'Tis the season to give back to the
community. For several local businesses, helping others is their motivation all
year long.
Amid cheers, laughter and applause, nine businesses were acknowledged
Thursday for their years of contributions during the 17th annual Spirit of
Solano award luncheon.
The award recognizes local chambers of commerce and honors businesses that
embody the entrepreneurial spirit of the region and who take an active role to
improve the communities they serve.
From the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce, NorthBay Healthcare received one of
the Spirit of Solano awards.
Giving back to the community goes back more than 50 years, when a group of
local physicians created NorthBay, its mission of compassionate care, advanced
medicine means no one is turned away, even for the most expensive, most
sophisticated treatment.
Vacaville Councilwoman Dilenna Harris vouched for NorthBay's care as a mother
delivering a premature baby. She said the neonatal intensive care unit at the
hospital saved her daughter, who just recently gave birth to her own child.
"NorthBay, you are awesome," Harris said.
NorthBay Healthcare President and CEO Gary Passama received the award.
"NorthBay believes that to have a healthy community, it must have a thriving
business sector," he said and thanked the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce for the
acknowledgment.
Not accustomed to being publicly recognized for their behind the scenes
efforts, Richard and Krissy Hiteshew, owners of A-1 Guaranteed Heating and Air Conditioning,
humbly accepted their award.
The company in business since 1996 was chosen by the Vallejo Chamber of
Commerce.
"We don't do it for the recognition," Krissy Hiteshew said. "It's kind of
awkward for us to be up here, but we're very appreciative.
"We grew up in Vallejo so it's our turn to give back to Vallejo. We couldn't
be here without the help of others."
Hiteshew said they run their business on doing the right thing even when no
one is looking and thanked their co-workers for the success.
Additional Spirit of Solano award winners are:
Dixon Chamber of Commerce: Curves of Dixon, Dorothy Luedke and Cher
Besneatte.
Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce: Ford Lincoln Fairfield, Sohail Tabar;
Delta Graphics, Pat Holzwarth.
Benicia Chamber of Commerce: Printer Concepts Technology, Frances Hurley and
Dennie Geltz.
Solano County Black Chamber of Commerce: 123 Target Marketing, K. Patrice
Williams.
Solano Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: Monarch Engineers, Marisela Barbosa.
Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Solano County: Martinez
Multi-Services, Omar Enrique Martinez Zerbato.
Follow Staff Writer Melissa Murphy at Twitter.com/ReporterMMurphy.
