2017 Heroes Breakfast Honorees

Central Coast Red Cross’ 12th Annual Heroes Breakfast: Friday, June 16

The American Red Cross of the Central Coast will be honoring 11 inspirational community members for their acts of courage or compassion at the 12th Annual Heroes Breakfast on Friday, June 16, in Aptos.

After careful consideration, a committee of local community leaders selected the 2017 Central Coast Hero Award recipients based on the degree to which their acts of heroism or compassion uphold the values of the American Red Cross and leave a lasting and positive impact on the residents of the Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties.

The following is a list of the heroes who will be honored at this year’s breakfast; descriptions of each honoree’s actions follow.

• Animal Rescue Hero: Rosanna Leighton – Seaside – SPCA for Monterey County – Soberanes Fire.
• Disaster Services Hero: Sarah Blackstone – Monterey – Community Emergency Response Volunteers (CERV) of the Monterey Peninsula – Soberanes Fire.
• Education Hero: Willie Stokes – San Juan Bautista – Working with youth and young adults in the schools, at Juvenile Hall, in County Jail, and even at a Sports Summer Camp for at-risk youth – His book, The Testimony of a Black Sheep.
• Environmental Heroes: Alex Weber and Jack Johnston – Carmel – Removed 12,000+ golf balls from cove below the Pebble Beach Golf Links and have now developed an annual offshore cleanup program at Pebble Beach.
• First Responder Hero: Kraig Evans – Capitola – Capitola Police Officer – Saved driver suffering heart attack in his car.
• Good Samaritan Hero – Adult: Michael Dremel – Seaside – Marina High School – Saved student suffering cardiac arrest in his chemistry class.
• Good Samaritan Hero – Youth: Reese Selck – Watsonville – Stopped his brother from being swept away into a drainage ditch until help arrived.
• International Services Hero: Jon Winston – Santa Cruz – Rotary Club – Traveled to Guatemala three times, helped construct maternity-care units in two hospitals, helped create a temporary health clinic of dentists, eye doctors, and a surgeon, assisted to deliver over 30 Chapina Stoves to reduce the smoke in their homes and the women’s lungs as they prepare meals.
• Medical Hero: Larry deGhetaldi – Soquel – Santa Cruz Medical Clinic/PAMF – His efforts resulted in: 1) an increase of nearly $2 million in support of the Healthy Kids Program, 2) Seniors and medical providers benefited from Dr. deGhetaldi’s efforts when Congress corrected Santa Cruz County’s lower Medicare reimbursements.
• Service to the Armed Forces Hero: Lisa Tkoch-McFarland – Felton – Operation Love Our Vets – Through her many acts of kindness, Tkoch-McFarland has gained the trust of donors, veterans, and their caregivers as she seeks to make the world a better place one veteran at a time.

The event will take place at Twin Lakes Church, Monschke Hall located at 2701 Cabrillo College Drive. Registration will open at 8 a.m., and the program will run from 8:30 until 10 a.m. Table sponsorships and individual tickets are still available for the event.

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The American Red Cross of the Central Coast Heroes Breakfast is a community event that supports the lifesaving programs and emergency services the local chapter provides for the nearly 750,000 residents of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties. To purchase tickets to the breakfast, please go to: redcross.org/ccheroes2017. To help with sponsorships or if you have other questions about the event, please call 831-624-6921.