The Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce and its Latino Business Alliance held their annual Hispanic Heritage celebration to honor the Hispanic business community at The Centre on Wednesday evening.
People who attended got to enjoy some tacos and agua frescas, a fruity sweetened water, while listening to the speakers of the evening.
Hispanic Heritage month is from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 and began as a weeklong celebration in 1968 under former President Lyndon B. Johnson and was expanded to a month by former President Ronald Reagan 20 years later in 1988, according to Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino.
Santa Clarita Councilwoman Patsy Ayala kicked off the evening’s festivities with some history of how the Latino Chamber of Commerce came to be.
“We were together starting a dream, having businesses in working, in helping and doing things to guide to make a business here in Santa Clarita,” Ayala said.
Three people were honored during the event: Christian Raigosa, a doctor with Kaiser Permanente, and Carlos and Megan Aguilar, owners of C&M Mechanical Heating and Cooling.
“Carlos and Megan are proud small business owners who have been serving the Santa Clarita Valley and surrounding areas since the founding of C&M Mechanical in 2021 … their commitments to reliability and honesty, and care has earned them the respect of their clients and community,” said Lindsay Schlick, one of the speakers.
Carlos and Megan took the stage saying they understood the challenges that came with owning a business and that they felt honored to be recognized for their efforts.
“But every step of this journey has been guided by our values that we really hold close with this hard work and deep commitment to our community as proud Latinos,” Megan said.
Di Thompson, chair of the board of directors for the SCV Chamber of Commerce, said she was proud and honored to present the award to Raigosa for his dedication and motivation through his work as a doctor.
“I have had the privilege of serving on the chamber board with (Christian Raigosa), and I can personally attest to his dedication, motivation, and the positive energy he brings to every project that he lends his name to. He is someone who leads with both expertise and heart, and working with him has always been inspiring,” Thompson said.
Raigosa walked up to the podium to express his gratitude for his family, his Kaiser family, and everyone in the Chamber of Commerce.
Ivan Volschenk, president and CEO of the SCV Chamber of Commerce, said this event is a way to honor people in the community who are doing great things.
“It’s just, we always want to celebrate our community, all the businesses that make up our community and that as well, and to obviously honor those that contribute so much to our community … that’s what we (SCV Chamber of Commerce) do, we’re all about community, bringing everybody together,” Volschenk said.