The Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce welcomed the New Year with the 95th installation of its board of officers and directors on Jan. 9 at a lunch held at the Oakmont Country Club. In addition to the swearing in of the board, disbursement of grants was made from the Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Education Fund.

Installed on the chamber board were officers President Michael Riley, Vice President Michael Baldwin, Secretary Robin Goldsworthy, Treasurer Craig Fisher, Honorary Mayor James D Speas, DVM and Past President Calvin “Kaipo” Chock. New and returning directors were Romina Aladadyan, Ken Biermann, Rev. Beverly Craig, Leonard Ghazarian, Keith Hobbs, Vince Iuculano, Camille Levee, Dr. Cynthia Livingston, Matt Morelli, Aram Ordubegian, Steve Pierce, Julia Rabago and Molly Shelton.

A highlight of the afternoon, however, was the awarding of grant money.

The Mary Pinola & Crescenta Valley Chamber Education Fund provides grants for educational programs or projects in the Crescenta Valley. The Education Fund is managed by the Community Foundation of the Verdugos and provides grants to the community. Since the fund was first created in 1990, Pinola has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through a variety of activities. The most popular is the annual Smart-A-Thon, a head-scratching collection of over 75 trivia questions with a local spin that give the top 15 teams bragging rights. The proceeds of the event go mostly to the Education Fund, which will then distribute the funds to other local non-profits that work for the betterment of the community youth. On Thursday afternoon, the Education Fund awarded more than $20,000 in grant money.

Among these was Ahead with Horses, Allan F. Daily High School, the CV High School Instrumental Music Dept., Door of Hope, Dunsmore Elementary School, Glendale Clean & Beautiful, Monte Vista Elementary School, Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and the USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation.