Dinner to honor award winners to be held Feb. 21 at the Community Center
Published in the December 24, 2014 – January 6, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Every December, the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce selects a group of civic-minded individuals and a local business to receive various recognitions for their contributions to the community. Earlier this month, Chamber CEO/President John Horner and Chairman of the Board Rich Firato were joined by various residents of Morgan Hill in surprising seven individuals with various honors that will be formally presented to them at the Chamber’s Celebrate! gala event Feb. 21.
Morgan Hill Life joined the fun, videorecording the presentations and putting the surprised recipients on YouTube to be viewed by the world. Here are the 2015 Celebrate! honorees.
Dennis Dal Poggetto
Man of the Year
Photo by Marty Cheek
Dennis Dal Poggetto, left, accepts the ‘Man of the Year’ award from Chamber Chairman Rich Firato.
Dennis Dal Poggetto had a puzzled look on his face when Firato showed him a framed certificate and told him he had been chosen as the Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Man of the Year. Dal Poggetto had been lured to the Chamber’s meeting room Dec. 16 on the pretense of discussing the future of the Third of July Street Dance which he organizes every year as a Freedom Fest chairman
“This is not fair. This is not fair. I would have dressed,” Dal Poggetto insisted to Firato after learning about the honor. “This is totally a surprise, no doubt about it.”
After moving to Morgan Hill in 1977, Dal Poggetto got involved with many community activities. The Street Dance, which has been held in downtown Morgan Hill’s Monterey Road in past years, and the last few years has been held at the Downtown Amphitheater at the Community and Cultural Center, is a passion for him.
Without Dal Poggetto’s involvement, the popular event that helps kick off the Independence Day celebrations in Morgan Hill would most likely not happen, Horner said.
“Dennis organizes the whole thing. It’s almost a one-man band,” he said. “He’s driven that and he’s also worked on the whole Freedom Fest for a very long time. And as far as events go in Morgan Hill, Freedom Fest is the best known among them. It’s really unique and ties into the community spirit and patriotism and all the things we love about Morgan Hill. And I’m really glad they chose Dennis to be the winner.”
Dal Poggetto works hard on the event for a deeply personal reason, Firato said.
“If you ever talk to Dennis and ask him why he got involved with the street dance and why he’s so passionate about it, it’s because his brother was in the Armed Forces,” he said. “He wanted to show some respect for his brother and people who serve in the military and say ‘Thank you and I love you for what you’ve done.’”
Dal Poggetto said learning he was the 2015 Man of the Year is a humbling experience.
“I’m totally shocked. This is beyond my comprehension,” he said. “I’m like every other citizen in this community that feels non-deserving of this, you know, I really do.”
Janie Knopf
Woman of the Year
Photo by Marty Cheek
Janie Knopf with her husband Roger after receiving the ‘Woman of the Year’ award.
Long-time Morgan Hill resident Janie Knopf was taking a nap and recovering from a cold when her friend Jennifer Tate woke her and asked her to come to the front door Dec. 9 morning. There she saw a group of people waiting for her. Still drowsy, she thought they were carolers.
“I saw a bunch of people and I thought, well, it’s Christmas. And then I saw Rich (Firato), and I thought, ‘Oh, Oh, what’s going on here?’”
Firato presented her with a framed certificate and told her she had been selected as the Chamber’s 2015 Woman of the Year.
“I was stunned. I never thought of anything like that,” she said when it sunk into her mind the recognition she was receiving. “I was amazed and honored.”
Fifty years ago, Knopf came to Morgan Hill as a new bride to live with her husband Roger. She had grown up in Saratoga and the two knew each other in high school but started dating when they attended college. They ran a prune farm business for years until the market for that fruit went into decline, then started a home construction company.
Throughout the years, Knopf has been involved in various organizations in Morgan Hill such as the Children’s Home Society Auxiliary, the Live Oak Athletic Boosters, the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill, the Centennial Committee for the 2006 celebration of Morgan Hill’s 100th birthday, the Morgan Hill Historical Society and Leadership Morgan Hill.
“Janie Knopf is a person who has a long, long history of contributing to the community deeply and broadly,” Horner said. “She came with the greatest number of letters of recognition or support. There were half a dozen people who nominated her or gave her their support. She’s a person who is unassuming, she’s not a showboater. She just finds ways to contribute and make Morgan Hill a better community.”
Firato said he came to know Knopf through the Rotary and has seen how committed she becomes when she gets involved in a project.
“She just never says no when someone asks her to volunteer and get involved,” he said. “And she can take a project from zero and finish it and you don’t have any problems. She’s just one of those volunteers that you can always count on.”
Knopf cares deeply about Morgan Hill as a place she calls home, and finds getting involved in making it a better place for everyone gives value to her life here.
“It’s very rewarding to work with all the people in your community,” she said. “If you find a little niche that you can fill in an organization, that makes you happy. Doing things for other people in our community is just a blessing.”
Mama Mia’s Restaurant
Business of the Year
Photo by Marty Cheek
Mama Mia’s owner Majid Bahriny with Catering Manager Shawna Pacheco, left, and General Manager Leah Schreubers.
Majid Bahriny, the owner of Mama Mia’s Ristorante Italiano in Morgan Hill, arrived early at his East Dunne Avenue dining establishment for what he thought was a meeting about a “problem” Firato wanted to discuss with him. Firato took a serious voice for a moment as Bahriny approached him and other members of the Chamber who had joined the surprise presentation, and then congratulated him for receiving the Chamber’s honor of 2015 Business of the Year.
An important reason Mama Mia’s received the recognition is because it contributes donated food and its banquet room to help nonprofit organizations in Morgan Hill with their various events, Horner said.
“I don’t know how many nonprofits he has supported with fundraisers at Mama Mia’s all these years,” he said. “I’ve been to a lot of them and I’ve probably been to one in 100. So it’s really remarkable the way he and his whole organization are all in for supporting the community all the time.”
Mama Mia’s is really identified with Bahriny as an entrepreneur, he said.
“What he uses his business and team for is to be a support to the community,” he said. “So we’re really acknowledging him for a restaurant that really takes business beyond ‘how much money can I put into my pocket this month’ and turning it into a business as an element or citizen of the community.”
Firato added that Bahriny’s involvement in the Morgan Hill Downtown Association and the Property Based Improvement District for the city’s downtown showed his commitment to the community.
“He does it from his heart,” he said. “He feels blessed to give back to the community and that’s the type of individual we want to showcase.”
Shawna Pacheco, the catering manager for Mama Mia’s, said she’s impressed with Bahriny’s generosity.
“Just working side by side with him this year, I really saw what Majid does for the community, for schools, nonprofits, in this community and in Gilroy,” she said. “I absolutely know he deserves business of the year, even though he’s not doing it for that honor.”
Leah Schreubers, general manager at Mama Mia’s, has worked at the restaurant for nine months and during that time has been impressed with what her boss does for Morgan Hill.
“He does it from his heart,” she said. “He’s constantly thinking of ways to give back so we’re very blessed to be in that position and be by his side.”
Bahriny said every day he follows advice given to him by his grandfather as a child to not take other people for granted, but help them whenever he can.
“I honestly don’t think I do much, but I really appreciate (the recognition),” he said. “I do what I can because I enjoy it. The way I see it, I really, really am blessed that I can do it. Not everybody can make their business and spend time with different community events and I’m glad I can.”
Tom and Terry Moriyama
Volunteers of the Year
Photo by Marty Cheek
Terry and Tom Moriyama are the ‘Volunteers of the Year.’ They were surprised with the award while dining at Rosy’s at the Beach.
Tom and Terry Moriyama entered Rosy’s at the Beach restaurant on the rainy night of Dec. 11 thinking they were simply going to have a quiet evening enjoying dinner with their friend Leonette Stafford. Terry was surprised when a group of people led by Firato came up to their table and surrounded it.
“It started looking a little creepy when you all walked in at once,” she would admit later.
Firato presented the couple with a framed certificate and informed them that they both had been selected as the Chamber’s 2015 Volunteers of the Year.
“I was pretty shocked,” Tom said. “I didn’t really know what was going on. Everyone else was here. We thought we were just going to have a dinner with Leonette.”
Traditionally, every year the Volunteer of the Year award goes to one person, but the Chamber decided to recognize the couple as a team, Horner said. It was the first time that the award was given jointly, he said.
“Terry is sort of the public face of their partnership – what I’ve been calling ‘Team Moriyama,’” he said. “But you see the work being done, whether it’s running the beer trailers for the Taste of Morgan Hill, which they done together for a long time, or Air for Paws, or many of the other efforts they’re involved with, Tom’s always there making it happen as well. So we wanted to recognize this spirit of partnership.”
Firato first met the married couple at the No Bull Barbecue event put on by the Chamber several years ago. He was impressed how active the Moriyamas are in volunteering their time to such organizations as the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill, Hope Services, Hometown Holidays, and the Taste of Morgan Hill. The Moriyama’s passion for animals has kept the two involved in the Air For Paws nonprofit that fund-raises to provide emergency respirators for pets.
“They are a couple who get involved, and over the years, Terry has been there right in front and Tom has been there to give her his support,” Firato said. “And we just thought it was really cool to give them both this award because if you asked them, they would say they couldn’t do what they do without the other.”
George Flores
Educator of the Year
Photo by Marty Cheek
Chamber Chairman Rich Firato, left, surprises Britton Middle School science teacher George Flores with the ‘Educator of the Year’ award.
The Britton Middle School Gym was filled with children and parents attending the annual science fair Dec. 16 when Horner took a microphone and announced to the crowd that a special recognition was going to be given. Science teacher George Flores was standing in front of him, focusing his camera on Horner when the Chamber CEO waved him to come over to him. A moment later, Firato congratulated Flores on receiving the Chamber’s 2015 Educator of the Year award.
Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Steve Betando told everyone in the gym: “Everyone here who knows Mr. Flores knows what type of character he has and what type of person he is – and what type of character he is. He has an amazing dedication for education and for students and we couldn’t be prouder to have him on our staff and what he does for all of you and for our community.”
Horner first became acquainted with Flores through the Chamber’s Education Committee and annual City-wide Science Fair event
“He’s remarkable in the energy and effort he puts in his job,” he said. “I don’t know if the man ever sleeps. Besides being a great science teacher at Britton Middle School, he created programs there such as the Volcano Kids Club that takes kids to Hawaii to study not only marine biology but volcanoes. And along the way, he’s teaching students how to communicate, how to raise money.”
Flores spends his summer months involved in the MESA (Math, Engineering, Science Achievement) program to help economically disadvantaged students build their science literacy skills, Horner added.
The teacher’s goal is to get young people excited about learning about the wonders of science, Firato said.
“When I hear people talk about him, I see that he’s just molding our children on how to be self-sufficient and maybe the next scientist,” he said. “You need teachers like that who go out of the ordinary.”
Flores told the people at the gym that he wants the recognition given to him to really celebrate the process of learning as a school community.
“We’ve got a great school here. We’re excited about the direction we’ve been going in and we couldn’t have done it without our teachers and our students in our school,” he said. “This is an interdisciplinary project where we have math teachers, the technology computer teachers, so that we’re seeing a holistic project. There’s a little bit of all of us invested in our kids. We have some great kids in our community.”
Jordyne Atkins
Student of the Year
Photo by Marty Cheek
Sobrato High School sophomore Jordyne Atkins checks out her ‘Student of the Year’ award.
The students of Sandra Briley’s algebra II class at Sobrato High School were bent down on their desks taking a final exam Dec. 15 when Principal Debbie Padilla opened the door and led a group of Chamber of Commerce presenters and Mayor Steve Tate to the front of the classroom.
Firato apologized for interrupting but told the students he had a special announcement.
“Today’s a special day because someone from your school, from this class, has done some really remarkable things for our community,” he said. “Usually, you guys in high school don’t get recognized in our community through our network or channel of people. But one individual is going to. And so we wanted to tell you how well this individual has done in our community…. And today’s award for Student of the Year from the Chamber of Commerce goes to Jordyne Atkins.”
The 14-year-old sophomore’s nomination for the honor came with an amazing background and glowing recommendations, Horner said. Most notably is her passion for local history and spending many of her Saturdays giving tours of the Morgan Hill House and History Museum.
“She particularly stood out for her work with the Morgan Hill Historical Society,” he said. “This is a person who is a shining example of someone who goes way above her assigned role. Jordan is not just a student. She’s reaching out and doing more for the community.”
Firato said that Atkins’s dedication is a testimony of a young person’s getting involved with a community organization and giving back.
“When you see someone like Jordan, you take notice,” he said. “She’s stepping out of the box and saying I want to volunteer. You don’t see many kids doing that. So when you see someone like Jordan making the effort and doing what she’s doing, you want to reward that.”
Briley described Atkins as a leader at Sobrato.
“She’s always very involved, she’s very supportive of her peers,” the math teacher said. “She’s always involved in school activities as much as she can be.”
After the surprise presentation, Atkins told classmates she was a bit nervous after receiving the recognition. “Sorry to interrupt your finals because this is kind of a difficult class,” she said.
Asked why she has gotten so involved with the historical society, she said, “I’m really invested in history. It’s fun to learn about…You should get involved with your community because at the end of the day, besides your parents, who else is going to have your back? The community is.”
