Three Volunteers Recognized by the Junior League of San Jose

April 17, 2018 – Campbell, Calif.  Three volunteers with The First Tee of Silicon Valley were given certificates of appreciation during the 49^th annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon by the Junior League of San Jose. In a program emceed by Laura Garcia and Marcus Washington of NBC Bay Area many volunteers and organizations were recognized for Giving Back and Paying Forward during 2017. Ten volunteers received the Crystal Bowl award, one of whom went on to be awarded the Voluntarism of the year award. We are very proud of all of our volunteers and wanted to acknowledge Lionel Hunt, Nicholas Ngai and Santad Kiatsupaibul for their commitment to the program during 2017. Lionel began volunteering with us shortly after moving to the area.  He brought in his son, who moved quickly through our program.  His son is now off to college, yet that has not wavered Lionel’s commitment to our program.  He can be counted on to volunteer consistently and with integrity.  He is an excellent role model for our participants and works to engage them in the program and to have a personal connection with them. Nicholas is that volunteer who can be relied on to carry out our standards while providing the best customer service.  His work ethic is strong, if he is not actively working on a project, he is thinking of ways to improve our process so that it is running as efficient as possible.  He knows all of the participants and their parents and greets them by name.  He is a pleasure to work with and we find ourselves counting on him to go above and beyond every week.

Santad began volunteering shortly after both of his children advanced out of the beginning level of our program.  Often times parents volunteer with a mind to stay with their child or to help their child advance, not the case with Santad.  He not only volunteers at the entry level, but he has encouraged his children to give back to the program as well.  As soon as his son was age-eligible, he began volunteering. Santad is that always smiling, constant presence who helps our participants feel comfortable and confident.