Published in the February 1 – 14, 2017 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Kathy Sullivan

Seldom do we get to know and recognize the volunteers who help make Morgan Hill one of the best places to live. I know many hard-working people who devote countless hours to this community and lead by example. They see themselves as nothing more than caring people or good neighbors.

The Morgan Hill Downtown Association relies on these types of great human beings to help with our working board. In this issue’s column, I’d like to introduce you to three of our new board members who are doing their best to be of service to Morgan Hill:

Lelannie Ornelas is a 10-year resident of Morgan Hill. She is currently employed at Carrington College as an enrollment service representative. In this role she assists people to continue their education. She was drawn to the MHDA because she and her family had attended various activities and events downtown and wanted to contribute to the town’s success.

While she is new to our organization, her fresh perspective and cheerful disposition have already made her a valuable team member.

Diane Carroll is an experienced volunteer who has a proven track record of service. She founded a home in 1984 for women in crisis pregnancy called Heritage House. She later turned it over to City Team in San Jose.

She was a valued board member for Rotary Club of Morgan Hill for two years. During the course of the past five years, she and her team raised more than $52,000 with the fundraiser Dazzle, which helped many organizations and youth in Morgan Hill.

She accomplished all this while being a mother of four children, a grandmother of three and joining her husband David’s business of Ram Commercial Insurance Services, Inc., serving as CEO and broker. She joined MHDA because she has been very excited about all the thrilling changes coming to our downtown.

John Mallory has lived in the Bay Area since 1969 and moved to Morgan Hill in 2003. Professionally he works for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He is very proud of completing his MBA last year.

His wife, Katie, has a side business working as a reading specialist, and she shares office space downtown with a speech pathologist. The couple have a boy and a girl and the entire family is active with the local scouting programs. He is a co-leader with his wife for Girl Scouts and is a merit badge counselor for Boy Scouts. He joined the downtown association’s board because, while he feels downtown is improving as a destination for visitors and residents, he is concerned about the loss of some of our retail-based shops.

As with many of our city’s philanthropic and community volunteers, these three board members are active with more than one entity. They find themselves crossing paths and volunteering as they see a need. Volunteering efforts from active citizens make Morgan Hill a better place to live for everyone.

We are glad to have these three wonderful human beings helping us with our MHDA mission.

Kathy Sullivan is a board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association. She wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.