SOUTH GATE : Volunteer Named Woman of the Year

Oldtimers Foundation employee and volunteer Irene Perez of South Gate has been named Woman of the Year in the 50th Assembly District.

Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park), who chose Perez for the honor, noted the South Gate resident’s commitment to senior citizens.

Perez, 47, joined the South Gate-based Oldtimers Foundation as a volunteer five years ago and has worked part time the last four years in its transit services program, shuttling senior citizens to medical appointments, grocery stores and on errands.

Besides working 25 to 30 paid hours at the foundation’s Huntington Park office, Perez continues to volunteer, co-workers said. Among other efforts, she teaches an arts and crafts class in Huntington Park and invites senior citizens to her home during the holidays, said George Cole, project director.

Cole and others say that Perez was particularly helpful with one man, persuading 92-year-old Bryan Hamilton to come to the foundation for meals. When Hamilton died about six months ago, Cole said, Perez arranged for his funeral, cleaned his apartment, packed his belongings and sent them to his family with a tape of the memorial service and personal notes from people who knew him.

Perez and other honorees from each of the state’s 80 Assembly districts were honored during a luncheon in Sacramento in recognition of Women’s History Month.