By Richard Bammer
Posted: 12/04/2009
Praise for small-business endeavors, volunteerism and gratitude for community support crowded the menu -- besides chicken and beef main dishes -- at the Spirit of Solano luncheon Thursday, which honored county businesses, business owners and their employees.
David Payne, chairman and CEO of Westamerica Bank, which sponsored the 14th annual event at the Delta Breeze Club on Travis Air Force Base, said the award recipients symbolized "steadfastness" and devotion to communities during the worst economic slump in recent memory.
Mike Ammann, president of the Solano Economic Development Corporation, said the event -- which attracted some 200 business owners, their families, friends and employees, chambers of commerce officials, city and state political leaders -- marks a time to "pause, reflect and recognize volunteers" and their contributions to their respective cities and towns.
Chosen by their local or countywide chambers, the recipients (in order) were Freda Dill, branch manager of US Bank in Vallejo; Robert Brown and Mary Lou Gray, manager and director of sales, respectively, of Hampton Inn and Suites in Vacaville; Alicia Cook, owner of State Farm Insurance in Vallejo; Dr. Guido A. Minaya, owner of Minaya and Associates in Vallejo; and doctors Joseph and Monica Awender, owners of Awender Chiropractic in Rio Vista.
Also recognized were Carlos Pimentel and Irene Barbasa, owner and manager, respectively, of Max's of Manila restaurant in Vallejo; Gary Passama, president and CEO of NorthBay Healthcare in Fairfield; Ava Forrest, owner of, and Amy Forrest and Staci Beene, instructors at, Dixon Dance Studio in Dixon; and Tom Gavin and Tami Schreiner, owners of Gavin and Schreiner Insurance in Benicia.
Born and raised in Vallejo and chair of the Vallejo chamber board, Dill called her bank "a giving corporation," but reserved some especially heartfelt remarks for a mentor who had shown her "the value of volunteerism."
Brown and Gray were cited for making their 800 Mason St. hostelry available for local business meetings and events, especially for nonprofit groups in Vacaville.
Just before receiving his award, Passama said that he "believes a community needs to be healthy," but he also noted that NorthBay -- the only locally managed, independent hospital system in Solano County -- not only recently provided some $16 million in free medical care for the poor but it also supported 40 area youth and senior programs.
Ammann, as a perennial booster of Solano County business, trends and commercial opportunities, said small firms form "the nucleus" of the county's economic life, noting that some 65 percent of local businesses have five or less employees.
Striking a sobering chord, he asserted that "2010 is going to be a real tough year," but he also alluded to signs that point to the beginning of an economic recovery in Solano County, hard hit for the past two years by unemployment exceeding 10 percent, staggering home foreclosure rates and downsized businesses.
Robert Brown of Vacaville's Hampton Inn and Suites was one of the honorees at this year's Spirit of Solano Awards luncheon Thursday. (Joel Rosenbaum / The Reporter)
