Every year, the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture selects the people, organizations and events that help shape the vibrant community that is Watsonville.
All of the awardees will be honored at an awards ceremony in July. Stay tuned to the Pajaronian for the exact date.
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Laura Owen, Woman of the Year
With more than two decades in the credit union industry, Laura Owen serves as the Director of Community Development and Learning at Santa Cruz Community Credit Union. In this role, she spearheads initiatives that provide financial literacy education, credit coaching, and personalized support to individuals and families.
Owen has dedicated more than 20 years to community service, participating in more than 25 local events annually. She has led efforts for Relay for Life, Stuff the Bus, and Save Our Shores beach cleanups. She also played a role in creating the PVSS Bank/Credit Union Challenge.
She was instrumental in bringing the Bite of Reality financial literacy program to the area, reaching over 1,000 participants. She also leads the Passport to Financial Freedom program at Juvenile Hall, where she empowers incarcerated youth with critical financial knowledge and confidence to build better futures.
Owen was honored in Sacramento by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for her volunteer efforts, receiving the first Governor and First Lady’s Medal of Service as California’s Small Business Volunteer Program of the Year.
Her accolades also include the “Be the Difference Award” from the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County in 2008, and she was the inaugural recipient of the Service Excellence Award at Bay Federal Credit Union, honoring her pursuit of excellence in both professional and volunteer endeavors.
Owen serves on nonprofit boards including Pajaro
Valley Shelter Services, the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture, Watsonville Rotary and Leadership Santa Cruz County (LSCC), where she has twice
served as President and currently chairs the Alumni Committee. She also gives her time to helping elderly neighbors—offering rides, picking up groceries, and assisting with day-to- day tasks—quiet acts of service that reflect her generous spirit.
Jess Brown, Man of the Year
Jess Brown serves as executive director of the San Mateo/Santa Cruz/Santa Clara Counties Farm Bureaus and the educational organization Agri-Culture.
He has worked in the industry for more than four decades.
He has volunteered five times to teach organizational skills to re-settled farmers in Zimbabwe. He has also taught financial skills to agro-dealers in Mozambique.
He was a founder of Ag Against Hunger, an organization that was in business for 29 years and distributed close to 300 million pounds of donated local produce to people in need.
He helped the agricultural industry face two Pajaro Valley levee breaches and the Covid pandemic.
He has also worked on agricultural land protections and welcomed new growth industries like cannabis and
organics.
Brown worked with other Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau board members to start Ari- Culture, a nonprofit organization that makes it possible for students to receive scholarships as they pursue their education in agriculturally related fields.
They also started Focus Agriculture, which is dedicated to educating local leaders about the agricultural industry.
The Farm Bureau now has 16 endowed funds to provide scholarships for students pursuing agriculture as a career or help with farmworker housing.
Under Brown’s leadership, several successful events have been launched, including the Testicle Festival, National Agriculture Day Spring Luncheon, Down to Earth Women Luncheon, Jimmie Cox Memorial Scholarship awards, the Annual Golf Tournament and Farmer of the Year Awards.
Brown has also served on multiple nonprofit boards, including Second Harvest Food Bank, Leadership Santa Cruz County, Goodwill Central Coast, Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County and the Cabrillo College Foundation.
Bob and Linda Erbe, Lifetime Achievement
“There are people who sometimes volunteer and make a huge difference so quietly and naturally that folks just assume things are magically getting done,” Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture CEO Shaz Roth said. “Bob and Linda Erbe are exactly who we’re talking about.”
The couple has through the years volunteered thousands of hours to organizations.
For years, Bob has been a leader in VFW Post 1716, posting hundreds of military coffin flags between the VFW on Freedom Boulevard to Martinelli Street on Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day and the Fourth of July.
He served in the U.S. Navy aboard the U.S.S. Seadragon. After his time in the Navy, Bob had a successful career with the County of Santa Cruz maintaining their public safety 2-way radio communication system and has been enjoying retirement since 2000.
Together Bob and Linda volunteer with the Agricultural History Project and the Fairgrounds Foundation. Almost every day, you can find them helping with preparations for Second Saturday on the Farm, wrapping lights for Holiday Lights and a multitude of other projects.
During the Santa Cruz County Fair, Bob and Linda can be found volunteering in a variety of places.
He is an active member of the Pajaro Valley SIRS club and has served on the Board of Directors for the Agricultural History Project and is currently on the Board of the Pajaro Valley Fire
Fighters Association. He is also a member of the Early Days Gas Engine Tractor Association.
Linda serves as this year’s Chair of the Holiday Lights Committee.
She is also active in the Watsonville Woman’s Club and a member of PEO Philanthropy, which gives low cost loans to women who are either returning to college or going to college for the first time.
The Erbes are also long-time members of Holy Eucharist Church serving as Eucharistic Ministers, sacristans, greeters, and are part of a team who cooks for the Salvation Army.
They have been members of the Sons and Daughters of Italy and the Pajaro Valley Historical Association for many years and always volunteer with a smile.
D’La Colmena Market and Catering, Business of the Year
This business has been a Watsonville mainstay for nearly five decades.
Founded in 1978 by Manuel Gonzales and now operated by his son Adrian Gonzales and daughter-in-law Daisy Gonzales, D’La Colmena has become a Watsonville cornerstone.
Known for its rich and traditional Mexican flavors, the business continues to serve generations of families with catering, a walk-up taqueria, and a market with a full-service meat counter.
Adrian and Daisy Gonzales have supported local non-profit organizations and schools throughout the region—from elementary classrooms to the halls of UC Santa Cruz.
They are also involved in the Rotary Club.
Sons and Daughters of Italy, Organization of the Year
Members of the Sons and Daughters of Italy are involved in many groups besides the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA) Watsonville Lodge. They have members of the Watsonville Women’s Club, Pajaro Valley Historical Association directors and volunteers, Rotarians from multiple local clubs, and elected local officials.
In 2021, the club made a three-year commitment to give $10,000 per year to the Ag History Project at the Fairgrounds. They accomplished this $30,000 commitment in December 2023, with the last check presented to John Kegebein at the club’s annual Christmas gathering.
The group has gifted $30,000 to the Ag History Project to enhance its mission of teaching young people the importance of the agriculture industry, from cultivation to the market shelves.
They also donated a 1930 Maxwell truck to the Ag History Project.
In 2024, the club board and members all decided that the major gift for this calendar year was a $10,000 pledge to the Freedom VFW Hall.
That donation was important, as the hall had fallen into disrepair, and needed a new roof.
OSDIA also raised $1,500 at the July BBQ that went to the Freedom VFW.
The group also donated $12,000 to purchase commercial washer and dryer units, as well as upgrading the plumbing to
accommodate the upgraded facilities at Camp St. Francis.
Other donations from 2012-24
Alzheimer’s Research: $1,000
Cooley’s Anemia: $1,000
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness): $1,000
Corralitos Padres: $1000
Boy Scouts Troops #505 & #599: $6,200
Agricultural History Project: $36,500
Salesian Missions: $500
Salesian Missions for Fr. Al’s Sierra Leone School & Bakery Project: $3,500
American Legion: $500
American Cancer Society: $50
Jacobs Heart: $500
Multiple Sclerosis Research: $100
Pajaro Rescue Mission: $500
Knights of Columbus: $1,050
Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes: $500
Watsonville Women’s Club: $6,900
SCC Farm Bureau for the Frank Prevedelli Ag Scholarship: $2,500
LEO’s Haven Playground Project: $500
Salvation Army Watsonville: $3500
Teen Kitchen Project: $2,900
Western Foundation Camp Fire Victims Fund (Paradise Fire Victims): $1,500
Bridge of Hope: $900
Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation: $11,672
Rising Worldwide (Safe Schools Project, to stop sex trafficking): $1900
Friends of the Library: $500
Pajaro Valley Historical Association: $500
Living Evolution (an after-school program in Watsonville): $1,000
Watsonville Community Band: $3,500
Camp St. Francis, Father Joseph: $13,000
Willowbrook Park Renovation in honor of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller: $1,000
Watsonville Youth Center (after school boxing program): $2,000
Special Gift to Day on the Farm with Ag History Project at the Fairgrounds: $30,000
Safe Families for Kids Monterey Bay: $1,500
Fire Museum in Watsonville: $500
VFW Hall in Freedom: $11,500
Salvation Army’s Annual Backpack Giveaway, Event of the Year
Each year, the Salvation Army offers youth enrolled in the PVUSD a free backpack that is loaded with school supplies to ensure they have a fresh start to prepare them for the new school year. This event has been so successful that it has taken a life of its own. It has expanded these past several years from distributing 250 backpacks in the summer of 2022, to nearly double that in July of 2024.
