THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR HELPING US RECOGNIZE OUR COMMUNITY HEROES
Heroes have made a difference in the lives of others. Sometimes it's many people and sometimes it's just a few, but any good deed is worth celebrating. All award winners were recognized in the live Hero Awards Ceremony on March 18, 2021 as well as on the Duarte Chamber of Commerce website and social media pages. If you weren't able to join us for the ceremony you can view it in the video below. Enjoy!
Not All Heroes Wear Capes.
Are you ready to help recognize the heroes in our community?
CONGRATS TO OUR
CHAMBER CHAMPION HEROES
Community Heroes
Thank you for the many Community Hero Nominations that we received! All of our nominees are heroes because of their sacrifices and service to the community.
Lois Gaston
Lois continues to be an extremely effective and supportive member of the Duarte Community - serving it all.
Kaye Biggs
Kaye is a key support for our High School Key Clubs at both DHS and CalArts. She also supports Santa Teresita and Friends of the Duarte Library, and St. Vincent DePaul.
Marielle Devohr
Marielle is a proud Duarte business owner and deserves to be recognized for her hard work. Marielle inspires many people, is always giving to people, and is an amazing person.
Kelly Barnes
Kelly is dedicated to helping Duarte Seniors!
Tzeitel Paras Caracci
Tzeitel is an amazing, strong, tough cookie, champion, and fighter in life and in her work. She serves the community with a smile!
Victoria Rocha
Victoria has worked tirelessly this year on behalf of Duarte's residents, businesses, and civic organizations. As the Assistant to the City Manager and Public Information Officer, Victoria has kept the Duarte's citizens informed about key issues, events, and opportunities that affect their everyday lives.
Claudia Heller
Claudia loves Duarte History as manifested by many, many years of exemplary leadership at the Duarte Historical Museum and insightful, well-written weekly articles in the Pasadena Star News.
Pam Romero
Pam was extremely helpful during the COVID-19 vaccination event with City of Hope and Duarte Unified School District and helped navigate the process to obtain an appointment.
Peggy Diamond
Peggy is dedicated to helping Duarte Seniors!
Gordon Amerson
Gordon is a community hero for partnering with City of Hope to organize vaccinations for our community!
Sam Kang
Sam has consistently helped Duarte be a safe, healthy, educated, financially sound, and fun city for Duarteans to enjoy!
Nancy Greene
After COVID-19 hit, Nancy came out of retirement to set up a classroom for our two granddaughters and started teaching again. She is a hero to everyone in the family!
Debbie Ogden
Ms. Ogden taught at Royal Oaks for over 20 years and has impacted hundreds if not thousands of Duarte residents with her kindness, generosity, creativity, and unconditional love. Ms. Ogden has helped teachers, parents, and students navigate the struggles of COVID-19 and has advocated for the improvement of DUSD facilities. The list of contributions Ms. Ogden has made to Duarte is extensive. Her acts of kindness have warmed our hearts and brought us hope during this pandemic. There is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Ogden is a hero!
Yolanda Cooper
Since the onset of the Pandemic, she has offered masks and other PPE at reasonable prices to the community and has consistently reached out to make these items easily available. She has also assisted neighbors in scheduling vaccination appointments. Yolanda is what I consider a "quiet hero" -- those people who with small acts make a BIG difference!
Candis Dellaripa
Candis is a true hero of the COVID-19 era! Not only has she been dedicated to leading her team in serving her customers during this time where reliability of their vehicles is so important, she has been financially and emotionally supportive to those she works with while enduring all of the COVID-19 challenges at home. She has been steadfast in keeping her customers both safe and comfortable while visiting Sierra and has guarded the safety of her employees with equal diligence.
Duarte Swimming Pool Staff
I am nominating the staff of the Duarte Swimming pool: Clarrisa Bloch, Alex Florio, Sandra Cabellero, Curtis Warner, and Erik Garcia. This group of workers has made the pool available to Seniors due to their creative solutions to social distancing. During these days of being confined to our homes, the time spent with these kind, compassionate, fun-loving individuals has lifted my spirits.
John Sechini
John has spent many dedicated hours teaching classes and volunteering with the Senior Center, both in-person and virtually!
Rick Crosby
Mr. Crosby has been an integral part of working with City of Hope to bringing the COVID-19 vaccine directly to Duarte residents as well as the staff members of 8 local school districts. He volunteers on-site every weekend from beginning to end to make sure things run smoothly and that the people of Duarte and staff members of local schools are taken care of in a safe and timely manner!
Anne Wilkens
Anne has been an active supporter and volunteer for the Duarte Chamber of Commerce. She is a wonderful illustration of how to enjoy life, especially at Westminster Gardens. She is a bright light at all of our Chamber meetings and is always willing to lend a hand and a smile!
Loyd Gibbons
Loyd, who recently passed away at 103 years old, was the owner of Loyd's Bicycle Shop and was thought to be the longest and oldest Duarte Business operator. He sold many first bikes to Duarte residents and repaired many more. Loyd's shop has been a gathering place for many friends and residents. He has been previously honored by the Monrovia-Duarte Black History Association and by the City of Duarte. He will be missed by his many Duarte friends.
Tickets for this event have closed.
Along with being able to help recognize our community heroes, we are building some AMAZING Hero Boxes. Hero boxes include some great gifts from the Duarte Chamber of Commerce and our event sponsors, as well as a dining out coupon voucher book from our local restaurants. ! Supplies are limited so all Early Bird Tickets will be guaranteed a Hero Box. Ticket purchases after 2/28/2021 will include a Hero box as supplies last. Hero Boxes will be available by local pickup in Duarte. More information on where and when to pickup will be provided via email prior to the event.
