Newark Resident Honored as Hometown Hero

Comcast and Bay Area News Group presented the Second Annual Hometown Heroes ceremony Monday to honor 27 Bay Area community members who have made a difference in their communities and internationally.

The rotunda at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland was filled with the honorees, their families, friends, elected officials and community leaders as everyone gathered to celebrate these people who strive to make positive changes.

Newark resident and Seniors in Schools director Mona Walker was among the honorees. She said it was an inspiring event and she met many wonderful people.

“It was incredible. After I heard all of those people talk, I thought to myself, ‘Gosh, I haven’t done much,’” said 86-year-old Walker. “They have all done amazing things, from young children to a 91-year-old.”

Kelly Hess, a recreation coordinator for Senior Services at the , disagreed. She said she found out about the Hometown Hero program after an Argus reporter contacted her about a year ago.

“They were looking for a senior who was doing a lot for the community,” Hess said. “It was obvious that Mona shined here in town for all the things she’s doing. She also volunteers with veterans and she helps out with the Newark chapter of AARP. I knew she would be a good person to spotlight in our community.”

Hometown Hero recipients' age range was wide — 13 to 91.

“What purpose are we helping to encourage by all of this?” Sandré Swanson, California assemblyman for District 16, asked during the ceremony.  “All of these honorees tonight are touching young people's lives.”

The honorees were selected from profiles that appeared in a Bay Area News Group publication.

Hometown Heroes was started three years ago to focus on heroes in the community. However, this was the first actual ceremony commemorating honorees from the past three years.

“They don’t do it for any special recognition,” Swanson said. “They do it because they passionately believe in helping the next generation. That is such a rewarding feeling.”  

Cecilia Vega, a reporter for KGO-TV and Henry Wofford from Comcast SportsNet presented the Hometown Heroes: John Holland-McCowan, Amber Rich, Ed McClelland, Tyler Page, Dana Dornsife, Diane Gilfether, Sgt. Marty Neideffer, Jan Schilling, Bertha Cuellar, Lorrain Taylor, Sheilah Fish, Mona Walker, Lisa Busbee-Young, Benito Delgado-Olson, Nyeisha DeWitt, Neil Jacobson, Dee Johnson, Wendy Tokuda, Dotti Baker, Lorraine Peterson, Larry Wang, Fred Jackson, Larry Lewis, Vintage Foster, Elena Bicker, Linda Fodrini-Johnson and Agnes Moore.

Here are highlights of some of the recipients' achievements:

As the director of the Seniors in Schools program in Newark, Mona Walker recruits and assigns retired workers to volunteer in elementary schools.

“We recruit people to help in our libraries and classrooms,” Walker said. “We’re looking for someone who’s interested in working with children. They don’t need a background in teaching and many have already volunteered in classrooms when their children were in school.”

Walker was an elementary school teacher in Minnesota. Now, she volunteers at . That’s where she helps individual students with math and reading lessons. Walker also works with kindergarten reading groups.

Kelly Hess says Walker’s husband, Ed, was one of the founders of Seniors in Schools.

“Ed was just as vivacious and passionate about kids and education as Mona,” Hess said.

Dublin resident Sgt. Marty Neideffer is the founder of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Activities League. Neideffer was honored for creating a program that provides free activities to about 3,000 K-12 students. DSAL was created to encourage positive behavior in the kids.

Dana Dornsife from Danville was honored for establishing the Lazarex Cancer Foundation, which helps patients who cannot afford alternative treatments.

Diane Gilfether, also from Danville, was recognized for founding the Blackhawk Chorus. It started as a group of 12, and has grown to140 members who travel the world sharing their musical talents.

“It’s a wonderful validation for the work of the members of the Blackhawk Chorus, because they’re such faithful, dedicated people to music in our community in the Tri-Valley area, and in Danville in particular,” Gilfether said.

San Ramon resident Vintage Foster wanted to help encourage students to achieve in school, so started the Bay Area Leadership Foundation. Students from West Contra Costa County, Oakland, Pittsburg and San Jose are paired with a mentor and can earn scholarships. Because of Foster’s work, 137 students graduated from high school, 90 percent of whom attended college.

As the executive director of Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation, Walnut Creek resident Elena Bicker has devoted her life to protecting dogs and cats. The organization has found homes for more than 21,000 dogs and cats.

Linda Fodrini-Johnson, also from Walnut Creek, has helped hundreds of senior citizens by founding Eldercare Services. Her aim is to help maintain independence for those with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease and who have had strokes. She also provides free workshops and seminars for family members.

The oldest honoree of the night was Agnes Moore, a 91-year-old Walnut Creek resident. Known as "Rosie the Welder," Moore was honored as a volunteer for the WWII Home Front National Historic Park, where she volunteers as a docent. She is respected for her knowledge and experience of working as a welder in a shipyard during WWII.

“I felt honored, and I really felt I don’t think I did anything special to get all of this honoring they do nowadays for people who worked in the shipyard, especially women,” Moore said. “I just felt like I was doing what needed to be done.”

The Hometown Heroes program can be viewed by Comcast customers on the network’s On Demand channel, and can also be found every other Monday in a Bay Area News publication.

Kris Vera-Phillips contributed to this report.