East Aldine District holds annual Awards Ceremony

DAVID HAWES, East Aldine District executive director, was emcee for the evening.
DAVID HAWES, East Aldine District executive director, was emcee for the evening.

The East Aldine District held its annual Strategic Partner Awards ceremony and dinner, last Friday evening at the Greer & Lowdermilk Conference Center in Interwood.

This annual event recognizes and thanks the many partners that have worked with the District in achieving their goal of improving the quality of life in Aldine.

About 100 persons attended the ceremony, in spite of heavy rains and street flooding. Emcee for the evening was East Aldine executive director David Hawes. Awards were presented in the following categories:

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR, Ms. Sara Garcia. Various organizations including the Little League.

COMMUNITY AWARD, Ms. Shirley Reed, head of the local Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and instrumental in securing a Sheriff’s storefront office in Aldine.

PUBLIC SAFETY, Deputy Grace Luna. Active in the Community Services Division of the Sheriff’s Office, and mentor to the Explorers troupe.

GOVERNMENTAL, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Former City Councilman, and now Sheriff, leading a 5000 man force. Instrumental in moving the 9-1- 1 Call Facility to Aldine.

PUBLIC HEALTH, Amy Corbett. Community Relations director at the local EMS, HCEC#1.

BUSINESS, Brookside Funeral Home and Memorial Park. Serving the community, while preserving a beautiful cemetery and park. Accepting, Jorge Cotte-Cruz and Ms. Kinetta Lewis.

EDUCATION, Dr. Gerald Napoles. President of the Lone Star College – North Harris, and leader in developing East Aldine’s Lone Star College campus.

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD, Ms. Susan Hill. A partner in Hawes Hill Associates, and a leader in community activities.

INNOVATION IN PUBLIC SAFETY, to the DRT or Differential Response Team of the Sheriff’s office. This team is using new techniques to combat crime and improve the community. Accepting were Sgt. Eric Stormer, Deputies David Peterson, Raymond Radney, and Jose Pena.

EXTRA MILE AWARD, Scott Bean. Responsible for overseeing the sewer and water infrastructure projects for the District. Managed $43 million in projects, with $17 million from the District and $26 in grant dollars.

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARDS were presented to Taylor Fitzgerald of Centerpoint for help in utilities at the Town Center; to Jim Ainsworth, for engineering work on the water supply system and the recycling center, and the District creative team, Roan Matthews, Juan Islas, and Margaret Eister.

The evening ended with a humorous video by JibJab of district individuals dancing away.

Major sponsors for the evening included A&S Engineers, and PGAL architects.