VALENCIA : United Way Awards Grants to 6 Agencies

The United Way rewarded six community agencies Wednesday with grants of about $5,000 each for their commitments to residents of the Santa Clarita Valley.

“In tough economic times such as these, the Santa Clarita Valley is blessed to have so many caring and compassionate individuals and agencies who give freely to help where it is needed,” said Sam Garcia, chairman of the Awards of Excellence selection committee.

Recipients were praised for supplying 350 needy schoolchildren with shoes, feeding the poor, training the disabled, caring for the elderly, providing health care and curbing drinking and driving by teen-agers through a program providing free rides for them on weekend nights.

Recipients of the award are the Assistance Guild of Santa Clarita, Pleasantview Industries, the Samuel Dixon Family Health Center, the Santa Clarita Valley Committee on Aging Corp., the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry and Santa Clarita Valley Safe Rides.

The awards were announced at the opening of the Valencia Town Center. Recipients were selected from 21 applicants from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.

The onetime grants were sponsored by the Newhall Land & Farming Co. and the North Angeles Region of United Way of Los Angeles. Money for the grants came from ticket sales for the opening of the Valencia Town Center mall.