The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce announced its picks for the 2012 Celebrate Morgan Hill Awards. Who are this year’s winners, what makes them stand out in the community? The award recipients will be honored at the annual banquet Jan. 28 to celebrate their contributions. Reservations must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. today at morganhill.org/celebrate-morgan-hill for those interested in attending.
Woman of the Year – Loritta Bonfante Johnson
Loritta Bonfante Johnson is a busy bee when it comes to volunteering her time for the community. She has a laundry list of boards she sits on: The Morgan Hill Historical Society, Live Oak Foundation, Teachers Aid Coalition, Gilroy Art Alliance, the Italian Catholic Federation and the president of the teachers society of Delta Kappa Gamma.
She’s also a retired teacher, having taught in the Morgan Hill Unified School District as a kindergarten and special education teacher for 45 years. She was the district’s first special education teacher, and taught at every school before her retirement. During that time she won Santa Clara County Office of Education’s prestigious Teacher of the Year award and she still volunteers once a week for three hours at Nordstrom Elementary kindergarten class.
“I just can’t stay away from those kiddos,” she said from her bright red couch in her home in San Martin.
Johnson attended what used to be San Francisco College for Woman at Lone Mountain in San Francisco. While there, she was in the San Francisco Ballet for four years, a dancer since she was 3.
That love for the arts and theater also pointed her to the South Valley Civic Theatre: she’s produced children’s shows including Pinocchio, Jungle Book and Treasure Island, and is involved with that board as well.
At 79, Johnson, who is the only daughter of John Bonfante, co-founder of Nob Hill groceries with brother Michael, has a long family history of staying local within the community.
“I would just love for our community to remain like it’s been, for everyone to support local businesses and events,” she said. “I would really like that especially the younger people that our coming into our community. My dad taught me that.”
Mario Banuelos – Man of the Year
A 24-year resident of Morgan Hill originally from Jerez-Zacateca, Mexico, Mario Banuelos has come to call this city his home.
Married to Sobrato High School’s assistant principal Fawn Meyers, the couple has four children: Frank, Tirza, Valarie and Maxim.
With a wife in education, Banuelos finds himself inching toward education-related community events. Such as being a volunteer for the Live Oak Band Boosters Bingo events on the weekends at Britton Middle School, or playing a part in putting together the “No More Excuses” conference that took place for the first time in October 2011 for first generation college-bound students in the district.
Banuelos, 52, was also part of the group that started the South Valley Dayworker Committee which started in the late 1990s and worked with dayworkers in Morgan Hill, bringing them sweet bread and coffee every day. The group is still together, although in a different fashion and now works with St. Catherine Church to put on an annual charity dinner.
What got Banuelos involved with the community was his board member position in 2001 for the Morgan Hill Community Foundation. The nonprofit encourages charitable efforts, giving out yearly grants to local nonprofits.
“My message to the community is get involved. We’re a great community because people care. If you see something that’s wrong, get involved and don’t complain about it. Reach out to other groups, step out of your comfort zone,” he said.”
Banuelos is also a Morgan Hill Times contributor; he’s written the column “Mas de Mario” for more than four years.
Business of the Year – D.R. Domenichini Construction
Headed by David Ray Domenichini, Domenichini is a new addition to the Morgan Hill community, now in his fifth year of living in Morgan Hill.
With more than 19 years in the business, D.R. Domenichini Construction, a general contractor, specializes in remodeling, “the bread and butter” being bathrooms and kitchens he said. About 80 percent of their contracting is residential properties, and they also do room additions and garages throughout Santa Clara County, Hollister and even some parts of the Peninsula.
He said what sets his business apart are his skilled workers, a total of 10 including himself.
“We do almost everything in-house. Where most people sub-out to others, you have the comfort of knowing if we’re going to be in your house, you don’t have all these different people in and out. You’re going to get to know and get to enjoy the people that we have,” Domenichini said.
Domenichini, 48, is also involved in other ways within the community, using his construction background to help out. As a board member of the Morgan Hill Historical Society, he gave them a white board and told them “write things up here as they go bad, and I’ll fix them as they go wrong,” he said.
Domenichini has also gone through Leadership Morgan Hill, class of 2007. His wife, Gina, has been involved with the YMCA and currently is in Rotary Club of Morgan Hill. He hopes that with this title of Best Business of 2012, that he can live up to the honor by doing something more. Although still in the works with no details yet planned, he’s envisioning something along the lines of a Habitat for Humanity project on a much smaller scale.
“I don’t look at it as, ‘look at the wonderful things I’ve done for the community.’ No, I look at it, as ‘wow, the community has given me these opportunities to be involved,'” he said.
Steve Kinsella – Educator of the Year
Gavilan College and other education systems statewide have had a bit of a shaky year – state budget cuts have prompted Gavilan fees to go up to $46 per unit by summer. But Steve Kinsella, the college’s president has hopes for the college.
Kinsella, president for nine years and the previous chief business officer for two and half years is a Morgan Hill resident for 15 years now. He’s proud of what Gavilan has accomplished despite financial hardships. In the past year, Gavilan was involved with the California Leadership Alliance for Student Success (CLASS), creating a board policy that focused on the entire college naming student success and activities a priority, Kinsella said.
“The entire college and the board of trustees focused on the things that students needs to be successful to complete their program, instead of them drifting along, taking classes until they decide, ‘OK I guess I’m done.’ It creates a real pathway for students so they can complete their education requirements and transfer out.”
He’s proud too that the college has maintained a fairly stable financial footing, not taking furloughs, salary reductions, or changing staff except through attrition. He thinks though that the future for education might not be so bright if California state cuts to education continue the way that they have been.
“I think more than anything else, we have to fight to recreate the education system in California. If we let it continue the way that it has been, the Legislature it’s hard to believe they can take away more from us or dismantle it farther than they have,” he said. “It’s up to us to insist on having a low-cost way for all residents of California to have access to a college degree.”
Gavilan closed its 2010-2011 budget with a surplus of $650,000 and 10 percent in reserves.
Jan Dean – Volunteer of the Year
“There are so many volunteers, you can never honor everyone that deserves it. So I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this,” said a humble Jan Dean, the chamber’s volunteer of the year.
Despite her modest reaction to the award, Dean has done plenty for the community. A resident since 1968, Dean said she wanted to raise her children in the country, and has been here ever since.
She’s on the board for the Chamber of Commerce and in Rotary Club of Morgan Hill, which focuses on philanthropy and service.
Dean, who has lived in Morgan Hill for 44 years, said she learned more about the community and met new people when she went through Leadership Morgan Hill, class of 2008.
In December, she worked with the Chamber for the “Knock Your Socks Off” sock drive, where they collected nearly 600 pairs of socks.
“That’s what you see happening. And that’s why I think people volunteer, because they have to see a need,” she said.
Dean said she’s always seen a need for more volunteers, but it is never a one-person job.
“Volunteering is something that I saw my parents doing growing up. And I just see everyone in the community being involved and helping to make lives better for other people.,” she said. “It’s not a one person thing. It’s everyone getting together and helping.”
Eunice Kim – Student of the Year
Eunice Kim thinks of herself as typical college-bound senior: filling her time with school, sports and volunteering.
Kim, 17, has a 4.4 GPA at Live Oak High School and takes four Advanced Placement classes – Calculus BC, English, Spanish Literature and Spanish Language. She grew up in Los Angeles’ Koreatown and moved to Morgan Hill when she was about 7 years old.
After school, she tutors at the Bridge Project at the Jasmine Square Apartments in Morgan Hill, a type of school homework club for pre-kindergarten students up to the 8th grade. After an hour of that four times a week, Kim is off to tutor more during her private tutoring sessions at the library.
She was also on the varsity swim team at Live Oak for three years and was previously on the golf team.
With her eyes set with going to a private university on the east coast (she wouldn’t say which ones as acceptance letters haven’t come out yet), she plans to major in international studies and eventually get her Ph.D.
Kim said she was shocked when she found out she won the award.
“There are a lot of incredible students out there. My peers are so intelligent,” she said. “I’m doing what I was supposed to be doing as a teenager, for the community and working hard.”
If she has any time left, Kim enjoys playing piano, drawing or painting and eating good food, she said.
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