Contributed

Clover Stewart has spent much of the last 14 months zipping up COVID-19 casualties in body bags. At times, she has felt like one of the many living casualties of the pandemic – frontline medical workers who, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, have witnessed a lifetime’s worth of gruesome deaths in the course of a typical week. One night in March 2020, amid the frenzied efforts of the medical staff, the grim sounds of patients gasping for air, and the acrid smell of disinfectant, Stewart’s job got very personal: She recognized one of the deceased as the receptionist she and her pregnant daughter recently spoke with at a doctor’s visit.

Rose Salgado, who helped steer the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians through many years of growth and was a force for community betterment, passed away on May 14. She was 65. Rose was the youngest of six children born to Ernest Salgado Sr. and Fidelia Juarez Salgado. She, like her father and her siblings, was raised on the Soboba Reservation. She graduated from San Jacinto High School and attended the University of California, Riverside.

The Hemet/San Jacinto Student of the Month program presented its annual “Night of the Stars” on May 13, to announce its Student of the Year scholarship recipients. Chosen from those who had previously been honored as a Student of the Month during the 2020-2021 school year, one overall winner from each school was chosen to receive a $2,000 scholarship. Other nominees received a $100 gift card, and all got a keepsake box engraved with their name, the program’s logo and lots of goodies from program sponsors.

Our Hemet/San Jacinto Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) did a terrific job making Jared Boxes again this year for the seriously ill kids at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital. Jared Boxes (shoeboxsized) are filled with small toys, books, socks, Nerf Balls, crayons, pens (and other child-oriented things too numerous to mention), to keep the kids engaged and active while they endure long and tedious tests, exams, chemo, and other stressful procedures. (Look online for more information on ways you can help make Jared Boxes for children in your local area hospitals.) This year the DKG teachers made 84 boxes! The value of each box ranges from $25 to $35/box, and they are donated by both the active and the retired teachers who belong to DKG.

Two Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) honors students have earned 2021 Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC) Exemplary Achievement Scholarships.