Thank You To Everyone Who Supported Our
The Community Action Awards on Saturday, June 4th
at the DoubleTree in Santa Ana brought together the Corporations, Individuals, and Community Partners who have excelled in changing the lives of families with low-incomes served by Community Action Partnership.
Doug and Claire Pettibone, Mayor Tom and Julie Tait, and Richard and Cynthia Ward
Thien An Performing Arts


Sue Jessing, Diane Kawamura, Joel Hessing, nominee A.G. Kawamura, and Christine Remo
CAPOC's Doug Vogel, Len and Mishal Montgomery, and Costa Mesa Mayor Stephen Mensinger


PIMCO Foundation's Elizabeth Eckman receiving the Impact of the Year Award for PIMCO's Share the Harvest from Event Chair Roxanne Chow
OC Food Bank Director Mark Lowry presenting the Corporate Legacy Award to Jill Bolton, Disneyland Resorts



Andrea Lowry; Gary Smith, Wells Fargo; James Colquitt, CAPOC Board Secretary; Dr. Anuradha Prakash, Chapman University; and Angeli Advaryu

John Stratman, Kaiser Permanente Senior Director of Public Affairs with Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait
Highlighting Our Six Individual Nominees
 
Nominated for the Change Maker Award, these six individuals have shown dedication and success in helping change the lives of the low-income families served by CAPOC through their philanthropic, advocacy, and volunteer efforts.

As Mayor of Anaheim, Tom Tait was the leading effort to make Anaheim a "City of Kindness", which resulted in the Million Acts of Kindness program launched in the Anaheim City School District, the visit of the Dalai Lama to Orange County, Senator Janet Nguyen's State of Kindness effort, and other inspired projects taken on by corporations benefiting CAPOC. Mayor Tait is a supporter of the OC Food Bank as well as Waste Not OC. 
   
A.G. Kawamura and Orange County Produce have been supporters of the OC Food Bank for many years donating millions of pounds of fruits and vegetables. As a member of the OC Hunger Coalition and former Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, A.G. has advocated for access to fresh produce for low-income families. 
   
Cheryl Vargo has helped facilitate the needs of the community for many years in her role as Community Benefit Manager at Kaiser Permanente. As an advocate for obesity prevention programs through Kaiser's focus initiatives, Cheryl supported various efforts including CAPOC'S Stanton Community Garden, active transportation programs, and awareness for other underrepresented focus areas such as substance abuse and suicide. Cheryl has also organized food, book and toy drives at Kaiser employee events. 
   
As Executive Director for the PIMCO Foundation, Sarah Middleton developed PIMCO's employee volunteer program and related corporate responsibility initiatives.   One of those initiatives is their annual Share the Harvest event, which packs 16,000 food boxes benefiting families served by th e OC Food Bank during the holidays including items that could be used to make a holiday meal.
 
   
Jo-Pledge and Mike Mustoe received the Change Maker Award for their contributions at the El Modena Family Resource Center. Creating the Japan Karate Do Gensei Ryu program at El Modena Family Resource Center a few years ago, they have more than 40 students between two classes and a waiting list to enroll. With more than 2,000 hours dedicated to the youth in this program, they have helped the community by teaching youth respect, responsibility, and discipline.   Many students have progressed academically as well because of the training and have learned how to better handle problems that there are faced with in life.