A Close-Up Look At People Who Matter : Volunteers in Running for Top Award

For the 36th year, the Fernando Award, a statuette of a young Native American, will be awarded next month for outstanding community service to the San Fernando Valley.

This year, five finalists are vying for the award, which has been described as the highest honor a Valley resident can earn for volunteerism.

“They say that people usually go through this routine three times,” said Clyde R. Porter, a Woodland Hills businessman who this year was nominated for the award for the third time.

Valley chambers of commerce and past winners of the award nominate and vote for the winner. The nominees and those who know them say they do not do the work for any award, but for personal satisfaction, love of community and a honest desire to help.

“Without the things he has done, so much would not have happened here in Woodland Hills and the West Valley area,” Sheri Polak, past president of the Woodland Hills Rotary Club, said of Porter. “He’s very, very humble, and if you thank him for something it’s almost an embarrassment to him.”

Porter is president of the P.L. Porter Co.--started by his father in 1947--a company that builds reclining seats for airlines and automobile manufacturers. He has worked with the Woodland Hills Rotary Club, helped complete the Lou Bredlow Pavilion at Warner Park and has been a supporter of Valley Cultural Center, Pierce College and other West Valley groups.

Porter, 68, has also helped renovate the facilities for Haven Hills, a shelter for victims of domestic violence.

Polak said that although he helps financially with a lot of projects, Porter is also quick to lend a hand, such as setting up trailers that he donated for an event at a community concert.

“You really get a high in doing these things for other people,” Porter said.

Kenneth C. Banks Jr., 57, of North Hollywood, was nominated by the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce because of his work, which in recent years has focused on helping the community’s youth.

“He’s the first to volunteer and the last to leave,” said Paul Jacobs, chamber president.

“You play as hard as you work and work as hard as you play,” said Banks, who in addition to the chamber, does volunteer work with the North Hollywood Rotary Club and the East Valley Family YMCA.

“Ken is one of these people who has an innate desire to help the community,” said chamber executive director Jim Mahfet, who was hired when Banks was president in 1992. “He’s always had this passion. He’s very tenacious.”

Banks, originally from North Dakota, moved here with his family in 1946. He said that his father instilled in him a strong sense of values and an arsenal of sayings.

“You don’t take someone on unless you can finish it,” Banks said, quoting his father.

Mahfet said that some of the older members of the community look at Banks now and see the spitting image of his father.

“If I am, that’s a compliment,” said Banks, who said he is most proud of his work with the Studio City and Universal City/North Hollywood chambers of commerce, and with the Medical Center of North Hollywood in doubling the size of a scholarship awarded to local youths to attend trade schools in the medical profession.

“It was very significant because that kind of thing could make a difference for a lot longer than I will be around,” Banks said.

The winner of the Fernando Award will be named at a dinner Nov. 4.

First in a series on the 1994 Fernando Award finalists that will appear in Personal Best, a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please address prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.