A Night of Honors
Mar 13, 2020 12:00AM ● By By Seti Long
Some, not all, of the VFW Award winners proudly display their awards. Pictured left to right: VFW Point of Contact, Ron Schyer; Greyson Sannar; Past Commander Cheyenne Bart; Sierra Spears/Brady; Mary Redding and VFW Member Ed Kawasaki. Photo by Seti Long
GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – Last week, the Gridley VFW Post 5731 held is annual Awards Night, recognizing outstanding citizens and student scholarship winners.
Senior Vice Commander Michael Larson was Master of Ceremonies and Commander Joshua Bagley assisted in handing out awards.
Officer Jared Cooley was named “VFW Officer of the year”. Officer Cooley has been an asset to the Gridley-Biggs Police Department since 2017 and recently sought grant funding and donations to restart Gridley’s K-9 Program. His resulting partner, yellow lab “Kilo”, has been highly successful–the pair being behind multiple drug seizures in the short time Kilo has been with the department. Officer Cooley was honored for his outstanding dedication to our community and our Police Department.
CAL FIRE/Butte County Fire Station74’s Nick Del Chiaro was commended for his service to our community and with the department as he was named “VFW Firefighter of the Year.” Del Chiaro has been stationed at Gridley for 2 years but has served CALFIRE for 10. VFW says “Nick displays a strong sense of perseverance, integrity and does whatever it takes to get the job done well.” He too, is an asset to our community.
Other Awardees included Past Commander of the VFW Post 5731 in 2018, Cheyenne Bart. She became the first female commander of the post in 2018. Bart took home a beautiful bronze eagle statue for her dedicated and tireless service of Veterans and Camp Fire Victims after the November 8th, 2018 disaster.
Edward Kawasaki, Current Service Officer of Post 5731 was named “VFW Member of the Year.” Kawasaki assists veterans wade through the maze of bureaucracy as they file with the Veterans Administrations for services regarding injuries or illness. According to his VFW colleagues, “He is the “go to” person in our post for solving problems…”
Longevity awards were presented to: Mark Parnow, 5 years; Richard Teesdale, 10 yrs.; Ray Jorgensen, 20 yrs; Steve Longoria, 25 yrs; Gene Smith, 25 yrs; Joe Carbajal, 35 yrs.; Floyd North, 45 years, and Carroll Lewellen, 50 years.
Student Scholarship Awards for the “Voice of Democracy” essay competition 1st place award went to GHS Senior Sierra Spears/Brady. Following close behind, 2nd place was awarded to Jazmine Johl, Senior at River Valley High School in Yuba City.
Patriots Pen Youth essay competition winners were 7th grader, Regina Weitzel from Sutter Peak Charter Academy in Live Oak with 1st place, 2nd taken by Alexander Karnaukh, also a 7th grader at Sutter Peak Charter Academy in Live Oak, and 3rd place went to Eliora Weitzel, 6th grader at Sutter Peak Charter Academy in Live Oak.
Other special recognition went to Eagle Scout, Greyson Sannar; Christine Ziccardi, Counselor at Sutter Peak Charter Academy, Live Oak; Mary Redding, VFW Support, for her work administrating to Veterans Halls throughout the county and their security; VFW Post 5731 Auxiliary President Jeanette Hayhurst and myself, Seti Long, of the Gridley Herald.
Congratulations to all the awardees. I would personally like to thank the VFW for their recognition of myself and my dedicated work at the Gridley Herald. It is truly an honor to be recognized by the VFW for my work to help produce a quality paper that represents our wonderful community. Many thanks!
