Julian Mancias, Rotary Club and Kings Martial Arts earn
honors
Three Morgan Hill “institutions” will be nominated tonight to receive Gavilan College’s Spirit Awards, given annually to recognize volunteer work and community spirit.
If the Gavilan board of trustees approves the nominations, Julian Mancias, the driving force behind the Dayworker Center, will be named to receive the individual award. Morgan Hill Rotary, with a multi-page resumé of local and international projects, will be the winning organization and super volunteering King’s Martial Arts studio will receive the business honor.
Mancias, 49, set out to solve the problem of workers lining Main Avenue trying to obtain casual work. The men stand outside for hours in all weather without access to food, water or restrooms and entirely subject to the whims of employers.
Mancias helped to form the St. Catherine’s Dayworker Committee, which, by fall, will provide the dayworkers with an air-conditioned or heated “hiring hall” in which to congregate – at Depot Street and East Main Avenue. A bilingual coordinator will match up the men’s skills with the job, negotiate wages, hours, lunch and other conditions so everyone understands the rules. Classes in English and services to help with immigration questions are planned for the future.
Mancias, a real estate broker, has spent years working to bring the center to life, fundraising, convincing City Council to waive a few rules allowing the center to be built on property temporarily donated by Weston Miles Architects.
The 90-member Morgan Hill Rotary is an active service club that promotes education with scholarships, sponsors Interact clubs at all local high schools and performs hands-on service projects where members grab shovels and paint brushes. The club raises funds for overseas projects, most recently a medical clinic in India, orphanages in Bolivia and a school in Argentina.
Local Rotarians have also hosted International Exchange students from around the world.
Rotary works with El Toro Youth Center and, with the City of Morgan Hill, expanded the facility. Club members regularly perform major work at Villa Mira Monte, the old Hiram Morgan Hill House. They sponsor an annual dinner for seniors in the spring and donate to “Young At Heart” that takes music to rest homes.
The polio eradication project of Rotary International, also gets attention, labor and money from the local group.
King’s Martial Arts is the business to be honored for years of volunteer work. Owners Jeff and Kathy King have recently established a drop-in recreational program teaching students the value of education, friendship and family, how to share and care for others in a family-like environment, conflict resolution and to value differences.
The Kings chaired for 10 years the Kid’s Zone at the Taste of Morgan Hill and two at the Mushroom Mardi Gras. They designed and ran games at Munchkinland, organized Kick-A-Thons to help the local community cable Channel 19, raised money for flood victims and Community Solutions, educated seniors on self-defense, held Kick-A-Thon fundraisers for Park and Recreation (to help build Diana Park), police, fire and paramedics of Morgan Hill (to purchase bears for the police cars, supplies and help provide money for burn victims) and the YMCA and continue to generate shows and tapes on child safety for Channel 19. Last year’s winners in Morgan Hill were Karen Crane, Leadership Morgan Hill and BookSmart.
The Morgan Hill awards will be presented at a Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast on Thursday, Sept. 2, at the Golden Oak restaurant.
Gilroy and San Benito County Spirit Award nominees will be announced later. Gavilan began giving Community Spirit Awards in 1999. Nominations are accepted from the community at large and presented to the board for confirmation.
