La Cañada Flintridge 2017 Les Tupper Award Recipients
Donna Shepherd- Assistance League - Community Service Award Christie Clark - Service Award Sheri Morton - Service Award Vicki Swartz - Service Award Jan SooHoo - Service Award Sharyna Goldstein - Student Service Award Kara Bradley - Student Service Award |
CHRISTIE CLARKSON - Les
Tupper Special Service Award
Christie’s husband, Chris, said that “she tirelessly
dedicates hours of service to benefit the young people of our community.
She leads projects and chairs fundraisers and she accepts the leadership
positions.”
Christie grew up in Glendale.
She and her family moved to La Canada in 2005.
Her two daughters, Emily and Sophie, are students at La Canada High
School.
Her commitment and leadership experiences include:
PTA – She was the La Canada Elementary PTA President for 2
years then a board member of the LCHS 7/8 PTA.
She ran the “Snack Shak” for all LCHS football games and became the LCHS
PTSA President for 2 years. Christie
is now co-chairmen of the upcoming 2017 Home Tour, the largest fundraiser for
the 7/8 PTA and 9-12 PTSA.
National Charity League -Christie is the President-Elect of
the Glendale/La Canada chapter of NCL, has been the grade level advisor and as a
member has volunteered at Ascencia (a homeless shelter in Glendale), 12 Oaks
Lodge (a senior living center) and the Glendale YWCA.
Christie has also been a co-leader of her daughter’s Girl
Scout troop for 8 years, helping them achieve their Bronze, Silver and Gold
awards.
In addition, Christie coached both daughters’ tournament
softball teams and was the “team mom” for the LCHS
JV softball team.
In supporting her husband’s LCHS Booster involvement she
co-ran the Silent Auction for the 2016 Boosterfest.
Christie is a difference maker in our community.
The Coordinating Council established a Les
Tupper Special Service Award to honor individuals, organizations
or businesses worthy of recognition for their service to the La
Cañada Flintridge community but do not meet the broad based
volunteer requirements of the Community Service Award.
This year, one individual was found worthy of this honor.
Sheri Morton -
Les Tupper Individual Service Award
After growing up in La Canada and teaching English in the
area for 30 years, Sheri immediately put her energy into community service.
She started that service in 1990 as a charter member of CAP,
Canada Auxiliary of Professionals, an auxiliary of the Assistance League of
Flintridge. She was chairman of many
committees before becoming the Chairman of CAP.
Sheri joined the Thursday Club when her daughter, Maggie,
became a Debutante and to honor her mother who was a member of the club years
ago. After serving as chairman of
several committees she is now the current President of the Club.
Sheri is a vital member of the La Canada Presbyterian Church
having served as Deacon for many years.
She has also been in charge of their Red Cross blood drive.
Sheri served on the church’s Senior Ministry Task force developing a
Senior Resources Guidebook. For 10
years she has cooked for over 100 retired members at their semi-annual Anchor
luncheon and also made the table decorations for the event.
Sheri spearheaded the 50th Anniversary of La
Canada High School in 2013. She
arranged for the publicity, food and music at the event in Memorial Park.
When her daughter was a student at LCHS she served on the PTA and choir
boards.
Sheri also served the city on the La Canada Flintridge
General Plan committee in 2007.
In recognition of her service benefitting so many citizens of
La Canada Flintridge, the Les Tupper Individual Service Award was presented to
Sheri Morton.
Victoria Schwartz
- Les Tupper Individual
Service Award
Victoria has resided in La Canada for 28 years with her
husband Brad and 2 children.
Professionally she is an attorney and has worked for a private firm and Southern
California Edison.
Victoria has served the community in many ways.
She was a member of the La Canada Educational Foundation Board of
Directors from 2003 to 2006. During that time she chaired the annual gala which
raised $350,000.
When her children were at La Canada Elementary School,
Victoria was active in the PTA, worked in the school library and chaired the
sixth grade play, Aladdin. At LCHS
she was on the PTA Board, co-president of the Choir Parents Association and
chaired a fundraising Jazz Night.
She was co-chair of the LCHS Home Tour in 2009 and chaired the Home Tour in
2010. She received the PTA Founder’s Day service Awards in 2010 & 2014.
Her latest venture has been forming the La Canada Flintridge
Sister Cities Association and serves as its President.
Having been a student delegate to Germany from her hometown Phoenix,
Arizona, she would like anyone in our community to experience the same
educational experience participating in an international cultural exchange.
Victoria has worked tirelessly to achieve this goal after
receiving the endorsement of the City Council.
Working with the Sister Cities International Office in Washington DC she
has created written and visual materials and made an outstanding video about our
city. She has also made contacts and
received funds from corporate connections.
She visited 4 area high schools with applications for students to attend
the Sister Cities International Conference in Washington, DC and traveled there
with the 6 students who were chosen.
Victoria traveled to two possible sister cities in Spain and Germany. It was
recently announced that our sister city is Villanueva de la Canada.
Victoria has laid a solid foundation for a program that promises to
benefit our city.
In recognition of her outstanding example of leadership and
service the Les Tupper Individual Service Award was presented to VICTORIA
SCHWARTZ.
DR. JANICE SOOHOO - Les Tupper
Special Service Award
For over 7 years, Jan SooHoo has been deeply involved in
efforts to prevent the construction of a 5-mile tunnel linking the 710 freeway
with the 210 freeway. The proposed
tunnel would greatly increase the number of vehicles passing through the region,
especially trucks carrying freight and is projected to bring substantial traffic
and poor air quality to La Cañada Flintridge.
Jan identified public and private schools located within
close proximity to the 210 freeway and points to studies that show that the
tunnel would adversely affect the health of our children.
In 1990 The La Canada Flintridge
Coordinating Council established a Community Service Award designed to honor
school and community service-minded students in grades 11 and 12.
The objective is to promote civic pride in youth.
This year’s first Student Community Service Award went to
KARA BRADLEY
Kara is a senior at LCHS and a member of the National Honor
Society and California Scholarship Federation.
She is co- president of Fundraising and Benefits of TACH, Teens for the
Advancement of Children’s Hospital, and has been a member for 3 years.
Kara has been involved with the National Charity League for 6
years. She has served as president, vice-president, and Ticktocker council
representative. She credits NCL and
her mother for channeling her passion to help those less fortunate.
Kara achieved her Girl Scout Gold Award with her project
“Finding Compassion for the Homeless”.
She threw a Christmas party in the park for 80 homeless, preparing and
serving dinners plus providing toiletries and gift cards for them.
In working through Ascencia, a homeless shelter, she helped fundraise to
provide 6 welcome kits which included bedding, dishware, pots and pans and
towels, etc. to the families moving from the shelter to apartments.
Kara also provided the shelter with 50 bags of hygiene products for their
transitioning guests. She involved younger troops throughout the project to
raise awareness about homelessness.
Kara is a diver and has been the Rio Honda League diving
champion for 3 consecutive years. As
a Junior Olympic diver for the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center she has competed in
national and international meets since 2006.
She has used that experience to volunteer with the Sting Rays group at
the Center which is a swim team for people with disabilities.
Shayna
Goldstein
Shayna has always had a passion for dance and for helping
others. After witnessing 2
handicapped girls being turned down at dance studios, she decided to provide
free dance classes to disabled and special needs children in our community. She
had 30 reoccurring students in over 30 classes. This earned her the prestigious
Girl Scout Gold Award. She is the
captain of her competitive dance team.
In addition to competing they perform for disabled adults and for
benefits. Shayna and some of her dance team members bring food, tents and goods
to Skid Row 3 times a year.
Shayna is also involved with TACH, Teens for the Advancement
of Children’s Hospital. She has been
a member for 4 years and is co-president of Fundraising and Benefits.
She is in charge of the silent auction at the Teen Bash held every year
at Memorial Park. The group gives
gift cards to low income families and patients.
They also assemble gift bags and school supplies for the at-risk teenage
patients. She has decorated the
rooms of children staying at the hospital to give them hope and cheer.
Shayna started a Make-A-Wish Club at LCHS and has been the
President for the past 3 years. Her
birthday parties since the age of 12 have been fundraisers for Make-A-Wish. In 5
years she has raised over $20,000! She also volunteered for the World Games
Special Olympics in 2015 organizing the awards and helped get the athletes ready
for the awards.
At LCHS Shayna is a Varsity Song Cheerleader and is the
student Pep Coordinator assisting the Pep Squad Advisor for the Pep Squad of
over 50 girls. She is a member of
the National Honor Society and the California Scholarship Federation.
Shayna is most proud of receiving the Humanitarian Award at LCHS for her
volunteer work. Her fellow students
honored her last Fall as Homecoming Queen.
She hopes to enter the University of Texas in the Fall.
For the amazing example of doing for others,
the Les Tupper Student Service Award was presented to
SHAYNA GOLDSTEIN.
Assistance League of
Flintridge -
Les Tupper Community Service Award
Assistance League of Flintridge (ALF) became the 21st
chapter of National Assistance League in 1954.
Donations to the Bargain Box thrift shop fund their philanthropic
programs. There are over 100 members
who staff the Bargain Box and their six philanthropic projects volunteering over
20,000 hours a year!!!
The philanthropic projects include running the community
Summer School for grades 1 through 8. ALF pays the district for use of the
facilities, hires the employees and purchases the supplies.
Last summer over 800 students were enrolled.
Instrumental Music for grades 4-6 was started in1985 with
almost 200 La Canada Unified School District and private school students
enrolled this year in the before and after school program.
The Retired Service Volunteer program involves almost 50
senior citizen volunteers who meet every Friday to assemble mailings and perform
tasks for other community organizations. ALF members serve them lunch every week
and host parties and outings for them during the year.
An after school Drama program began in 1986 and serves 3rd
through 10th grade La Canada students. They put on shows at Lanterman Auditorium
twice a year.
In 2005 ALF joined with the Assistance League of Pasadena in
Operation School Bell which clothes needy elementary school students.
ALF members help clothe the students, provide hygiene kits and vouchers
for shoes. They also provide
backpacks for La Canada needy students. New to the program is providing shoe
vouchers and hygiene kits for needy students in the Sunland-Tujunga area.
ALF also has one time Outreach projects.
They have donated $3,000 in books to the La Canada library, $3,000 in
books to the Special Day classroom at Paradise Canyon, $3,000 in books to
Apperson Elementary in Sunland and $3,000 in books to
Sunland Elementary School over the last 4
years.
ALF has two Auxiliaries; Assisteens and CAP, Canada Auxiliary
of Professionals, that have their own service projects which benefit the
community.
For their continuing service to La Canada and its neighbors
the Les Tupper Community Service Award was presented to Assistance League of
Flintridge. The award was accepted
by Donna Shepherd,
President.