CHATSWORTH : Boy, Woman Named Outstanding Citizens

A 16-year-old boy who spends Sundays feeding the homeless and a homemaker who has helped raise $20,000 for her children’s school have been named “Outstanding Citizens of the Year” by the Chatsworth Coordinating Council.

The council, a coalition of service, business and homeowners’ groups, each year presents the award to a teen-ager and an adult to recognize exceptional contributions to the community. Brent Elliott Crawford, 16, a student at Chatsworth High School, and Michele DeGaetano, a homemaker and volunteer for Chatsworth Park School, received an American flag from Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and a plaque at Friday’s awards dinner.

DeGaetano, a former truck driver, helped lead the neighborhood opposition that helped kill a proposed lumber distribution center in Chatsworth, then lobbied for placement of a Metrolink station in the neighborhood. Recently, she has been working with a group of parents to raise money to purchase air conditioners at Chatsworth Park, where her son and daughter are students.

Twelve of the 16 classes at the school are without air conditioning. DeGaetano said she became aware of the problem when her daughter, who was in a class without air conditioning, began sleeping for up to three hours a day after school because the heat had left her exhausted.

“I said this is too much,” said DeGaetano. She organized a group called Operation Kool a Kid that has organized rummage sales and a golf tournament. To date, the group has raised $20,000 toward the $120,000 needed to buy a new air-conditioning system.

Crawford, a Boy Scout for nine years, was recognized for a landscaping project that he completed at his church, First Lutheran of Northridge, to become an Eagle Scout and for his volunteer work with a church group that prepares and serves food to homeless people two Sundays a month at Louise Park.

Crawford, a trombonist in the high school band, is also a member of a graffiti removal youth group and a students’ chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said Doreen Rusen, co-president-elect of the coordinating council.