community DIGEST
Gilroy Assistance League
Monies Raised & Awarded
EACH YEAR FOR THE PAST TWELVE YEARS, the Gilroy
Assistance League has presented it’s signature event,
the Impressions Home and Garden Tour, the week-
end of Mother’s Day. And every April of the year fol-
lowing, they award a major portion of the proceeds
raised to local youth groups. This year, $21,000 was
awarded to youth programs at the Annual Luncheon
honoring the grant recipients at Mama Mia’s
Restaurant in Gilroy.
Despite the rainy weather, the Tour welcomed
over 400 guests to the area to tour three amazing
homes, all in the Eastern Hills of Gilroy and San
Martin, concluding with a boutique and wine tasting
at Miramar Cellars. This year’s chair was Tiffany
Oetinger of Fernwood Cellars.
GALs is a non-profit corporation of 35 active
members who work to raise funds to provide grants
to local health and recreation programs, visual and
performing arts, and numerous other youth-oriented
projects in our local community.
GALs began in 1959 with 15 women as a chapter
of Children’s Home Society involved in adoptive
services. In 1984, it became the Gilroy Assistance
League, or GALs, and decided to concentrate all our
fundraising efforts in our community.
Grant recipients included (not in order) Unspoken Works (Lisa Bruce), DreamPower Horseman-
ship (Martha McNiel), Community Solutions (Page Day), St. Mary School (Denise Garobaldi),
Sportsman Chef (Jim Habing), New Hope Community Church (Denise Brown), Gateway School
(Michelle Kjellesvig), Rebekah Children’s Services (Michael Luevino), South Valley Middle School
(Wendy Kaefer), CHS Special Ed (Heather Bass), and Brownell Middle School (Christine West).
Gilroy Chamber of Commerce
South County
Legislative Summit
THE 3RD ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT
hosted by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce
took place in late April at the Hilton
Garden Inn. With nearly 100 people in
attendance, elected officials came together
to discuss issues facing South County
residents. Elected officials who presented
information were, Congresswoman Zoe
Lofgren; State Senator Bill Monning; State
Assemblyman Luis Alejo; County Supervisor
District 1 Mike Wasserman; Director John
Varela with the Santa Clara Valley Water
District; Gilroy Mayor Perry Woodward;
and Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate. Topics
included, Homeland Security, Immigration,
Downtown Gilroy, Downtown Morgan Hill,
High Speed Rail, Drought, Minimum Wage,
Transportation, and other issues.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY / AUGUST 2016
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