Dolores Huerta co-founded United Farm Workers
By Town Crier Report,
Dolores Huerta, the community activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962, will be honored at the 10th annual Josephine and Frank Duveneck Humanitarian Awards Dinner at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills on Sept.10.
The annual event recognizes exemplary humanitarians at the national, regional and local level. Also being honored are Los Altos residents Nan and Chuck Geschke and Mountain View teacher Kristina Underdal.
The Humanitarian Awards are given in memory of Hidden Villa’s founders Josephine and Frank Duveneck.
Past honorees include folksinger and social activist Joan Baez, internationally known chef and fresh food advocate Alice Waters and former state Senator Byron Sher.
Huerta remembered Hidden Villa from the time she spent there meeting with Cesar Chavez, whose legacy she continues to champion.
She has been instrumental in securing workers’ rights and rallying against the dire conditions faced by farm workers.
She is a former regent of the University of California and recipient of the Presidential Eleanor D. Roosevelt Humanitarian Award. The Ladies Home Journal named her among the 100 most important women of the 20th Century.
Huerta currently serves as the president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
The Geschkes, who have played a vital role in the Los Altos community through their philanthropy and community involvement, were named “2004 Los Altans of the Year” by the Los Altos Town Crier.
Chuck is one of the founders of Adobe Systems and Nan has played a major role in the creation of the Los Altos History Museum.
At Hidden Villa, the generosity of the Geschkes inaugurated the campaign to restore the historic White House, first residence of Josephine and Frank Duveneck.
Kristina Underdal teaches a fourth- and fifth-grade Spanish immersion class at Mariano Castro School in Mountain View.
She has developed an integrated curriculum that includes bringing her students on field trips to Hidden Villa.
Prior to launching her teaching career, Underdal spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua, where she established a children’s library.
The fund-raising dinner, themed “Starry Starry Night,” will take place 5-9:30 p.m. at Hidden Villa.
Sterling Speirn, president of the Peninsula Community Foundation, will serve as master of ceremonies at this year’s event.
To purchase tickets or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please call Diane Hunt, director of development, at 949-8652.
Individual tickets are $175 and sponsorship packages begin at $2,500.
For more information about Hidden Villa, call 949-8650 or visit www.hiddenvilla.org.
