Blanca Alvarado is a legendary community leader in Santa Clara County, so she has received a number of honors, plaques and trophies over the years. But receiving the lifetime achievement award Friday from the Alum Rock Counseling Center had a personal meaning for her.
“The Alum Rock Counseling Center holds a special place in my heart,” said Alvarado, who was the first Latina on the San Jose City Council and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and will turn 95 in July.
Former Santa Clara County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, second from left, stands with Santa Clara County Supervisors Betty Duong and Sylvia Arenas and Alum Rock Counseling Center CEO David Mineta at ARCC’s fundraising lunch at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, May 22, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
The organization was founded in 1974 by George Doub, who had been Alvarado’s parish priest at Most Holy Trinity Church in East San Jose. Parishoners there had petitioned the diocese for a Spanish-language Mass, and Doub — who had previously ministered in Mexico and later left the priesthood — was appointed to do that at Most Holy Trinity.
“His memory lingers in my heart because he was a man of love, of integrity, of community pride, and he especially wanted to improve the lives of children, which is why he founded the Alum Rock Counseling Center,” Alvarado told the crowd of more than 200 people gathered at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.
Today, the agency serves more than 4,500 young people and their families not only through counseling but through programs such as life skills development, youth mentoring, trauma recovery and parent training.
David Mineta, who came on last year as CEO of the Alum Rock Counseling Center, said both Alvarado and his father Norman Mineta charted courses and opened doors for others in Santa Clara County. He said he remembered Alvarado speaking at the memorial service held for his father — a former San Jose mayor, congressman and U.S. Secretary of Transportation — in 2022.
Retired Cisco engineer Dean McCully, a member of the Alum Rock Counseling Center advisory board, received ARCC’s Super Role Model award at its fundraising lunch at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, May 22, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
“One thing she said about dad was that he was everybody’s BFF,” Mineta said. “Actually, Blanca is everybody’s BFF, too. And she has been working for this community in her neighborhood, from her house, her entire life.”
Among the guests at the lunch were Santa Clara County Supervisors Sylvia Arenas and Betty Duong, San Jose City Councilmembers David Cohen and Peter Ortiz and past ARCC Executive Directors Steve Eckert and Patricia Chiapellone. Angela Tirado, the “Voice of San Jose,” sang Mariah Carey’s “Hero” — and even got the crowd to sing the chorus — to open the program.
Dean McCully, a retired Cisco engineer who serves on ARCC’s advisory board, also was honored as this year’s Super Role Model. Cohen, who has worked with McCully on projects in Alviso, noted that McCully has been honored several times recently because of his work with various youth-focused nonprofits and service groups including Sea Scouts and Young Eagles Chapter 62.
“I don’t know how he has the time for all the different things he does, but his retirement has to been to our benefit,” Cohen said.
MUSICAL NOTES: Symphony San Jose was in the pink at its Spring for the Symphony gala May 16 at the California Theatre downtown. Shades of the color were everywhere in the decor around the theater, and Symphony Executive and Artistic Director Robert Massey really stood out in the crowd with his hot pink tuxedo jacket.
Tenor Ben Gulley holds a note during Spring for the Symphony, a gala fundraiser for Symphony San Jose held Saturday, May 16, 2026, at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
The dinner and auction certainly seemed to provide a nice boost to the symphony’s donations this year, with a conducting gig at this December’s “Holiday Spectacular” being sold three times at $6,000 apiece. Tenor Ben Gulley, the evening’s featured performer, raised $10,000 for a performance for 10 guests at the Monte Sereno home of Diane Brandenburg. But the amazing part was when he raised an extra $15,000 by holding a the final note of an aria he sang at the gala an additional second for every $1,000 pledged.
CREATIVE CONNECTIONS: Ryan Neale, who is graduating from UCLA next month, has served as an inspiration to many on the Southern California campus. He’s one of 35 graduating students being awarded the Chancellor’s Service Award after starting a social group for neurodivergent students at UCLA and helping relaunch the school’s neurodivergent empowerment team.
It was quite a turnaround for Neale, who started his college career trying so hard to hide his autism from his peers and teachers that he made himself sick.
Ryan Neale receives the microphone from his grandfather, David Neale, between speeches at a celebration of neurodivergent artists sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Jose on Sunday, May 17, 2026 at the Goodwill Opportunity Center in San Jose. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
“Much of my fear around autism came not from objective limitations or concrete rejection from my peers but from exposure to representations of autism that didn’t capture my reality,” he said last weekend at an event celebrating neurodivergent youth storytellers and artists, sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Jose and held at the Goodwill Opportunity Center in San Jose.
The initiative is co-chaired by College of Creative Arts founder DeAnna Pusai and CORE Companies founder David Neale, Ryan’s grandfather, who was inspired to provide seed funding for the fledgling program. Awards were presented to Arjun Agrawal, Alaja Baladich, Ashleigh Dong and Jason Macaranas, and honorable mentions given to Aster Schweiger, G Wood, Steven Arreola Muñoz and Shane Tarkington.
WHAT A RIDE: May is officially Bike Month, but few of us could take that challenge to heart like Pathway Society CEO Gary Montrezza. On Thursday, he took part in the Recovery Ride, riding his bike along a route in Los Gatos more than 100 times — equaling 29,029 feet, the height of Mt. Everest.
He didn’t just do it for the bragging rights, either. His goal was to raise $40,000 to $50,000 for Pathway’s Withdrawal Management Center, a detox facility that is set to open in downtown San Jose later this summer. The facility’s construction was paid for by grants, but Pathway is raising money to make sure it has other essentials like medical equipment, beds and supplies for programs.
Montrezza had supporters riding with him at parts of the challenge, including Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore; Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen; Max Weber, a University College Dublin currently at San Jose State as part of a San Jose-Dublin Sister City scholar program; and Mike Salinas, founder of “champion sponsor” Valley Services. You can see more about the ride or make a donation pathwaysociety.org/recovery-ride.