Around Town … with Robert Airoldi: Leadership Gilroy’s virtual events raise nearly $40,000 for nonprofits

The Gilroy cLOVE Days and the raw garlic clove eating challenge raised more than $28,000

By Robert Airoldi

Robert Airoldi

This year’s Leadership Gilroy’s class project was a grand success in bringing residents safely together on the three days when the Gilroy Garlic Festival would have taken place.

Friday, July 24 was a day to bring attention to local nonprofits and support small businesses.

Saturday, July 25, the class held a Fit Fest sunrise and sunset yoga and exercise event at Gilroy Gardens and also through Zoom.

Sunday, July 26 was a cLOVE the Block event that brought people together to celebrate the community’s resiliency and to reflect on everything the community has overcome and accomplished in the past year.

The Gilroy cLOVE Days and the raw garlic clove eating challenge raised more than $28,000, with an additional $11,000 in direct donations made to local nonprofits, including nonprofits that are not part of the seven chosen by the Class of 2020

cLOVE bells received a welcome response from the community and beyond with all 1,000 sold. Some were even shipped throughout California and 10 other states.

“Our class is honored the community embraced, Gilroy cLOVE Days,” said Cindi Torres. “On Sunday we had the opportunity to reflect and a moment to heal. The ringing of the bells was a time to show how resilient our community is. Hopefully, it brought some closure to many.”

If you still want to donate to the project to help local nonprofits, go to www.gilroyclovechallenge.com

Gary Guglielmo

We’re sorry to learn that a prominent member of a South Valley wine-making family recently passed away. Gary John Guglielmo died unexpectedly July 15 at his home in Post Falls, Idaho. As a third-generation member of Santa Clara County’s oldest continuously operated family winery, Gary, along with his brothers, George and Gene, expanded and guided the Guglielmo Winery established in Morgan Hill by their Italian emigrant grandparents, Emilio and Emilia, in 1925 and continued by his parents.

Gary was born April 26, 1956, in San Jose. He grew up in Morgan Hill on his family’s winery and vineyard on East Main Avenue. Gary was in the first graduating class of St. Catherine Elementary School, attended Bellarmine Prep High School in San Jose, and graduated from the University of Nevada in Reno in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

After graduation Gary returned home to his family’s business. He served as an integral part of the winery, including his roles in sales and general management until his retirement in 2017, where he worked closely with his brothers to enlarge and enhance the national distribution network, which introduced the family’s wines to a much broader audience across the nation.

A family service was held July 22 at St. George’s Catholic Church in Post Falls, Idaho.  A celebration of life will be held at the family winery in Morgan Hill in the near future.

Striving for social justice, at the July meeting, the Gavilan College Board of Trustees voted in unanimous support for a resolution “affirming our commitment to student success for Black and African American students.”

As a community college with a diversity of demographics, Gavilan needs to be a model of diversity and inclusion, said board president Rachel Perez.

“We know students have to feel safe, respected, and valued in order to succeed. Gavilan College has principles of community that include the aspirations to be diverse, purposeful, inclusive, and equitable. It is what we do,” she said. “For 400 years African-Americans have had to deal with atrocities — from slavery, to Jim Crow, to discrimination. How long do people have to keep fighting for what is right? As a college, we need to show our commitment to all our students, and our support for justice.”

Along with many other community colleges, the Gavilan College Board of Trustees adopted the resolution following the death of George Floyd of Minneapolis.

During the 2020-2021 academic year the college will move forward with shared dialog around the theme of “Equity, Inclusion, and Healing.”

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Need something to read? The Friends of the Gilroy Library are offering “grab bags” of books for $5 each. Many genres are available for purchase from the Gilroy Library during curbside pickup hours from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, starting Aug. 3. Exact cash sales only. Here is a chance to support the library during the COVID-19 shut down. Books have been quarantined for at least 72 hours before being placed inside the grocery bags, and sealed.