Celebrating Our Community
Members of our community came together on Saturday, December 9, 2023 for our annual party celebrating the holidays, our volunteers and the Swift of Ipswich’s birthday. Guests were treated to an Italian feast as they mixed and mingled, many in Swift-adorned shifts, sweatshirts and jackets! (Please stay tuned – we will be sharing an album of photos from the event soon.)
This is always a wonderful opportunity for us to look back at the past year and share our appreciation with everyone in our community who made the year possible, from our community partners to our board members and staff, and of course, the incredible volunteers who help and support us throughout the year. We also honor our volunteers with special awards each year, and this year’s awards went to:
Hannah Hughes – Exy Johnson TopSailor Award
Joe Kovacs – Irving Johnson TopSailor Award
Jennifer Albovias – American Pride TopSailor Award
Greg Stewart – Building G Guru Award
Lindsey Philpott – Wayfinder Award
Marc Rieffel – Pier Jumper Award
JoAnne Custer – Rookie of the Year Award
Li Shen – Small Fleet TopSailor Award
Audrey Asbury – Outstanding Youth Sailor Award
Ernest Jones – Outstanding Shoreside Sailor Award
Tracy Grotefend – Team Player Award
Chris Halsted – Beyonce’ Award
Bill Schultz – Executive Director Award
Celebrating Community Partnerships
Photo by Jeff Koven
December 9 was also a beautiful day to celebrate the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District’s collaborative project that led to the mural on the side of historic Building G! This was a true community partnership at work thanks to the Arts District, the Port of Los Angeles, West Harbor, and the amazing artistry of Revival Murals’ Alonsa Guevara and James Razko. Members of the community, including our team, even helped paint it on two community painting days. Alonsa and James also saved the “G” in Building G, so Bruce could have the honor of painting it. (See a video of him doing just that below!)
The Port of Los Angeles created a wonderful video about the recent mural unveiling – also featured below – which includes a little bit about what we do, as well as kind words from Harbor Commissioners Diane Middleton and Lee Williams. You can learn more about the artists and the mural here, which was made possible in part by a Community Investment Grant from the Port of Los Angeles. These grants are funded through shipping and leasing revenues, and something we have been a grateful beneficiary of for many years.
In fact, we were recently awarded another generous grant from the Port of LA for our TopSail Youth Program. It is one of many ways that the Port has been an incredible partner and supporter over the years, and we are proud to have the continued opportunity to make a difference in our community together!