13th International Hispanic Awards a Huge Success

Marisela Garcia
Staff reporter

The International Hispanic Awards took place in Indian Wells, California for a first class event Saturday. Seventeen community leaders were honored for their many years of serving the Hispanic community. The Hispanic Awards committee whittled down the list from over 200 nominees for the year. To date, since inception in 1998, there have been 231 honorees representing in total 5,900 years of community service. The Recipients are selected from nominations and proven historical records confirming the individual has indeed served the Hispanic community. The average combined community service totals 27 years.
Over two hundred attended the black tie event many were representatives from the highest leadership circles. There were representatives from city government, county government, state government, county offices, school boards, teachers, television, newspapers, business owners, International Mexican trade and tourism offices, school districts and civic organizations.
The honorees each took their turn at the microphone and the audience was often times enthralled by biographical community service revelations spanning decades read into the record by the Master of Ceremonies, Bonnie Garcia, former Assemblywoman for the Coachella Valley district arrived from Sacramento to be part of this annual tribute.
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack was honored as the “Legislator of the Year” and attendees had to agree she has been active in the Hispanic community for many, many years. The congresswoman is not a Johnny come lately for election year politics. She is a founding supporter for the International Hispanic Film Festival first held in Palm Springs in 2000. She is a founding sponsor of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce-Coachella Valley founded in 2005. She began supporting the International Hispanic Awards in 1998 and has attended many yearly functions sometimes accompanied by husband Connie Mack.