Millennium Awards, one to the House of Pacific Relations, International Cottages, Inc. and the other to Patrons of the Prado.<\/p>\n

Clark Anthony, master of ceremonies for the lunch, said the Millennium Awards \u2013 equal to lifetime achievement awards \u2013 were the highest honors given from the Friends of Balboa Park, and welcomed Atkins to the stage.<\/p>\n

When San Diego hosted the second world exposition in 1935, architect Richard Requa designed the site for the organization to showcase their foreign exhibits. The exposition lasted two years, and brought over seven million visitors to the 15 \u201cCalifornia-Spanish\u201d cottages.<\/p>\n

Hannu Mikkonen, president of the House of Pacific Relations accepted the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been my pleasure, duty and honor to lead this organization of 32 different nations,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has been an experience that few get to enjoy, as leader of the largest multi-cultural organization in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cindy Goodman of the Patrons of the Prado, an all-volunteer women\u2019s organization that supports Balboa Park\u2019s arts organizations through fundraising, accepted the second Millennium Award, saying she looked forward to working with everyone toward the 2015 Balboa Park centennial celebration.<\/p>\n

Patrons of the Prado have donated over 25,000 hours of service and more than $2.5 million to park arts organizations, starting in 1996 when the group was incorporated. There are currently 11 institutions that benefit from the funds, which Atkins said were unrestricted.<\/p>\n

The awards program was followed by a detailed historical presentation titled \u201cThe 1935 Exposition \u2013 The Legacy Lives On\u201d by Dr. Iris Engstrand, history professor at the University of San Diego.<\/p>\n

Ending the event, Friends of Balboa Park founding member Betty Peabody said, \u201call of you have really inspired all of us. \u2026 You are the present and future of our park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Friends of Balboa Park mission is to preserve the park\u2019s legacy for future generations. For more information, visit friendsofbalboapark.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community leaders present awards at Friends of Balboa Park luncheon By Anthony King | SDUN Editor The Friends of Balboa Park held their annual \u201cSalute to Volunteers and Visionaries\u201d luncheon on Oct. 30, handing out seven awards to individuals and organizations in recognition of their long-term contributions to Balboa Park. Now in its 12th year, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Volunteers and Visionaries","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}