Celebrating Our 99th Year: 2010 Angeles Chapter Awards Banquet

The silent auction through the window of the banquet room photo by Paul Cooley
Senior Chapter Director Ron Silverman (at left), and Awards Committee Chair Sherry Ross (at right) congratulate Conservation Service Award recipient and Communications Committee Chair Sandra Cattell (center).
Keynote speaker and President Allison Chin	Attendees enjoy outdoor happy hour in the sunshine

On May 2nd, 2010 280 guests gathered at the Brookside Country Club to honor the finest among them at the Annual Awards Banquet. We were grateful and honored to have President of Sierra Club, Allison Chin, as the keynote speaker on this occasion.

The night started off with a festive reception made possible by the generous donations from Crescenta Valley Group, Orange County Group, Orange County Sierra Singles, Palos Verdes South Bay Group, Sierra Sage South Orange County Group, Sierra Singles, and donors on behalf of Wilderness Training Committee. Our heartfelt thank you goes to those reception hosts.

Many thanks go to Donna Specht for her tireless efforts as Reception Chair.

We are also grateful to all those who donated items for the silent auction. Kudos to Mary Ann Webster for the wonderful job she did as Silent Auction chair. It was an overwhelming success.

During the night we applauded many winners. Top honors went to Susana Reyes who accepted the Phil Bernays Service Plaque award for her tireless efforts in the political arena. State Assemblymembers Antony Portantino, Mike Eng and Bob Blumenfield chimed in and addressed the crowd praising the achievements of the Sierra Club.

We also remembered friends and leaders that made us proud but are no longer with us. Moments of silence accompanied the memorial to our fallen comrades.

The night's keynote remarks came from Allison Chin, the Sierra Club President. She told us how her childhood camping trips in the Sierras helped her discover and nourish her love for the outdoors. Her inspiring words about diversity and families inspired us to strive to instill the love of the outdoors in kids.

On that note, we proudly announced the restart of the Little Hikers and Junior Explorers Committee. Check it out and send us your friends and their kids. The start of the Diversity Committee was mentioned as well.

We had a great time! Thanks to Darrell Clarke for being the Master of Ceremonies. Thanks to Ron Silverman and Sherry Ross for presenting the awards. And check the complete list of awardees. Congratulations to them all for a job well done.

It was my privilege to work with such an outstanding committee. Thanks to Lori Ives for the advice,and wisdom and the tickets, Mary Morales for the programs, Elizabeth Pomeroy for the awards, Cathy Kissinger for the reservations, Donna Specht for the reception, Mary Ann Webster for the Silent Auction and Mary Macmannes and David Eisenberg for the silent memorial. Mike Sappingfield, thanks for the pictures. On behalf of the 2010 Banquet Committee, we also want to thank all the guests and volunteers for coming to cheer their colleagues. We couldn't have a successful Chapter without you. Keep up the good work. Hope to see you next year. After all, it's our 100th birthday