Passion and Perseverance Inspire Women of Achievement

Top from left: Honorees Maria Contreras-Sweet, Karen Davis, Sylvia Padilla, and Cheryl Linnborn. Bottom from left: Steering Committee member Nancy Stuve, Emcee Cmdr. Chuck Street, Rain Bird representative Ofelia Valazquez-Perez, honoree Cindi Bernhardt.

Rain Bird Corporation has generously supported the contributions of outstanding women in the San Gabriel Valley for the past 16 years. Again this year, the Glendora-based manufacturer took the lead role as presenting sponsor of the YWCA of San Gabriel Valley's Women of Achievement Awards luncheon at the Pacific Palms Conference Resort in June. Over 500 attedees were present to help celebrate this years's Honorees. The event will net over $50,000 which will assist in continuing the many programs and services offered to the community. The Honorees were:

Cindi Bernhardt
Award for Artistic Achievement

She is gracious, determined, and driven by an irrepressible spirit that has helped her become a leading American mouth painting artist. Cindi Bernhardt became a quadriplegic at age 18 when she fell from a second floor window and broke her neck. Unwilling to be compromised by disability, she learned to write using a specially adapted pen between her teeth and subsequently earned associate degrees in child development and mental health. In 1991, while working in a school for at-risk children, she decided to pursue her interest and ability as an artist. Her passion for art led to her acceptance as a student member of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Association.

As a result, she has created mouth paintings that have been featured in private and public collections throughout the United States, including one owned by actor Morgan Freeman. In a special tribute to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks, she painted a poignant image of a red, white and blue American eagle shedding a tear. The illustration was featured in the New York Times.

Cheryl Linnborn
Award for Recreational Leadership

When Cheryl Linnborn began working for the City of Walnut, there were virtually no city- sponsored recreation programs in place. Thanks to her creativity, innovation and ability to organize, the city now offers programs to suit everyone. As Walnut's Superintendent of Recreation, Cheryl has established a broad range of recreation and learning opportunities that appeal to many cultures, encourage physical activity in children and adults, and provide opportunities for travel and leisure activities.

Her programs include aquatics, youth and adult sports leagues and classes, after school programs, excursions, city-wide special events, senior programs, and teen programs. At the Teen Center, she developed computer programs that offer assistance with homework, research, college preparation, and college investigation. She also organized a Girls Club that focuses on community service, college preparation and social issues.

One of her proudest accomplishments is Camp Movin & Groovin, which sponsors weekly themes. The philosophy of the Camp is to help children enjoy a variety of leisure activities and to get away them from TV and video games.

Karen Komsak Davis
Award for Spiritual Leadership

Through leadership, compassion, and a deep spiritual desire to help others, Karen Komsak Davis has become, in essence, a pastor to her community. Beyond her work as pastor of the First Christian Church in Glendora, she has developed programs to help youth, victims of crime, seniors, the disadvantaged and the homeless throughout the East San Gabriel Valley.

Familiar with personal hardships, her father and alcoholic mother died when she was a child. Rather than clouding her outlook, these challenges motivated her lifelong commitment to assisting people who are drug and alcohol dependant. She has conducted forums that address youth violence, racism, drug abuse and poverty. One forum featured a young, reformed "neo-Nazi," who described his journey away from a life of hate and violence.

She received local and national media coverage for her innovative Free Gun Lock program, which resulted in the distribution of over 800 gun locks in her community. She is also the volunteer chaplain for Glendora Police Department.

Sylvia Padilla
Award for Community Outreach

"I try to pack each duffel bag with special gifts to make the child feel loved and cared for," says Sylvia Padilla. These brightly colored duffel bags are gifts of love, stuffed with a blanket, clothing, toiletries, a full pencil box, notebook, and stuffed animal or toy. Sylvia is the CEO of Friends of the Heart, an organization she founded in 2001 to support children of all ages and ethnicities who are experiencing the sadness and pain of entering foster care.

Typically, traumatized children are removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect, or a parent with a substance addiction and leave with their belongings in a black trash bag. "The thought of a poor child carrying all their earthly possessions in a trash bag just made me weep," she says. Working with foster agencies and local police departments, Sylvia provides 30 to 40 duffel bags per month throughout Los Angeles, Riverside, San Gabriel and San Bernardino Counties.

Her organization also provides food and clothing for children of homeless families and "goody bags" for children being detained by police while their parent is charged. Sylvia, her husband and their children work together as a family to purchase, fill and deliver bags that give victimized children relief and hope.

Maria Contreras-Sweet
Award of Distinction

Her single mother left Jalisco, Mexico to bring her six children to California. Maria Contreras-Sweet's drive and roster of career successes and "firsts" is a powerful reflection of her grandmother's advice to live with a purpose.

Contreras-Sweet is the first Latina to serve on a California Governor's cabinet as Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, for the Davis Administration. Her accomplishments in this capacity are numerous, including improved accessibility, education and support to California businesses and consumers. She successfully increased small business access to state contracting and procurement opportunities. During her tenure, the first Department of Managed Health Care and the Office of Patient Advocate were created. In transportation, she oversaw such large infrastructure projects as reconstruction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the opening of Foothill Freeway. She directed the largest investment in housing in California's history.

Her knowledge and expertise is grounded in solid corporate and business experience. Employed by Westinghouse, Contreras-Sweet became vice president of its 7UP/RC Cola Company, serving as the youngest female and first Latina vice president in the company's history. The first Latina on the Board of Blue Cross of California, she was instrumental in making it one of America's most profitable companies. She previously managed her own successful marketing research and communication company and is currently president and co-founder of FORTIUS Holdings, LLC, a commercial real estate development and venture capital firm.

As founding president of HOPE, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, Contreras-Sweet has helped Hispanic women establish their political voice. She is also a founding director of The California Endowment. Currently, she serves on the Women's Leadership Board at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and on the leadership team of the Democratic National Convention.

Although Contreras-Sweet is an impressive and dedicated woman leader, she believes her greatest achievement is her family--her husband Ray Sweet and her children, Rafael, Francesca and Antonio.