As a legendary community leader in Santa Clara County, Blanca Alvarado has received numerous honors, plaques, and trophies over the years. But receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Alum Rock Counseling Center on Friday had personal meaning for her.
“Alum Rock Counseling Center holds a special place in my heart,” said Alvarado, who is the first Latino member of the San Jose City Council and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and will turn 95 in July.
The organization was founded in 1974 by George Dove, Alvarado’s parish priest at Most Holy Trinity Church in East San Jose. Parishioners there had petitioned the parish for a Spanish-language Mass, and Mr. Dub (who previously served in Mexico and later retired from the priesthood) was appointed to celebrate Mass at Most Holy Trinity.
“His memory will always remain in my heart because he was a man of love, integrity and pride in his community, and he wanted to improve the lives of people, especially children. That’s why he founded the Alum Rock Counseling Center,” Alvarado told a crowd of more than 200 people gathered at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.
Today, the agency serves more than 4,500 youth and their families through counseling as well as programs such as life skills development, youth mentoring, trauma recovery, and parent training.
David Mineta, who took over as CEO of Alum Rock Counseling Center last year, said both Alvarado and his father, Norman Mineta, showed the people of Santa Clara County a path and opened doors. He said he remembered Alvarado speaking at a memorial service for his father, a former San Jose mayor, congressman and U.S. secretary of transportation, in 2022.
“One of the things she said about her dad was that he was everyone’s best friend,” Mineta said. “The truth is, Blanca is also everyone’s best friend, and she has worked for this community from her home all her life.”
Guests at the luncheon included Santa Clara County Supervisors Sylvia Arenas and Betty Duong, San Jose City Council members David Cohen and Peter Ortiz, and former ARCC Executive Directors Steve Eckert and Patricia Chiapperone. “The Voice of San Jose” Angela Tirado opened the program by singing Mariah Carey’s “Hero” and then had the audience sing the chorus.
Dean McCurry, a former Cisco engineer and ARCC advisory board member, was also recognized as this year’s Super Role Model. Cohen, who has worked with McCully on the Alviso project, said McCurry has been recognized several times recently for his work with various youth-focused nonprofits and service organizations, including the Sea Scouts and Young Eagles Chapter 62.
“I don’t know how he will be able to devote his time to different things, but his retirement should benefit us,” Cohen said.
note: Symphony San Jose turned pink at the Spring for the Symphony Gala held May 16 at the California Theater downtown. Hues of this color were featured throughout the theater’s surrounding décor, and Robert Massey, executive and artistic director of the symphony orchestra, stood out from the crowd in a hot pink tuxedo jacket.
The dinner and auction certainly seems to have inspired donations to the symphony orchestra this year, with three conducting gigs at this December’s Holiday Spectacular sold for $6,000 each. The night’s featured performer, tenor Ben Gulley, raised $10,000 to perform for 10 guests at Diane Brandenburg’s home in Monte Sereno. But the amazing part was that for every $1,000 they pledged, they held the last note of the aria they sang at the gala for an extra second, raising an additional $15,000.
Creative connections: Ryan Neal, who will graduate from UCLA next month, has been an inspiration to many on the Southern California campus. He is one of 35 alumni to receive the Chancellor’s Achievement Award after starting a social group for neurodivergent students at UCLA and helping relaunch the school’s Neurodivergent Empowerment Team.
This was quite a turning point for Neil, who started his university career trying to hide his autism from his colleagues and teachers, making himself ill.
“Much of my fear of autism stemmed not from objective limitations or concrete rejection from my peers, but from being exposed to representations of autism that did not capture my reality,” he said last weekend at an event celebrating neurodivergent youth storytellers and artists at the Goodwill Opportunity Center in San Jose, hosted by the Rotary Club of San Jose.
The initiative is co-chaired by College of Creative Arts founder Deanna Psi and Ryan’s grandfather, Core Companies founder David Neal, who was instrumental in providing seed funding for the fledgling program. Awards were presented to Arjun Agrawal, Alaja Baladic, Ashley Dong, and Jason McAlanas, and honorable mentions were given to Aster Schweiger, G. Wood, Steven Arreola Munoz, and Shane Turkington.
vehicle: May is officially Bicycle Month, but few people take that challenge as seriously as Pathway Society CEO Gary Montrezza. On Thursday, he took part in a recovery ride, cycling the Los Gatos route, which is equivalent to the height of Mount Everest at 29,029 feet, more than 100 times.
He didn’t just do it to brag either. His goal was to raise $40,000 to $50,000 for Pathway’s Withdrawal Management Center, a detox facility scheduled to open in downtown San Jose later this summer. The construction costs for the facility were covered by a grant, but Pathway is also raising money to secure other necessities, including medical equipment, beds and supplies for the program.
Montrezza had some supporters on board, including Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. Max Weber, student at University College Dublin, currently enrolled at San Jose State University as part of the San Jose-Dublin Sister Cities Scholars Program. and Mike Salinas, founder of “Champion Sponsor” Valley Services. You can learn more about the ride or make a donation at pathwaysociety.org/recovery-ride.
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