The Santa Clarita Valley Man and Woman of the Year organization held its annual dinner at the Hyatt Regency Valencia on Friday, with 33 nominees in the running for the titles.
The winners for the 2025 celebration were Jackie Hartmann with the SCV Senior Center and Josh Rivas with Soroptimist International of Greater Santa Clarita Valley.
“The purpose is really to recognize all the great work that our volunteers in this valley do and often, they are the unsung heroes. They’re behind the scenes and they give so much of their time and resources to make our community just a great community to live in,” said Gloria Mercado-Fortine, president of the organization.
The event began with presenters Kim Kurowski, who was Woman of the Year 2024 and Ed Masterson, Man of the Year 2019. Masterson took the place of Man of the Year 2024, Dale Donohoe, whose son was getting married the same night.
The duo got the crowd ready for the night ahead of them.
The energy was high in the room when Kurowski and Masterson showed a video of all the past winners, with guests applauding and waiting for the new winners to be announced.
When asked if they were surprised, both Rivas and Hartmann said they couldn’t believe their name had been called.
“My whole family lives out of state, so I heard my name called and then I look up and I see my whole family walk in and I was just in tears,” Rivas said about his big moment.
When asked why Rivas loves to volunteer and help his community, he said his grandmother was his biggest inspiration.
“It was just a part of my life. From day one. My grandmother became a quadriplegic from a car accident before I was born, and she always was helping other people even though she was so disabled, and eventually when I was 21, I became her primary caregiver and anything I was involved in, she wanted to help,” Rivas said.
Rivas has been volunteering with Soroptimist International for over 15 years, being the first “Soroptimister” in Santa Clarita, as he said.
Hartmann echoed the same sentiment.
“My family members began pouring in that had been waiting in the green room. And so, I just saw each of them coming in, I just got more and more emotional that they were there to support me,” Hartmann said.
Hartmann has been volunteering for the Senior Center for six years and has been volunteering with the Special Olympics for 25 years.
“Our story about how we became volunteers, and I say we because my husband, he’s been along for the ride this whole time. And he does as much as I do. We had a daughter born with intellectual and physical disabilities. And she became eligible for the Special Olympics. And that was a point that really changed our lives because we met so many people, so many volunteers,” Hartmann said.
