Local Heroes Screenings

It’s the sixth annual Local Heroes Week at the Media Center! The public is invited! During the week of March 18, 2012, we will honor the winners of our Local Heroes Awards. We kick off the event with a reception and free, public screening of highlights of the interviews with the Heroes at the Media Center. This will be followed by a week of programs about the winners, to be aired on the Media Center’s cable channels and our web site.

Reception information: Where: The Media Center, 900 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto When: Sunday, March 18, 4 – 6 pm RSVP: Louise at 650-494-8686 ext 36 or louise@midpenmedia.org Seating is limited and refreshments will be served so we would appreciate an RSVP.

Who are the real heroes of a community? Are they only those who repeatedly appear in the headlines? Or, perhaps, those who devote their lives bravely and selflessly--but silently--outside the limelight? The Mid-Peninsula has many such people who are quietly committing acts of heroism on a daily basis. The Media Center (the Midpeninsula Community Media Center) is honoring six of these unsung heroes from our service area. The winners will be showcased in a series of interviews that will air on the cable channels throughout the week of March 18 - 25 and then rebroadcast the following week in a two-hour block. (See times below.)

Nominations for the Local Heroes Award were solicited from the public. From those submitted, a Media Center committee selected the winners based on several criteria. In addition to outstanding achievement or contribution to the community, we were looking for people with engaging stories to tell for our televised series. We also chose people who would reflect the enormous diversity of our communities. Our winners vary in age, gender, ethnicity, geographical location, profession or field of interest and type of contribution.

We will kick off the week on Sunday evening with a 30-minute composite of highlights from all six interviews. Each night for the rest of the week, one “Hero” interview will be featured. The following Sunday, all of the full-length interviews will air back-to-back. Short “snippets”, or 5- minute versions, will also air on the cable channels between regular programming. (See below.)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS & PROGRAMS:

Sunday, March 18, 2010, at 4 pm: Reception and screening at the Media Center

Names, air dates, and contact information for the “Local Heroes” are as follows:

On Cable Channel 30 • Sunday, March 18, 8 pm: HIGHLIGHTS OF ALL THE WINNERS

• Monday, March 19, 9 pm: CRAIG DISERENS, co-founder of Village Harvest, a volunteer organization that feeds the hungry with otherwise un-harvested and unused fruit from local backyards.

• Tuesday, March 20, 9 pm: ABE ABULLARADE, who heads up the Center for a New Generation, a program administered by the Peninsula Boys and Girls Club, that tutors and mentors under-served middle-schoolers at four local schools.

• Wednesday, March 21, 9 pm: JUDY KRAMER, whose many volunteer activities include a Middle East Task Force that presided over the signing of an historic model peace agreement, the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in China in 1995 and a Kiwanis International project to eliminate tetanus infections in Third World infants.

• Thursday, March 22, 9 pm: SISTER TRINITAS, the creator of East Palo Alto’s Rosalie Rendu Center, which has served immigrant women and children for 14 years.

• Friday , March 23, 9 pm: MARY OJAKIAN, who volunteers at both the state and local levels to help prevent suicide and educate the public about it.

• Saturday, March 24, 9 pm: KELLY KOBZA, founding director of Greater Good, a non-profit that provides primary education and environmental sustainability in Haiti.