Community leader and active Fresno State supporter, Alex Contreras, currently public relations manager of Donaghy Sales, will be honored as the 2012 Chicano Alumni Legacy Builder at the Chicano Alumni Chapter Annual Awards Banquet on Friday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m., at the University Square Hotel in Fresno (4931 N. Cedar, across from campus).

This annual award recognizes a Fresno State alumnus who has made significant contributions to the Chicano experience at the university and to the community at large, said Manuel Olgin, award committee chairman and the Chicano Alumni Chapter’s founding president.

“Alex cut his teeth in the barrio, got a college education, worked with programs that served the community, and then moved into the corporate world where he helped a private venture like Donaghy Sales show support for many local causes both in the Chicano community and at his alma mater,” Olgin said. “He was particularly instrumental in helping with responsible alcohol consumption campaigns at Fresno State and in the Latino community.”

After graduating from Fresno State in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and plant science, Contreras was an instructor at Universidad de Campesinos Libre, Inc., one of the first farmworker colleges in the U.S.; he worked in a business development program at Fresno State’s Craig School of Business with fellow alumnus, Phillip V. Sánchez, formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras; and he founded the Farmers Association of Mexican-Americans and co-founded the Fresno Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

At the Dec. 14 event the chapter will also recognize the five 2012 Fresno State Chicano Scholar recipients: Breanna Estrada, a freshman kinesiology major from Madera; Paulina Flores Jimenez, a senior health science major from Paso Robles; Belen I Gomez, a junior Mass Communication and Journalism major from Taft; Lourdes Lazcano, a junior liberal studies major from Tulare; and Vanessa Bautista Sandoval, a freshman undeclared major from Parlier.

And Delma Garcia, a Fresno State outreach counselor and co-chair of the banquet, will be honored with the Chicano Alumni’s “Perro Chato” (bulldog) Award, which goes to a board member for serving “with great Bulldog spirit and dedication to the Chicano Alumni campus and community,” said Chapter President Esther Ramos of Univision KFTV 21.

Contreras, a long-time advocate of the Chicano experience at Fresno State, was an early supporter of the Chicano Commencement Celebration, a tradition that began in 1977, the Chicano Alumni Scholarship fund and the chapter’s goal of establishing a perpetual Chicano Alumni endowment. While at Donaghy Sales, Contreras initiated partnerships with FHSF and other Chicano alumni, and sponsored the visit of former Junior College All-American volleyball player, Sarah Panzau, as part of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.

“The Donaghy Sales community is a major piece of my life,” Contreras said. “The community we serve allows me to live my life to the fullest and to grow and experience all that I have been gifted to do. I am blessed that we have benefited many here in the Fresno area by providing resources to countless organizations that have impacted many lives.”

Previous Chicano Alumni Legacy Builders include the late Phillip Patino, a coach and teacher who founded the annual Si Se Puede Hispanic Male Conference at Fresno State to help inspire to Latino high school boys, the late Ernesto Martinez, a Fresno State professor emeritus who founded Los Danzantes de Aztlán; Phillip Sanchez, the first Hispanic Cabinet member and U.S Ambassador; and Fresno County Superior Court Judge Armando Rodriguez.

Banquet tickets are $50 and tables and sponsorships are available. All proceeds support the Chicano Alumni Scholarship Endowment, which was established to recognize and reward students for academic achievement and community involvement.

For more information, contact banquet co-chairs Frances Pena-Olgin at 559.908.9816 or francesp@csufresno.edu or Delma Garcia at 559.696.5670 or delmag@csufresno.edu.

(University Communications news student assistant Alejandra Garcia contributed to this copy.)

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