Pasadena Rights Commission Cites 2 People, Women’s Shelter

Two people and a shelter for battered women and children were to be honored for outstanding contributions to intergroup relations at a reception Thursday given by Pasadena’s Human Relations Commission.

Those receiving the awards included the Rev. George Van Alstine, pastor of Altadena Baptist Church and chairman of the city’s Commission on Children and Youth. Van Alstine received the award for his work with the public school system, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and Pasadena’s Affirmative Action Task Force.

Cynthia Abbott, former director of the Union Station Foundation, was honored for her work on behalf of Pasadena’s homeless population. Abbott left the foundation last week to take a post beginning Nov. 5 as associate director of the nonprofit Los Angeles Homeless Health Care Project.

Haven House, a nonprofit shelter operated for the past 26 years, received the organizational award for public education and advocacy for victims of domestic violence.

* West Covina native Vicki Heasley laced up her first pair of ice skates when she was 3 years old, and now, 25 years later, she’s appearing as a headline star with Ice Capades.

Heasley, who attended the University of La Verne, was awarded three gold medals from the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. before she turned professional. The Ice Capades shows continue daily through Nov. 4 at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

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