Youth Honored for Helping Restore Supermarket After Riots

William Kirkland attributes his good nature to his grandmother.

“She raised me for 15 years,” the 19-year-old said. “That’s why I am what I am today.”

Kirkland received an achievement award in recognition of his help after the Los Angeles riots. It was presented by his employer, Envipco California Inc., and by Vons Co.

For 10 months, Kirkland has been a clerk for the recycling company, which maintains a center outside a Vons grocery store in the Fairfax area. At the high-volume center, he maintains the automated machines and assists customers with their recycling needs.

After the store was looted during the riots, Kirkland volunteered to help with the cleanup. For three days, he worked to rebuild and restock the damaged store. “The buses weren’t running near my house, so I borrowed my mother’s car and came up to Vons,” he said. “I figured the more help they had, the faster things could return to normal.”

A graduate of Belmont High School in Los Angeles, Kirkland has been helping to put his mother through school for the past year. He has put his college education on hold until next fall when he will start classes at Glendale Community College. “Ultimately, I want to go on to college, (enter) the military and become an astronaut,” he said.

The American Society for Technion-Israel Institute of Technology awarded its 1992 Albert Einstein Award to Trudy Louis, executive vice president of the American Technion Society’s Southern California chapter.

Louis, a longtime supporter of the organization, was honored at a dinner Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

A resident of Westwood, she is also a member of the board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Jewish Community Foundation and American Committee for the Weizmann Institute. She recently dedicated the Norman and Trudy Louis Valley Shelter in North Hollywood.

Two Loyola Marymount University theology faculty members have been awarded summer stipends from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Chris Chapple will research “Reading Patanjali Without Vyasa: A Critique of Selected Passages from the Yoga Sutra Bhasya.” Jeff Siker will study “Uses of Scripture in Christian Ethics: 20th-Century Reflections.” Each will each receive $4,000.

The Water Quality Assn. gave its 1992 Hall of Fame Award to William Fritzsche, owner of Aqua-O Corporation in Santa Monica. Fritzsche received the honor for his outstanding service and dedication to the water quality improvement industry at the WQA’s annual convention in Orlando, Fla., on March 13.

Fritzsche, a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, has served as president of the Santa Monica Jaycees and Rotary Club of Santa Monica.

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