Rather Award Nominations Due by March 4

The Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Health Care was created by the Community Health Trust of the Pajaro Valley to annually recognize and honor individuals, businesses and organizations whose contributions of time, effort and/or funding help make a difference in the quality of health care for Pajaro Valley residents. 

The Trust presented the first Rather Award in 1999 to its namesake Phil Rather, former President of both the Watsonville Community Hospital Foundation and the Watsonville Community Hospital Board of Directors. As an individual, Mr. Rather set the tone for the award with his record of leadership and service for 30 years as a champion of health care for the residents of the Pajaro Valley. See previous recipients

With the Rather Award, the Trust continues annually to identify and recognize an individual and/or organization that has had a positive and broad-based impact on improving the health of Pajaro Valley residents. We strive to honor those who’ve provided:

• Volunteer leadership for health care causes
• Leadership in fund raising for health care
• Extraordinary services and/or achievement in health care (in other words, for going above and beyond their job).

Your nomination for the 2010 Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Health Care would be much appreciated.  We want to celebrate the value of those who lead and serve as champions of quality health care for the residents of the Pajaro Valley.

The nominee selected will be notified and the Award will be presented at a reception hosted by the Community Health Trust on Wednesday, May 19, 2010.

This notice and the nomination form are available as a PDF download. Please feel free to make copies and share them with interested individuals or organizations. For more information, please call the Trust office at 761-5639.

Please mail, fax, or email your nomination to the Trust no later than March 4, 2010 to:

Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust
85 Nielson Street , Watsonville, CA 95076
Fax: (831) 763-6084
kking@pvhealthtrust.org

Health Trust Announces Winners of 2009 Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Health Care

At the May 20th 2009 Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Health Care event, the Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust (Health Trust) proudly recognized two winners of the prestigious Rather award. The honorees were Mary Solari, Ginny Solari Mazry and the Richard and Mary Solari Charitable Trust and Jovenes SANOS (Healthy Youth), a group of students who work to encourage healthy lifestyle choices among youth in the Pajaro Valley.

“These awardees were singled out for recognition this year because they model leadership in health care philanthropy and grassroots activism in ways that reflect the spirit of the Rather Award,” said Trust Board Chair Donna Ramos.  “The Solaris and Jovenes SANOS truly stand out among their peers.”

Chosen for their long history of health and human service philanthropy, the Solari Family was recognized in the individual category for the 2009 Rather Award.  The Solari Family is well known for its generosity to local nonprofit agencies and organizations that support basic human needs such as access to food and health care services.  Richard Solari (now deceased) and his wife, Mary, established the Charitable Trust bearing their name in 1985.  Their daughter, Ginny Solari Mazry, serves as the Executive Director of the Solari Trust.

In addition to their philanthropic support of local agencies such as Second Harvest Food Bank, the Pajaro Valley Shelter Services, Hospice of Santa Cruz County and many others, the Solaris have also joined the Health Trust in its fight against diabetes by providing $50,000 in support to the Diabetes Health Center over the past five years.

Jovenes SANOS, winner in the organizational category, is a Watsonville-based youth advocacy project established in 2005 to help raise awareness about childhood obesity in the Pajaro Valley.  Jovenes SANOS is a program of the Go For Health! project, a broad based collaborative effort initiated by the United Way of Santa Cruz County to address the problem of childhood obesity throughout the county. The 29 youth who comprise the Jovenes Sanos project have been working in the Pajaro Valley to implement and advocate for polices that increase opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity in three community sectors:  school wellness, city planning and markets.
In this unique project to engage local youth in helping to address issues that directly affect their own health and that of their peers, the Jovenes SANOS project has made significant strides in raising awareness of childhood obesity and in improving the quality of health in  the Pajaro Valley.

The 2009 Rather Award ceremony was held at the Trust’s community conference room at 85 Nielson Street in Watsonville where the winners were surrounded by an audience of 160 supporters, friends and family.

The Health Trust created the Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Healthcare in 1999.  The award was inspired by its namesake and first recipient, Phil Rather, whose volunteer leadership in health care spanned more than 30 years in the Pajaro Valley.  The Rather Award recognizes and honors individuals and/or organizations in the community whose contributions of time, effort and/or philanthropy have helped make a difference in the quality of our community’s health care.

Previous Recipients of the Rather Award

• Phil Rather
• The DiCicco Family
• Dr. Janet Bell
• Bonnie Gutierrez
• Jorge Sanchez (Individual) and the Hospital Service League (Organization)
• Salud Para La Gente
• Ed & Doris Mann (Individuals) and Hospice Caring Project of Santa Cruz County (Organization)
• Mary Boyd (Individual) and Central Coast Alliance for Health (Organization)
• Dr. George Wolfe (Individual) and Youth Resources Bank (Organization)
• Kathleen Kilpatrick (individual) and Healthy Kids Collaborative of Santa Cruz County (Organization)
• The Richard and Mary Solari Charitable Trust (Individuals) and Jovenes SANOS (Organization)

For more information about this event or the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust, please contact Kathleen King, CEO, 831-761-5639.