Five inducted into Marin Women's Hall of Fame

By Megan Hansen
Marin Independent Journal

POSTED: 03/28/2014 02:18:49 PM PDT

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_25442410/five-inducted-into-marin-wo...

Five women who have kept Marin healthy, aided local youth, recruited volunteers and helped the business community thrive were honored at the annual Marin Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The event, which was held Thursday night at the new events center at Peacock Gap Golf Club in San Rafael, was founded in 1987 to create a record of the contributions women make to the life, culture and landscape of Marin County. The Hall of Fame has grown to include 127 honorees.

This year's honorees were Claudia Asprer, founder of the foster child support program Moving On Up; Joan Brown, creator of the Civic Center Volunteers program; Dr. Tricia Gibbs, co-founder of the San Francisco Free Clinic; Bettie Ruth Hodges, president and executive director of The Hannah Project Partnership for Academic Achievement; and Elissa Giambastiani, who received her posthumous award for her service as CEO of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce.

Asprer has been a foster parent to more than 90 Marin children and has adopted nearly a third of them in addition to raising her own biological children. She founded Moving On Up to provide support for foster children who age out of the system when they turn 18. She works with existing California programs and has assembled a support group of legal, social service and mental health providers to help emancipated youth.

Brown created the Civic Center Volunteers program, which she directed for more than 30 years, shortly after Proposition 13 passed in 1978, cutting property taxes and subsequently reducing the budgets of local government. The program grew to more than 8,500 volunteers in 2011 when she retired, increasing services that year to residents by more than $10.5 million.

Gibbs and her husband Dr. Richard Gibbs opened the San Francisco Free Clinic in 1994, providing medical care, health screenings and yoga classes to the uninsured. As part of its mission, the clinic trains and encourages other medical providers to do the same. Gibbs is also a former member of the U.S. ski team and co-founder of Sugar Bowl Academy, a college preparatory high school for competitive skiers.

Through The Hannah Project Partnership for Academic Achievement, Hodges has helped youth in Marin City and other underserved communities build academic proficiency, develop character and prepare students for success in school. The program has five educational and arts classes aimed at empowering youth and building community. Earlier in her career, Hodges was one of the first staffers for the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Giambastiani died in 2012, but served as CEO of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce from 1987 to 2005. During that time she made sure the business community had a strong voice in addressing both San Rafael and county issues such as affordable housing, education and health care. She helped establish the Marin Economic Commission, Marin's first Economic Conference and the San Rafael Leadership Institute.

Contact Megan Hansen via email at mhansen@marinij.com or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/hansenmegan. Follow her blog at http://blogs.marinij.com/bureaucratsandbaking.