Tall Tree Awards honor Palo Alto’s civic leaders, businesses

A civic leader, a health care advocate, a popular Pakistani eatery and a nonprofit group that helped bring dinosaurs to Palo Alto will all be honored with Tall Tree Awards next month for their contributions to the community.

Sponsored by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and the Palo Alto Weekly, this year’s annual celebration will honor former Palo Alto Mayor Betsy Bechtel; Sherri Sager, former chief government relations officer at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital; the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum Zoo, a nonprofit that raised $25 million for the renovation of the popular Rinconada Park institution; and Zareen’s, a restaurant with locations in Palo Alto, Redwood City and Mountain View.

Bechtel, who is being honored with the Outstanding Citizen award, is well known in Palo Alto’s political circles for her service on the City Council from 1980 and 1989, which included stints as a mayor and a vice mayor. She also served on the board of the Foothill-De Anza Board of Directors between 2003 and 2016 and advised the district on several revenue measures.

She also worked as a consultant to the Palo Alto Housing Corporation, a housing nonprofit now known as Alta Housing, and to the Foothill-De Anza district, and has served on board of numerous other organizations, including Palo Alto and Los Altos Chambers of Commerce, YMCA of the Mid-Peninsula, the Palo Alto chapter of the League of Women Voters, and the Committee for Green Foothills, according to a nomination submitted by Judy C. Miner, chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

Bechtel also donated her time to serve as chair of two district campaigns, Miner wrote, one for a bond and one for a parcel tax.

“She helped the district navigate through various ups and downs and always was acutely aware of the importance of maintaining strong community ties and making sure the district was closely in tune with local community needs,” Miner wrote.

Sherri Sager, who retired in January from her position as vice president and chief Governmental Relations officer at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, is well known for her advocacy on health care and on behalf of local businesses. She will receive the Tall Tree award in the Outstanding Professional category.

A former congressional staffer who joined Lucile Packard in 1994, Sager’s civic activities include stints on the boards of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce and Joint Venture Silicon Valley. In her position at Packard hospital, she traveled to Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to lobby for health care programs, including legislation that aids children with medically complicated conditions.

Sager also served as a board liaison at the Ravenswood Family Health Center and the Children’s Health Council (CHC) Leadership Council. In 2019, Sager was appointed by the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors to serve on the board of directors of the Santa Clara County Health Authority, a public agency that is charged with maintaining and preserving the county’s health care safety net.

In 2018, Sager won the Athena Award, which honors outstanding women in business. She described herself at that time as a “pragmatic idealist.”

“I am very mission focused and want to leave the world a better place than when I entered it,” Sager told this publication in an email.

The award for Outstanding Nonprofit will go to the Friends of the Junior Museum and Zoo, a nonprofit group that spearheaded a $25 million fundraising effort to renovate and expand the popular Rinconada Park attraction. The group launched its drive in 2013 and secured a $15 million donation from the Peery Foundation as well as $10 million from other private donors.

The new features include interactive exhibits such as a netted enclosure where young visitors can interact with birds and the California Dinosaur Garden with real-life sculptures of native dinosaur species such as the Hadrosaur and the Ankylosaur.

Steve Emslie, who serves on the nonprofit’s board of directors, lauded the Junior Museum and Zoo for “enriching the lives of our young people.”

“Palo Alto is a community that prides itself on maintaining a diverse set of public facilities, many of which are nearing the end of their useful life,” Emslie wrote in his nomination letter. “The Junior Museum and Zoo proves that a true public/private partnership can flourish and result in the stunning new facility. The Junior Museum and the Friends of the Junior Museum and Zoo worked hand-in-glove to realize the dream of a new $30-million facility which will serve generations of youth.”

Zareen’s, which opened its California Avenue location in 2016, is this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Business award. Its owner, Zareen Khan, has been a strong proponent of making California Avenue more vibrant and keeping it car-free. She is also now in the process of expanding its restaurant at 365 California Ave. to the building next door, which until recently housed a Starbucks restaurant.

According to the restaurant’s nomination papers, the restaurant is being honored for its contributions to the community, which include delivering free food to first responders and hospital workers during Covid, making its dining room available for use by community groups and providing health care, train passes and bus passes to its employees.

The Tall Tree Awards will begin at 5:30 p.m. on April 18 at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way. The networking reception will be followed by the award presentation at 7 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.paloaltochamber.com/tall-tree-awards/.